Collocation For Large Business - Is It Cost Effective?

It is an age old discussion; determining if it is worth the money to move disparate groups that work on the same projects together. Common wisdom used to assert that there was absolutely no question that a team that works in close physical proximity work better. This premise needs to be looked at more carefully to determine if technology has overcome the need for colocation.

Whenever there are questions that deal with organizational effectiveness and money, we tend to turn to management experts. They usually pontificate on the value of having people working close to each other so they not only share business ideas but get to know one another as people. This intangible closeness is theorized to help the organization arrange itself into the best grouping possible.

Certainly there have been those in the organizational dynamics field that believe there is more to internal communication that staff meetings and electronic mail. These experts feel strongly about the concept of people interacting on a person to person level, with verbal and nonverbal signals essential to a more complete and thorough communication.

Another aspect which would argue in favor of everyone working at least in the same building is the hallway and water cooler interactions of employees. It is an attempt to apply the mathematical observation called sensitive beginning to business behavior. It asserts that a company in which the employees are allowed autonomy will develop a self organization that allows for greater productivity.

The original chaos theory gave us the infamous butterfly effect. Contrary to popular belief, the notion actual says that natural event, like the weather, will move forward in a wildly different end patter from a nearly immeasurable difference in its starting point. So the movement of a butterfly disturbs the atmosphere nearly insignificantly, but that change might eventually create a tornado where one might not have formed.

Business speakers were quick to grab the idea and interpolate it into the interactions of people I a business process. They concluded that the random comings and goings of individuals within the employee mass would, over time settle into a predictable pathway. Since people seem to meet one another outside of t he office or cubicle through the day, there could be important interpersonal communication that leads to inspiration.

On the flip side of the let us all get together coin is the impact of moving. Employees, by and large, do not like change and are resistant to it. Forcing groups to move for the sake of getting them closer invariable sparks controversy, fear and even anger. The emotional side of people make moving a sure bet to reduce productivity for an extended period.

In addition, there are new technologies that allow video facilitated face to face meetings at which attendees not only see one another, but share data in any digital format. As for those chance contacts in the hallway or discussions after the staff meeting, local area networks with electronic mail and in some cases chat capabilities more than make up for it. In short, this is a global economy, and if a company can work with other companies across the globe, its directorates should manage just fine in cyber space without hosting colocation.

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