Building Collaboration? Co-Location and “Dis-Location” in a Railway Control Post

Abstract

This paper studies the design of co-located spaces and how organizational actors experience such spaces. The literature on co-location is ambiguous about how reduced physical distance increases collaboration. To address this problem, we draw on an ethnographic study of a co-located railway control center, housing the largest Dutch railway organizations under one roof. Although the intention of the co-location was to improve collaboration by bringing different organizations into closer proximity, our findings tell a different story. Railway employees developed several territorial practices (preserving existing boundaries, creating new boundaries, and the situational use of boundaries) through which they resisted the design of the control center, thereby changing the control center from co-located to “dis-located.” We argue that understanding the relationship between co-location and collaboration should not only focus on how such spaces are designed but, rather, account for how spaces where collaboration is demanded are experienced and used by employees.

Practices of isolation: The shaping of project autonomy in innovation projects

“…In contrast, Bektas (2013) investigated how project employees of engineering, architect and client organizations collaborated in an open-plan project office and observed that interaction between these professionals was still limited. The demarcation of a group territory, which can be visible for everybody, may prevent employees from engaging in collaboration ( Willems & Van Marrewijk, 2017 ).…”

Big Data Analytics in the Agribusiness Supply Chain Management

“…Literature highlight benefits of collaboration in inventory planning, as service improvement, and costs, among others [10], [15], [32], [46], [51]. In the supply chain, collaboration among different parts can produce a total cost lower than the cost added from all the parts involved, or all the separated costs.…”

Joining the Sociomaterial Debate

“…These three papers take different theoretical approaches, distinct methods, and diversified perspectives of sociomateriality, covering co-location spaces, educational activities, and managerial accounting. Willems and van Marrewijk (2017) address territorial aspects that produce co-location in a spatial setting where collaboration is "demanded." Based on a longitudinal ethnographic study in the Dutch railway system, the authors show how space emerges in the interplay of maps as well as territories and co-location as well as "dis-location."…”