Combining organisational and physical location to manage knowledge dissemination (journal article)
by Thomas J. Allen, Breffni Tomlin, Oscar Hauptman
from International Journal of Technology Management 2008 - Vol. 44, No.1/2 pp. 234 - 250 "As the physical distance between engineers' workstations increases, the probability that they will communicate regularly decreases rapidly. As with many things in nature, this probability declines as the inverse square of distance. At the same time, it must be remembered that while separation decreases the probability of communication, even very close physical proximity does not guarantee communication. Although engineers are more likely to communicate if closer together, the probability remains low in the absence of other relations. Unless people have a reason to communicate frequently about technical issues they will not do so, even over very short distances. "