Dear Google Researcher,
What are the guidelines for human interaction in work activities that
come from psychology and anthropology research?
I'm looking for collection of "rule of thumbs" that sheds light upon
the most productive ways for work colleagues to interact with each
other. For example, MIT's Thomas Allen found that likelihood that any
two people will communicate drops off dramatically as the distance
between their desks increases. Or Dunbar's research argues that 150
people is the ceiling for human groups. The area I'm most curious
about are questions like: what's the optimal team size? what's the
maximum number of people for effective meeting? how long should
meetings go between breaks? what are the physical settings that
encourage collaboration? What physical setting enhance human
performance at work?
I'm looking for practical nuggets of wisdom that is grounded in human
behavior, human performance research. Potential areas of exploration:
organizational behavior, managerial psychology, military, anthropology
of work, sports physiology. The closest result I found in Google is
here:
http://answer.google.com/answers/threadview?id=269655
Thanks!
Mark |
Request for Question Clarification by
czh-ga
on
18 Nov 2003 23:43 PST
Hello mangosummer-ga,
I decided to try to tackle your question since you linked to one of my
answers as an example of what you?re looking for. My preliminary
research shows that there is lots of information available on
?workplace anthropology? but it may not be of any use to you. I found
research relating to the works from Dunbar and Thomas that you cite.
I?ve also been able to find some research related to your questions
about how work groups operate and what seems to work best.
I need to get additional information from you before I move forward on
my research. My preliminary explorations show that the impact of
technology on work, workplaces and work groups has completely
transformed the scope of your questions. The new technologies like
e-mail, IM, groupware, the web, cell phones, etc. have changed the
rules and expectations about how people interact at work. In line with
this, I found a tremendous amount of new material about the
significance of social networks at work and their impact on how work
gets done.
Please tell me more about the goals of your research. How will you use
my research results? There is a tremendous amount of material
available around the issues you?ve raised and I need your guidance on
how to focus my research.
I look forward to your clarification.
~ czh ~
|
