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Hot-desking may burn knowledge sharing effectiveness

The success of one of the most popular developments in office management, encouraging staff to share and transfer knowledge, requires a strong sense of group cohesion - a feature challenged by hot-desking arrangements, psychologists have found.

Where knowledge sharing is encouraged, hot-desking could indirectly compromise company performance and damage the competitive edge it has been introduced to encourage.

Kate Bonsall of the Institute of Work Psychology at the University of Sheffield will present research she has conducted into knowledge transfer, today Friday 11 January 2008, at the Annual Conference of the Division of Occupational Psychology of the British Psychological Society at the Stratford-Upon-Avon Holiday Inn.

In her study of a knowledge-intensive consultancy organisation whose employees included hot-deskers and client-site based workers, Kate Bonsall explored the factors which may influence knowledge sharing effectiveness, including the relative impact of the new flexible working arrangements where staff do not have a desk of their own.

Data obtained from electronic questionnaires revealed that group cohesion was a consistent key predictor of knowledge sharing effectiveness within the group, and trust that the knowledge would be used fairly and appropriately was a consistent key predictor of knowledge sharing effectiveness in the company.

Kate Bonsall said: " At a time when many companies are promoting hot desking they need to recognise this may have an impact on information sharing. Hot desking is associated with a weaker sense of cohesion within a team and may limit personal learning from knowledge sharing across the company."
Ref: PR1355