Cross-disciplinary Workspaces

Interdisciplinarity is not a challenge for design science: It is our superpower! 🦸 🦸♀️ That is one of the key insights that emerged while working on our new paper (thanks for making it open access SBUR!): “Design Science Across Disciplines: Building Bridges for Advancing Impactful Business Research” co-authored with René Mauer Jan vom Brocke Marvin Hanisch Stephanie Schrage Orestis Terzidis Prof. Dr. Barbara E. Weißenberger Across information systems, strategy, business ethics & sustainability, entrepreneurship, and accounting, we found something remarkable: Each discipline brings its own rich traditions of problem framing, normative reasoning, artefact design, evaluation logic, and engagement with practice. Design science is not one method or one lineage. It has many flavors and strong traditions within each discipline — yet all are united by an interest in addressing questions of “how things should be” and “how to get there.” In my view this diversity is exactly what makes the DS research community so powerful. 🌍 Business Ethics & Sustainability brings deep normative thinking 🧩 Information systems brings strong artefact and evaluation methods 💡 Entrepreneurship brings experimentation and action 🔍 Accounting brings institutional perspectives 🎯 Strategy brings tools for shaping desirable futures Instead of trying to unify these traditions, what if we started intentionally recombining them? Imagine: - Strategy scholars drawing on design echelons and artefact logic from information systems. - Sustainability researchers using evaluation methods from design-oriented system development. - Entrepreneurship scholars integrating normative frameworks from ethics and political philosophy. - Accounting researchers using design thinking and experimentation to build new institutional solutions. What new forms of design knowledge could emerge if we proactively borrowed, blended, and hybridized methods across our disciplinary borders? For me, that is one of the biggest opportunities ahead: 👉  The more diverse our design science traditions become, the more powerful the approach gets in addressing real-world problems. I would love to hear your thoughts: Which tradition from your field has untapped potential to strengthen the broader design science community? DS:E - Center for Design Science in Entrepreneurship ESCP Business School ERCIS German Association for Business Research

The most valuable real estate in your office isn't the executive suite—it's the coffee machine. Google understands this when they deliberately designed their offices to ensure no employee was more than 150 feet from food. Why? Because they recognized that innovation rarely happens in isolation. When Pixar designed their headquarters, Steve Jobs insisted on a central atrium that forced people from different departments to cross paths. The result? Animators talking to engineers. Writers bumping into technicians. These weren't scheduled meetings—they were valuable accidents. As a leader building teams in today's hybrid landscape, consider: 1- Creating "collision zones" in your workspace. Spotify's "fika" areas aren't just for coffee—they're strategically positioned innovation hubs where product and marketing naturally mingle. 2- Implementing "no-agenda Thursdays" where teams are encouraged to be on-site without structured meetings. Microsoft has seen remarkable cross-team solutions emerge from their version of this practice. 3- Rethinking physical layouts. When Salesforce removed walls between engineering and design, their product iteration speed increased by 37%. The hard truth? Your team's best ideas probably aren't happening in your carefully scheduled brainstorming sessions. They're happening in elevators, hallways, and lunch tables when different minds accidentally collide. What "collision zones" have you created in your workplace? #LeadershipInsights #WorkplaceDesign #InnovationCulture #TeamBuilding

I love a solid psychology theory. A good theory can stand a test of time, helping us understand the world even as contexts change. This is a story of how what we know about overcoming prejudice can help us overcome AI scepticism and bias at work. Back in the 1950s, reflecting on the World War II, psychologists were troubled by the existential question: how do ordinary people commit horrific acts of violence to others? In 1954, Gordon Allport published The Nature of Prejudice, a book that fundamentally changed our understanding of bias. Allport argued that prejudice isn’t an individual trait but that it’s shaped by context. And if context creates prejudice, changing the context can reduce it. His solution? How we interact with others is key. But not just any interaction - he identified several conditions that must be met for contact between two groups to reduce bias and improve attitudes. These conditions were: Common goals: The groups must work together towards shared objectives. Equal status: Both parties in the interaction must perceive themselves as equals. Cooperation: They must collaborate rather than compete. Authority support. Leaders or social norms must endorse and support the interaction. A meta-analysis of over 500 studies confirmed that when these conditions are met, intergroup contact improves intergroup relations. But I think these conditions are also relevant to collaboration more broadly. In 2019, I published a study showing that these conditions shape the nature of cross-disciplinary collaboration between scientists from hard science and social science disciplines. Scientists in departments that more explicitly encouraged cross-disciplinary collaborations were more likely to engage in those while perceptions that the scientist from other discipline had the same goals was related to higher quality of the collaboration. So how do we apply these to overcome AI scepticism & enable a more effective performance? While some of these conditions need to be considered when designing & marketing AI tools, implementation within the organisation is equally important. ➡️ AI tools must be explicitly positioned to work towards goals that are inherently seen as important to employees, not only serving wider organisational goals like increasing efficiency. ➡️ While AI is unlikely to be seen as equal status to humans, we need to be clear on how AI is achieving goals with us rather than for us. Be clear where AI limits may be and where employees own judgements are key. ➡️ Integrate AI into processes rather than setting them up as standalone tasks to increase cooperation. ➡️ If you’re a leader, communicate why tools are introduced, what risks have been considered and what evidence supports its benefits. AI adoption isn’t just a technical challenge for organisational heads of AI —it’s a psychological one. Applying behavioural science principles to AI adoption is key to reducing resistance and genuinely improve performance.

I often get asked to share my insights on the current state of the Israeli Hi-Tech workplace, primarily through the lens of a cross-disciplinary practice. And the real question is: What is the Office, Hotel, Public Space, and Residential sentiment in a post-war reality? As an old-school millennial architect, I never fully understood the urge to separate these segments. After expanding RD&A into a cross-disciplinary practice and working across tech, hospitality, public spaces, and residential for 3+ years, clear patterns have emerged. The Israeli Hi-Tech workplace is entering a pivotal transition. One driven less by hybrid schedules or hyper-designed interiors, and more by a more profound shift in identity, efficiency, and cultural clarity. Across projects, one insight stands out: Companies aren’t requesting “offices.” They are requesting architectural systems that elevate cognition, culture, and performance. Less extravagance, more intentionality. Less noise, more purpose. Three dominant trends: 1️⃣ Experience meets efficiency Teams expect emotionally intelligent environments: calibrated acoustics, neurodiverse zones, and spatial sequences that support focus and creativity. 2️⃣ Cross-industry convergence Hospitality has become an operational reference. Clients want the adaptability of conference venues, the atmosphere of boutique hotels, and the clarity of cultural institutions — unified in one workspace. (Meanwhile, the “employee apartment” trend vanished before it matured.) 3️⃣ Culture encoded in space People don’t return because of mandates. They return when the environment reinforces a sense of belonging and accelerates informal knowledge exchange. 🔮 2026 Outlook 1️⃣ Minimum-Viable Workplace Every square meter must justify its value, functionally and culturally. 2️⃣ Hospitality as Infrastructure Service design and flow choreography become workplace norms. 3️⃣ Radical Simplification 2026 removes visual noise: clarity and adaptability outperform theatrics. 4️⃣ Belonging as a KPI Measured through trust, retention, and informal interaction density. 5️⃣ Multidisciplinary Architecture as Default Boundaries between sectors blur completely; cross-domain expertise becomes expectation. 6️⃣ Post-War Resilience Framework Safety, grounding, and material honesty guide every spatial decision. We are living in exciting times. The design opportunities are getting clearer and more transparent. Yalla, Getting back to work:) Big Love.

The Power of Cross-Disciplinary Curiosity In technology, we often silo ourselves into specific roles - frontend, backend, design etc. While specializing has benefits, I believe nurturing curiosity across disciplines is equally important for growth. Here are a few thoughts I have on the value of broadening your technical perspective: Are you a front-end engineer? Find opportunities to learn how the backend and APIs work. Understanding the broader data flow will make you a better front-end developer. Are you a designer? Dedicate time to learning frontend principles, not coding, but how web apps are built. This will produce more intuitive, developer-friendly designs. Are you a backend engineer? Learning how the front-end consumes APIs will allow you to build more efficient services. At the end of the day, software is a collaborative process. The more familiarity we build across disciplines, the better we can work together. Some simple ways to expand your knowledge: - Ask colleagues about their area of expertise over coffee or chat Attend talks, conferences and trainings outside your niche - Experiment with new skills during personal projects - Volunteer for cross-functional teams and tasks It doesn't matter what technology path you take - nurturing curiosity will make you better. As a designer, learning frontend improves your work. As an engineer, understanding adjacent roles multiplies your impact. Learning never stops in this industry. Keep widening your perspective. What tips do you have for building cross-disciplinary knowledge? How has expanding beyond your core role made you more effective? Let's exchange ideas in the comments! PS: I once knew a designer who could use Postman. This allowed him and the backend engineer to work in almost perfect sync in data-driven design decisions.

We just wrapped up a project that opened my eyes. After watching employee traffic patterns for weeks, our client's HR team spotted these natural "collision points" where different departments kept bumping into each other. We turned those spots into cozy nooks with coffee bars and comfy seating. Result? Cross-department collaboration shot up 34%. Not from forced "team building" - just from giving people inviting spaces to connect. It got me thinking about how the game has changed. Now 80% of HR leaders want employees involved in office moves. And they're right. AIA India has designed numerous beautiful offices, but our best work always comes when HR teams are deeply involved. They see things like - - The marketing team that does their best brainstorming in the kitchen - The quiet corner where sales and product teams naturally share customer insights - The dead spaces that kill collaboration You can't create a truly great workplace without understanding the humans who'll bring it to life. HR leaders get this. What's your take? #WorkplaceDesign #HumanResources #RealTalk #Leadership

Human Performance Collaboration & Team Science We often talk about multidisciplinary work without really unpacking what it means. In team science, there are three collaboration models: multidisciplinary, where experts from different fields work side-by-side but largely remain in their own lanes; interdisciplinary, where methods and perspectives begin to cross boundaries; and transdisciplinary, the highest level of collaboration, where expertise remains intact but boundaries dissolve as ideas and problem-solving are co-created. Importantly, transdisciplinary does not mean people step outside their qualifications or perform work they aren’t trained to do. In fact, when one discipline tries to masquerade as another, it’s the highest form of disciplinary disrespect—undermining both the integrity of the field and the trust of the team. True transdisciplinary work honors expertise by connecting it at full strength, creating something entirely new that no single discipline could achieve alone. As Stokols et al. (2008) put it: “Transdisciplinary collaborations are intended to transcend disciplinary boundaries by creating new frameworks, hypotheses, and methods that integrate and extend beyond the contributions of individual fields.” That’s the model of collaboration where performance and innovation truly thrive.

Here are a few management lessons I've learned from SpaceX engineers: 🙌 Empower Teams with Transparent Communication SpaceX values transparency at all levels, especially in management. Leaders are expected to communicate openly about challenges, timelines, and technical obstacles. This creates an environment where teams have clear expectations and can make informed decisions. Adopting transparent communication ensures alignment between teams and leadership, enabling more effective problem-solving. When everyone understands the priorities and challenges, it reduces bottlenecks and fosters a culture of accountability and collaboration. 🥇 Push for Aggressive Timelines Without Sacrificing Quality One of the distinguishing management practices at SpaceX is its ability to push teams toward aggressive timelines while still maintaining a focus on quality. Elon Musk famously sets ambitious (even crazy) deadlines to push the limits of what teams believe is possible, but it’s paired with an uncompromising commitment to technical excellence. Setting high expectations can drive innovation and rapid progress, but only when coupled with a clear focus on ensuring quality. Managing this balance is key to driving both speed and reliability in product development. 💡 Encourage Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration Teams work closely across different domains—avionics, propulsion, software, GNC, and more. This close collaboration ensures that all subsystems are optimized not just for individual performance but for the whole system. Promoting cross-disciplinary teamwork helps break down silos and ensures that every team understands the broader context of the product. This approach results in more integrated, cohesive systems, as well as faster identification and resolution of issues across departments. Cross-disciplinary collaboration also fosters new solutions by combining different perspectives and expertise. #venture #deeptech #spacetech #managment #engineering #product