Many voices are now involved in the workplace design and management discussion – although it is rare that they have the opportunity to jointly discuss topics that reflect their full range of concerns.
A new international group, the Transdisciplinary Workplace Research (TWR) Network, is determined to include all concerned groups in a common dialogue. Members of the TWR network call many different continents home and have a full range of professional interests, from finance to management to psychology to sociology and anthropology. They are academics and people in many sorts of professional practice.
Research reviewed at TWR Network meetings focuses on optimizing both the performance and lives of employees in a context that makes sense for employers as well. Issues addressed move beyond more expected topics, such as wellbeing.
As the TWR Network states on its website: “Social, physical, technological and managerial aspects of the workplace interact with worker behaviour and with one another. Hence, a transdisciplinary approach is required to advance our knowledge and practices. Until now, different aspects of the workplace are mostly studied within separate academic and professional fields. That is why the Transdisciplinary Workplace Research (TWR) network was initiated in 2017. Its intention is to bring together workplace researchers and professionals from all relevant disciplines to share their insights and ideas” (http://www.twrnetwork.org).
In 2018 the TWR met for a thought-provoking series of sessions at a conference in Tampere, Finland, and in September 2020 they will gather again, in Hessen-Thüringen, Germany (information on the call for presentations in 2020 is available here: http://www.twrnetwork.org). There were relatively few participants at the 2018 conference from North America; although, the leading workplace thinkers from Europe and elsewhere attended.
Organizers hope to include researchers and practitioners from around the world more equally in 2020, to further enrich conversations that already, in 2018, addressed deeply nuanced topics. People’s experiences in workplaces are complex, and the factors that lead to success (however that is defined in a particular situation) are complicated to resolve as well, and the interactions between relevant factors can be tricky. TWR is focused on developing an understanding of key issues, to make life better not only for workplace users but also for the people that manage them and the buildings and organizations that they’re affiliated with.
TWR is a global organization whose members have parallel interests and concerns – add your voice to their discussions to broaden your understanding of, and familiarity with, the important workplace-related issues of our time.
Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.