The role of physical design and informal communication

technologies. He posits that one cannot understand organizational performance,
including informal learning, by examining any single facet, component, or element of
the overall system. Rather, the focus must be placed on the interdependencies among
them. But because the organizational system is so large and complex, he suggests that
one point of intervention is the planning, design, and management of physical space.
The degree to which the physical environment affords physical and visual
proximity for its occupants has been shown to affect communication and interaction in
the workplace. Based on his research and experience, Becker (2007a) has proposed
the idea of “spatial transparency” which suggests that the greater the opportunity for
employees to easily see and hear what others are doing from inside their own work
space and as they move in and around their team, department, and other unit’s work
space, the greater the opportunities for modeling behavior and sharing information.
This allows less experienced employees to learn by observing the behavior of the most
experienced members of the organization.
The concept of spatial transparency is evident in the findings of numerous
research studies. Becker and Sims (2001) conducted a study of small start-up firms to
investigate how office design influences communication patterns. They compared the
communication and interaction patterns in closed offices, high-paneled cubicles, and
visually transparent team-oriented workstation clusters. The findings revealed that
more open, visually transparent team-oriented clusters supported naturally occurring
informal learning of a variety of types. Stryker (2004) found similar results in his
exploration of workplace design and face-to-face communication in R&D project
teams. The findings suggest that workstation visibility (defined by both type of
workstation – open workstation vs. closed office - and worker visibility from major
circulation paths) is a key variable in promoting team communication and can be said
to reduce the impediments to communication in the physical work environment. He
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