Physical Barriers, Task Characteristics, and Interaction Activity in Research and Development Firms
通过实地研究两家高科技企业，发现办公室物理障碍（如隔板、门）反而与更多互动相关，挑战了“减少障碍可降低互动、提高效率”的常见观点。
This research is based on a Ph.D. dissertation completed at Stanford University. I would like to express my deep appreciation to the members of my committee, Jeffrey Pfeffer (Chair), Harold Leavitt, and Jerry Porras. Gerald Salancik and three anonymous ASQ reviewers provided substantial help with earlier drafts of this paper. I would also like to thank Jai Ghorpade, Mark Butler, and Sanford Ehrlich. A field study was used to examine the common belief that barriers around offices are desirable because they reduce interaction, thus allowing more time for accomplishing tasks. If this were true, we would expect to find more interaction in offices with fewer barriers. The opposite was found in the field study conducted in two high-technology firms. Partition height, number of partitions, and the use of a door or a secretary were all positively associated with one or more forms of interaction activity. A desk positioned away from the office entrance was the only barrier found to be negatively associated with interaction. These relationships were independent of variables representing task characteristics, job type, work experience, demographic characteristics and sociability.'