science

Organizational space

Organizational space is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Organizational space rather than just read about it. In short: Organizational space, sometimes called organizational architecture, describes the influence of the spatial environment on the health, the mind, and the behavior of humans in and around organizations. It is an area of scientific research in which interdisciplinarity is a central perspective.

Key takeaways

Organizational space belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Organizational space to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Organizational space from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Organizational space, sometimes called organizational architecture, describes the influence of the spatial environment on the health, the mind, and the behavior of humans in and around organizations. It is an area of scientific research in which interdisciplinarity is a central perspective. It draws from management, organization and architecture added with knowledge from, for instance, environmental psychology (Evans and Mitchell, 1998), social medicine (Macintyre et al., 2002), or spatial science (Festinger et al., 1950). In essence, it may be regarded as a special field of expertise of organization studies and change management applied to architecture. The knowledge area is related to evidence-based design in which the influence of the spatial environment on patient's health, healing, and customer satisfaction are being researched in health care. It is also related to practice-based areas of management such as facility management which is primarily devoted to the maintenance and care of commercial or institutional buildings and to property management in which the operation of real estate is central. The scientific field of organizational space must be distinguished from social architecture in which the development of information and communication technologies is central and also different from space science which is concerned with the study of the universe.

Spatial, physical and built environment This research strand distinguishes three different environments: the spatial environment from the physical environment and the built environment.

Spatial environment: the total context in which humans in and around organizations function. Physical environment: all tangible physical entities in and around organizations. Built environment: that what is commonly understood as architecture and that what is permanently fixed to it.

Organizational-spatial cycle of change The coherence between the organization and its spatial environment may be regarded as an interwoven interdisciplinary cyclical flux from contingencies, intermediates, performances to interventions (Mobach, 2009). The contingencies are the organizational, architectural, technological, and natural conditions under which organizations function. In the end they influence the performance of an organization, but first they mix in the intermediates. In this way humans in and around organizations will, for instance, notice these contingencies and will give them meaning (Clegg and Kornberger, 2006. Van Marrewijk and Yanow, 2010). Moreover, the contingencies will also influence social contact (Becker, 1981; Steele, 1973) and the degree to which a spatial environment can be functional (Sharles, 1923). Subsequently, the intermediates influence different performances, for instance, the health, the mind, and the behavior of people in and around organizations. The spatial environment can cause illness, such as with the sick building syndrome (EPA, 1991), but it can also positively influence the vitality of people or the recovery after an operation (Ulrich, 1984). The performances can provoke managerial intervention. In turn, these interventions will change the contingencies, and by doing so, change the elements, relations, and properties of the conditions under which people function.

References

Becker, F.D. 1981. Workspace: Creating Environments in Organizations. New York: Praeger. ISBN 0-03-059137-6 Clegg, S.R., Kornberger, M. (eds.). 2006. Space, Organizations and Management Theory. Copenhagen: Liber & CBS Press. ISBN 87-630-0164-0 Dale, K., Burrell, G. 2007. The Spaces of Organisation & The Organization of Space -Power, Identity & Materiality at Work. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN 0-230-57268-5 EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). 1991. Office of Air and Radiation. Indoor Air Facts No. 4: Sick Building Syndrome Washington: EPA. Evans, G.W., Mitchell, J. 1998. When Buildings Don’t Work: The Role of Architecture in Human Health. Journal of Environmental Psychology. 18: 85-94. Festinger, L., Schachter, S., Back, K. 1950. Social Pressures in Informal Groups -A Study of Human Factors in Housing. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-0173-3 Macintyre, S., Ellaway, A., Cummins, S. 2002. Place Effects on Health: How Can We Conceptualise, Operationalise and Measure Them? Social Science & Medicine. 55(1): 125-139. Marrewijk, A.H. van, Yanow, D. (eds.) 2010. Organizational Spaces. Rematerializing the Workaday World. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. ISBN 978-1-84844-650-2 Mobach, M.P. 2009. Een organisatie van vlees en steen. Assen: Van Gorcum. ISBN 978-90-232-4531-5 Sharles, F.F. (ed.). 1923. Business Building -A Complete Guide to Business for the Wholesaler, Retailer, Manufacturer, Agent etc. Volume I. London: Pitman. Steele, F. 1973. Physical Settings and Organization Development. Addison-Wesley: Reading Massachusetts. ISBN 0-201-07211-4 Ulrich, R.S. 1984. View Through a Window May Influence Recovery From Surgery. Science. 224(4647): 420-421.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Organizational space

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Organizational space claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Organizational space before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Organizational space ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Organizational space

In research: Organizational space appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Organizational space in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Organizational space is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Architecture, Change management, Health care quality, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Organizational space outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Organizational space in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Organizational space means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Organizational space out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Organizational space in simple terms?

Why does Organizational space matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Organizational space?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Organizational space.