Just in time for the debate (again) about workspace hoteling – this time in the context of sharing anything in the course of – or at the end of a pandemic – Michael Heller and James Salzman recently published, Mine!: How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives (Doubleday, 2021). Both authors are law professors, but in spite of that their book is very readable. Anyone who’s ever been on an airline will really enjoy the case study in their introduction on space ownership by airline passengers. It focuses on how much anyone is allowed to/should be allowed to recline their seat.
Speaking about ownership in their introduction the pair reports that, “At its core, human society exists to help us deal with competing claims to scarce resources—whether food, water, gold, or sexual partners—so that we don’t kill each other too often.”
Discussions of ownership, in the context of workplace design often center on individual workers having assigned seats and teams of employees having some sort of group space that they alone control. All these assigned and one-group-controlled spaces generally increase workplace footprint requirements, and that means higher space-related costs – more rent, more HVAC, more furniture, etc.
Sometimes there is no way to afford more than the absolute basics, and sharing is required. Workers are, for the most part, understanding in these circumstances.
Employees are not so “agreeable” about the settings in which they find themselves if those spaces don’t align with task requirements and it seems that the organization has the resources to create places that do.
Sometimes there is simply no organizational will to support individual and group space ownership, and in those cases, an opportunity is lost.
The science is clear—when people, individually or in groups, have territories that they “own” the quality of their work soars and their stress levels plummet. When we’re in our own space, our activation level is just right for successful knowledge working – we’re alert enough to effectively problem solve, think creatively, get along with others, etc. (we’re not going to be falling asleep anytime soon), but not so galvanized that we lose our ability to focus, etc. Also, when we return to the same place to continue working on a project, solo or with our teammates, our memories function most effectively.
Providing someone, or some group, with a physical territory also indicates that whatever that group or individual is up to is valued by the organization – it’s important enough to actually invest in.
There are other issues that arise when spaces are not assigned, beyond the spread of malicious microbes. It can be challenging to locate colleagues, for example, depending on what the rules for claiming seats are –finding co-workers is easier when everyone in a group has to be on the same part of the same floor. Also, people will tend to sit in the same seat every day, unless actively forced to do otherwise, and anticipated mixing among groups is not as frequent in practice as estimated before a design is implemented.
Mine!’s publication is well-timed. Social distancing and COVID-related interpersonal screening are bringing space allocation top-of-mind. The science is clear – owned territories are good for cognitive performance and wellbeing for individuals and for groups.
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.