22717: Building Community in Organizations Through Physical Space: A Cross-Disciplinary Study (session 25839)

To understand how physical space enables community in organizations, we adopt a multidisciplinary lens to develop a grounded theory model of the spatiality of micro-social order of community. Using a mixed-methods study of an architectural and engineering firm in a newly designed workspace, we analyze space syntactical and qualitative data to show how properties of space influence relational dynamics and provide a spatial explanation for the emergence (or non-emergence) of micro-social order of community. We find that despite their similar design intent, two free spaces – work café and game room – had relationally distinct functions. Work café emerged as a relationally porous space engendering a permanent liminal zone of indistinction, where micro-interactions blurred work-social, disciplinary, and status boundaries, enabling the emergence of micro-social order of community. In comparison, game room emerged as a relationally impervious space, leading to work-social boundary infringement and reification and hence, the non-emergence of micro-social order of community. Our research demonstrates that community exists at the meso-level as micro-social order, characterized by communal inter-relatedness and positive emotions towards the collective. The study brings clarity as to how physical space is enacted by individuals to shape relational dynamics, emphasizing the role of space in building community within organizations.

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