Sailer, K; Thomas, M; (2020) From Saint Jerome's study to workplace seismographs: The role of spatial layouts in decision-making speed across different industries. In: Proceedings of the Transdisciplinary Workplace Research Conference 2020. Transdisciplinary Workplace Research Conference: Frankfurt, Germany.

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Abstract

Purpose: Strategy literature demonstrates the importance of fast strategic decision making to performance in dynamic industries. While some industries such as financial services operate based on decisions that take milliseconds, other industries such as academia are much slower paced and organise work within time periods of months or years. This paper investigates speed in relation to visibility arrangements in workplaces. It asks which potential for unplanned encounters arises out of spatial layouts and how those encounters in turn affect decision making speed. / Theory: Three main theory strands are brought together by this paper: firstly, the concept of industry clockspeed, which is used in management to understand the velocity of change in external business environments and how it relates to decision making speed in organisations. Secondly, space syntax theories as developed in architecture are employed to investigate visibility relationships in workplace layouts and the related affordances for encounter this creates. The concept of visibility acting as a ‘seismograph’ by creating awareness of what others are working on is elaborated on. Finally, theories of social networks and informal interactions are used to link management and space via a behavioural approach. / Design/methodology/approach: The conceptual ideas of the paper will be applied to a series of workplace layouts across different industries, including academia (slow paced), professional services such as law firms (medium paced) and the financial services industry (fast paced). Space syntax methods will be used to analyse the floor plans of the different organisations. / Findings: Findings suggest that floor plans generate encounter and awareness opportunities via the mechanism of visibility. Offices in high clockspeed industries were found to have significantly more integrated workplaces with higher levels of visibility. Nuances regarding required speed and the detailed role of layouts in mediating encounter opportunities are elaborated on. Spatial factors are found to be an additional and often overlooked resource when it comes to managing organisations. Spatial factors affecting strategic decision speed can be traded-off in favour of factors such as cost and privacy. Findings also show that the impact of spatial layout is particularly important in larger offices. / Originality/value: Speed of decision making is an increasing worry of companies observing how business environments become ever more fast-paced and volatile due to technological progress. Bringing this management angle together with a detailed architecturally informed analysis, arguing that floor plans provide specific opportunities for business operations is a novel approach.

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