A Field Experiment to Improve Communications in a Product Engineering Department: The Nonterritorial Office

Abstract

A year-long investigation was undertaken to determine the impact, of a radical new scheme of office layout on work-related behavior, communication, and performance. The office layout under investigation is best described as “nonterritorial”. It is an open floor plan arrangement, but goes far beyond the traditional open-space office, removing not only office walls, but most permanent stations as well. Employees (product engineers) work at large round tables, which are distributed through the office area, and may locate themselves anywhere that they wish on any given day, or at different times during a day. The experiment was successful to the extent that employees preferred the new arrangement over the traditional one- and two-person offices they had previously occupied and that communication within the department increased significantly. It was unsuccessful in that no measurable increase in departmental performance was registered over the period of the study.