Collaborative Spaces at Work

Innovation, Creativity and Relations

Fabrizio Montanari, Elisa Mattarelli, Anna Chiara Scapolan, Fabrizio Montanari, Elisa Mattarelli, Anna Chiara Scapolan

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9780367350451
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000329858
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Interior Design
• Index: Business

Collaborative spaces are more than physical locations of work and production. They present strong identities centered on collaboration, exchange, sense of community, and co-creation, which are expected to create a physical and social atmosphere that facilitates positive social interaction, knowledge sharing, and information exchange. This book explores the complex experiences and social dynamics that emerge within and between collaborative spaces and how they impact, sometimes unexpectedly, on creativity and innovation.

Collaborative Spaces at Work is timely and relevant: it will address the gap in critical understandings of the role and outcomes of collaborative spaces. Advancing the debate beyond regional development rhetoric, the book will investigate, through various empirical studies, if and how collaborative spaces do actually support innovation and the generation of new ideas, products, and processes.

The book is intended as a primary reference in creativity and innovation, workspaces, knowledge and creative workers, and urban studies. Given its short chapters and strong empirical orientation, it will also appeal to policy makers interested in urban regeneration, sustaining innovation, and social and economic development, and to managers of both collaborative spaces and companies who want to foster creativity within larger organizations. It can also serve as a textbook in master's degrees and PhD courses on innovation and creativity, public management, urban studies, management of work, and labor relations.

Part I

How collaborative spaces work

Goals, internal dynamics, and (un)expected results in context

1 The relational foundation of collaboration in a cultural and social hub

The case of Le Serre dei Giardini Margherita, Bologna

Ludovica Leone, Anna Chiara Scapolan, Fabrizio Montanari, and Pier Vittorio Mannucci

Introduction

Effective collaboration has become a fundamental requirement of success in disparate fields, from scientific research to medical surgery and moviemaking (Biscaro & Comacchio, 2018; Delmestri et al., 2005; Mannucci, 2017; Nicolini et al., 2012). At the heart of collaboration efforts are the social networks between the collaborating individuals (Reagans et al., 2007; Singh, 2005). However, although research has traditionally focused on the benefits and advantages that can be accrued from collaboration networks (see Burt et al., 2013; Perry-Smith & Mannucci, 2017; and Phelps et al. 2012, for recent reviews), only recently scholars have started to thoroughly investigate how people form different type of collaborative ties, driven by different reasons and objectives. This perspective can provide more clarity on those elements leading to more or less successful collaborations and can suggest how different relational activities lead to specific types of collaboration.

In line with these premises, this chapter aims at delving into the process of collaboration, exploring through which relational activities it unfolds. More specifically, the chapter presents the results of a qualitative research conducted in “Le Serre dei Giardini Margherita” (the greenhouses of Margherita Gardens), a collaborative space established in 2012 in a regenerated urban area of Bologna, Italy, and run by Kilowatt, a cooperative organization that carries out multiple activities in the realms of culture and social innovation, offering also a coworking space.

Our study highlights the potential role of collaborative spaces in catalyzing the emergence and realization of collaborative projects as well as the elements that might foster (or inhibit) these processes. Specifically, we shed light on the relational activities that a collaborative space’s users may deploy to initiate and sustain different kinds of collaboration. The chapter is structured as follows. The first section presents the theoretical background, the second illustrates the research methods, and the third one shows the main findings. The last section discusses the results, also proposing some managerial implications and ideas for future research.

Theoretical background

Collaboration is the development of shared projects based on trust and relationships and it is crucial in organizations (Irving et al., 2020). Collaboration could be conceived as a social process based on the joint effort of two or more individuals. Accordingly, the relationships among the involved individuals constitute the fabric on which collaboration is built (Hargadon & Sutton, 1997; Lingo & O’Mahony, 2010). Existing research has traditionally studied the individual attributes and traits facilitating collaboration or leading to successful collaborations (Perry-Smith & Mannucci, 2015; Phelps et al., 2012). More recently, scholars have started to investigate in depth what elements help people form, maintain, and utilize a tie, thus shedding light on the different phases through which collaboration unfolds. In line with such a dynamic and processual view of collaboration, scholars highlighted the activity of networking behind collaboration (Casciaro et al., 2014; Elfring & Hulsink, 2007).

Focusing on the practices of networking allows us to understand better how individuals have an active role in shaping the way collaboration evolves. When facing the decision of whether to collaborate or not with another individual, people first assess a tie’s potential value, both instrumental and emotional (Casciaro & Lobo, 2015). Then, based on this assessment, they decide whether to form the tie or not, basing their decision on factors such as similarity, competences, and interpersonal liking (Dahlander & McFarland, 2013). The way individuals form a tie impacts on how collaboration unfolds. For example, if the tie has been initiated for physical proximity, removing this factor could end the collaboration, regardless of its actual effectiveness. Similarly, if a shared third party has introduced two people, the effectiveness of the relationship could also be influenced by the third party (Dahlander & McFarland, 2013; Lingo & O’Mahony, 2010).

Collaboration is realized when the collaborative tie is activated and mobilized, but the ties need first to be maintained and nurtured if people want to activate them to collaborate. Tie maintenance itself is a time-consuming activity as individuals need to devote time and effort nurturing the tie (Dahlander & McFarland, 2013; Perry-Smith & Shalley, 2003). All in all, it is clear that networking behaviors constitute the pillars of collaboration. However, we still need to understand how collaborative ties are created, nurtured, and managed, in particular providing more clarity on the relational activities at the base of these behaviors.

In this sense, it is interesting to study the relational foundation of collaboration in the so-called collaborative spaces, which are deemed to sustain collaboration practices and facilitate shared projects. This topic is recently attracting the attention of several scholars. For example, Bouncken and Reuschl (2018) investigated how coworking spaces sustain entrepreneurship and networking. In particular, they highlighted how these spaces allow “flexibility and social interaction that can stimulate their members’ inspiration, the exchange and development of ideas among coworking-users, the development of teams and projects” (2018, p. 330). On the same line, Capdevila (2019) underlined the role of collaborative spaces in sustaining relations within a local ecosystem as they host startups and young professionals who are strongly motivated to develop new networks as means to support their entrepreneurial and professional projects.

Despite the burgeoning number of studies addressing the phenomenon of collaborative spaces, we still have a fragmented understanding of how they sustain actual collaboration. Thus, our chapter aims at providing a deeper understanding of the relational activities that may lead to collaboration, also revealing more insights on the internal dynamics of collaborative spaces.

Methodology

We conducted a qualitative study of “Le Serre dei Giardini Margherita,” a cultural and social innovation hub established in 2012 in Bologna, Italy. The hub is located in the main park of the city, the Giardini Margherita, where the managing organization (namely the cooperative Kilowatt) regenerated an abandoned public place–the former municipal greenhouse–granted by the municipality of Bologna, in order to give it back to the local community. Over the years, “Le Serre” has played a pivotal role in the cultural and social lives of people in Bologna by organizing free cultural events (e.g., movie screenings, concerts, and festivals) and launching social projects such as urban gardening that have involved the local community. Besides the organization of activities in the realms of culture and social innovation, Kilowatt, the managing organization, provides consulting, incubation, and education services. “Le Serre” hosts a kindergarten and a vegetarian restaurant, which is open to the public and supplied by local organic producers. Overall, the hub employs 25 people, including founders and partners and it also offers a coworking space that hosts 16 professionals with heterogeneous backgrounds, predominantly active in media, communication, and creative industries. The coworkers are mainly freelance workers, except four telecommuters of companies located in different towns or other countries.

Data collection and analysis

We conducted 22 semi-structured interviews with managers, employees, and coworkers between May and June 2018. In addition, we used direct observations and documental data to familiarize ourselves with the research context. In the interviews, we asked information about the aims and core values (mission, vision, and culture) of the hub, its activities, and services. We also asked interviewees about their perception of the physical characteristics of the hub’s spaces (e.g., coworking area, restaurant, and external spaces), and the collaborations that they have started being in “Le Serre.” In doing so, we sought to understand how the collaborations emerged and the key relational activities that they had deployed to start and maintain such collaborations.

We analyzed data following the interpretive method suggested by the grounded-theory approach, thus adopting interview transcripts as the primary source of evidence (Gioia et al., 2013; Glaser & Strauss, 1967).

Main findings

Since the first time we entered the field, we observed the “actual” collaborative nature of “Le Serre.” Indeed, interviewees recurrently narrated cases of collaborations that had emerged in the space with other users. Such collaborations went from one spot consultation on specific tasks (e.g., a professional interpreter who is often consulted by other coworkers for quick language references) to more continuous collaborations (e.g., two architects who started to collaborate on common projects after they met there). In some cases, interviewees also referred to entrepreneurial projects that some users of the space had developed together (e.g., a new venture dedicated to the production and distribution of traditional foreign vegetables in the urban garden).

Our analysis shows that in “Le Serre,” people engage in two main groups of relational activities aimed at sustaining different kinds of collaboration (see Table 1.1). Whereas the first includes relational activities that we label as “instrumental,” the second one pertains to relational activities that can be defined as “expressive.” We discuss them in detail in the next two paragraphs.

Table 1.1 Relational activities individuals deploy to collaborate

Relational activities	Definition	Examples
Instrumental relational activities	Those activities reflecting the instrumental “work” that individuals enact to leverage both on the material resources and on the competences that are available in a collaborative space	Actions aimed at gaining access to the resources; activities aimed at cross-pollinating knowledge and ideas
Expressive relational activities	Those activities related to the emotional ties, intentionally guided at building and maintaining ties based on affect, emotions, or shared personal interests, primarily providing friendship and social support	Approaching other users because they share common values and interests; individual engagement in the social and cultural activities that are carried out in the hub

Instrumental relational activities

Users of the hub engage daily in several relational activities that have an instrumental goal – i.e., “are based on cognitive judgments such as whether a contact is pertinent to the task at hand” (Shea et al., 2015, p. 92). For example, individuals deploy actions aimed at gaining access to the resources that are available in the hub. Such resources could range from material assets (e.g., free Internet access and desks and office equipment provided in the coworking areas) to intangible resources such as services (e.g., consultancy and training) and events offered by “Le Serre,” as well as knowledge and competences favored by the colocation of heterogeneous high-skilled coworkers. More specifically, interviewees appreciate both the training activities organized at “Le Serre” (workshops...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of Contributors
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Collaborative spaces between current trends and future challenges
• PART I: How collaborative spaces work: Goals, internal dynamics, and (un)expected results in context
• PART II: Collaborative spaces and creativity
• PART III: Collaborative spaces in other contexts
• Index