Generic problem: Linking Office Design to Work Performance

Funded research: U.S. General Services Administration

Principal Investigators: Jean Wineman, Craig Zimring, and John Peponis.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the characteristics of GSA physical workspace that contribute to high work performance. This will be a two-phase study where the focus of Phase I is to develop a clear detailed understanding of the role office design and layout plays in evolving patterns of work. It will involve detailed physical description of workspace in a sample of ten high performance workspaces. Space syntax analysis will be used to describe the relationship of the workspace to other spaces in the building. Each case study will involve interviews with workers, observation of work activity and the CBE/GSA POE survey. For example, it may be clear from the interviews that interaction with others outside of one's working group is an important ingredient to problem solving. If so, we will look at both the spatial layout of the facility (in particular the links across work groups) and other support of informal communication (location and types of shared services, formal and informal conference space, and so forth). The goal of Phase II is to establish a convincing statistical relationship between the design factors identified above and self-reported interaction, satisfaction and productivity as measured by the CBE/GSA survey. (An additional module surveying self-reported productivity will be added to the questionnaire.) Phase II will involve a larger sample of 20 high performance workspaces. It will examine the relationships between local design measures, overall layout and measures of interaction, satisfaction and productivity.

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Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning Phone: (734)763-1497
The University of Michigan Fax: (734)763-2322
2000 Bonisteel Blvd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

email: jwineman@umich.edu