Harvard scientist: open-plan offices are real conversation killers
In many places, there has been a trend toward open-plan offices for some time; in media companies, many work in a central newsroom. Open-plan offices are supposed to promote communication and creativity. At the British Royal Society (Academy of Sciences), Harvard scientists have now published a paper that proves the opposite: Direct communication among colleagues in open-plan offices is declining rapidly.
The open-plan office employs not only department heads, but also academics. The Paper of the two scientists Ethan Bernstein and Stephen Turban draws on two empirical field experiments in which employees were equipped with wearable devices that recorded their communication behavior. In addition, electronic communication, such as chats, mail or telephone calls, was evaluated.
The study says of open-plan offices: "Contrary to popular belief, the volume of face-to-face interactions decreased significantly (by about 70%) while the share of electronic communication increased accordingly.
According to the authors, an open office architecture in no way promotes a mutually beneficial direct exchange in face-to-face conversations, but rather ensures that employees tend to withdraw from their colleagues and communicate via e-mail or instant messaging instead.
For example, one of the companies involved in the study had all partitions removed from an office floor. For the paper, employees were observed 15 days before the walls were removed and 15 days after.
As a result, when small offices still existed, colleagues spoke directly with each other for an average of 5.8 hours per day. In the open-plan office, the time for direct conversation shrank to 1.7 hours per day. In return, the number of e-mails sent increased by 56%, the number of instant messaging messages by 67%, which at the same time were 75% longer than before. (Source: Meedia)
