{"product_id":"the-organization-and-architecture-of-innovation-managing-the-flow-of-technology","title":"The Organization and Architecture of Innovation: Managing the Flow of Technology","description":"\u003cp\u003eBuilding on his pioneering work on the management of technology and innovation in his first book  Managing the Flow of Technology  Thomas J. Allen of MIT has joined with award-winning German architect Gunter Henn of HENN Architekten to produce a book that explores the combined use of two management tools to make the innovation process most effective: organizational structure and physical space. They present research demonstrating how organizational structure and physical space each affect communication among peoplein this case  engineers  scientists  and others in technical organizationsand they illustrate how organizations can transform both to increase the transfer of technical knowledge and maximize the communication for inspiration that is central to the innovation process. Allen and Henn illustrate their points with discussions of well-known buildings around the world  including Audis corporate headquarters  Steelcases corporate design center  and the Corning Glass Becker building  as well as several of Gunter Henns own projects  including the Skoda automotive factory in the Czech Republic and the Faculty for Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University of Munich. Allen and Henn then demonstrate the principles developed in their work by discussing in detail one example in which organizational structure and physical space were combined successfully to promote innovation with impressive results: HENN Architektens Project House for the BMW Group Research and Innovation Centre in Munich  cited by Business Week (April 24  2006) in naming BMW one of the worlds most innovative companies. Professor Thomas Allen is the originator of the Allen curve. In the late 1970s  Tom Allen undertook a project to determine how the distance between engineers offices coincided with the level of regular technical communication between them. The results of that research  now known as the Allen Curve  revealed a distinct correlation between distance and frequency of communication (i.e. the more distance there is between people  50 meters or more to be exact  the less they will communicate). This principle has been incorporated into forward-thinking commercial design ever since  in  for example  The Decker Engineering Building in New York  the Steelcase Corporate Development Center in Michigan  and BMWs Research Center in Germany.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44951996891189,"sku":"ByrdShop_0750682361","price":55.54,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780750682367.jpg?v=1770147612","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-organization-and-architecture-of-innovation-managing-the-flow-of-technology","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}