For decades, the office was the default way to organize workers, but that default is being re-examined. Many workers (including me) prefer working remotely, and seem to be at least as productive working remotely as they are in the office. Remote capable organizations can hire from a bigger pool of workers than is available locally. All in all, remote work seems to have been underrated, relative to just a few years ago.
But there are tradeoffs. I’ve written before that physical proximity seems to be important for building new relationships, even though those relationships seem to remain productive as people move away from each other. This podcast narrows the focus down to the office. Does bringing people together in the office actually facilitate meeting new people? (spoiler: yes) But I’ll try and get more specific about how, when, and why this happens too.
This podcast is an audio read through of the (initial draft of the) post Innovation at the Office, originally published on New Things Under the Sun.
Articles Mentioned:
Allen, Thomas and Gunter Henn. 2007. The Organization and Architecture of Innovation. Routledge Publishing. Link.
Miranda, Arianna Salazar and Matthew Claudel. 2021. Spatial proximity matters: A study on collaboration. PLoS ONE 16(12): e0259965. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259965
Catalini, Christian. 2017. Microgeography and the Direction of Inventive Activity. Management Science 64(9) https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2017.2798
Roche, Maria P., Alexander Oettl, and Christian Catalini. 2022. (Co-)Working in Close Proximity: Knowledge Spillovers and Social Interactions. NBER Working Paper 30120. https://doi.org/10.3386/w30120
Hasan, Sharique, and Rembrand Koning. 2019. Prior ties and the limits of peer effects on startup team performance. Strategic Management Journal 40(9): 1394-1416. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3032
Appel-Meulenbroek, Rianne, Bauke de Vries, and Mathieu Weggeman. 2017. Knowledge Sharing Behavior: The Role of Spatial Design in Buildings. Environment and Behavior 49(8): 874-903. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916516673405
Kabo, Felichism W., Natalie Cotton-Nessler, Yongha Hwang, Margaret C. Levenstein, and Jason Owen-Smith. 2014. Proximity effects on the dynamics and outcomes of scientific collaborations. Research Policy 43(9): 1469-1485. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2014.04.007