Sensor-Based Organisational Design and Engineering

Abstract

We propose a sensor-based organisational design and engineering (ODE) approach that combines behavioural sensor data with other sources of information such as e-mail, surveys and performance data in order to design interventions aimed at improving organisational outcomes. We discuss relevant theory and technology backgrounds and describe the general requirements of a sensor-based organisational design and engineering system. We present an experimental platform that combines sensor measurements, pattern recognition algorithms, statistical analysis, social network analysis and feedback mechanisms to study the relationship between social signalling behaviour and face-to-face (f2f) interaction networks, with job attitudes and performance. We describe three case studies that we have conducted in several organisations using our experimental platform and the methodology that we have followed. The first study looks at e-mail and f2f networks in a marketing division of a bank. The second study analyses the effects of nurses’ social behaviour on patients’ length of stay in the post-anaesthesia care unit of a hospital. Finally, the third study analyses the effects of retail bank employees’ social behaviour on sales performance.