Creative workspaces – a fad or making real impact?

Open creative workspaces impacts for new product development team creativity and effectiveness

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to further explore the relationship between new product development project teams and their workspace regarding the impact of the physical (space variety, indoor environmental quality, large meeting room, workstation) and sociotechnical environments (project commitment, IT environment) on their creativity and effectiveness.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors gathered data on an enterprise’s ten multidisciplinary teams operating in diverse workspaces by four means: over 40 interviews and four months of observation, secondary data and a survey with 645 responses.

Findings

For teams co-located on site and abroad, employees express that proximity in open space is paramount even considering the augmented density. The relationship between team effectiveness and team creativity is strong and bidirectional (correlationβ = 0.40****), but the patterns of relationship between these two variables and certain dimensions of the physical and sociotechnical environment are different. There is a positive and direct impact on team effectiveness, but to a lesser degree on creativity which, in turn, positively influences team effectiveness. Moreover, creativity intervenes (mediator variable) between project commitment, satisfaction with large meeting rooms and the IT environment on their relationship with team effectiveness. When the authors added a direct link between the variables and team effectiveness, the model explains 47.1 per cent of the variance.

Research limitations/implications

The scope of the data is somewhat limited by the time that the company and its teams could allocate to this paper.

Practical implications

The arrangement of space reinforces employees’ sense of belonging to their team as measured by project commitment which along with satisfaction with the large meeting rooms and IT environment influence both team effectiveness and creativity. Managers could consider these three elements as levers for action. Space variety (or balanced layout) is also a way to support team creativity.

Originality/value

Even if open spaces are frequently used, the literature on creative spaces is dedicated mainly to an individual. This paper delivers some results and evidence on the concrete and simultaneous impacts of the workspaces on creativity and effectiveness of multidisciplinary new product development (NPD) team.

Healthy workplaces: what we know and what else we need to know

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the impact of buildings on the creation of healthy workplaces (HWs) and end users’ physical and mental health and well-being. The paper presents available research on the impact of workplace layout, interior design, indoor climate and “green” offices. It ends with reflections on the main lessons learned, gaps in our current knowledge and suggestions for further research.

Design/methodology/approach

A literature research has been conducted of all papers in four corporate real estate management and facilities management-oriented journals from 2008 to 2017 that discuss health and well-being and related topics such as satisfaction, productivity and creativity.

Findings

A conceptual model to analyse impact factors for HWs covers the influence of many different variables. Most papers only discuss a particular influencing factor, mainly plants and indoor climate. Various papers show that the spatial layout, in particular the level of openness and opportunities for communication, concentration and privacy and interior design have an important impact on user satisfaction, perceived productivity support and creativity. These factors may have a positive impact on HWs as well and can also be benefits of HWs.

Practical implications

The paper identifies, which factors are important to consider for creating HWs and potential benefits of HWs.

Originality/value

This paper discusses the role of CREM and FM in creating HWs and reflects on the available knowledge, current omissions and the need for transdisciplinary follow-up research.