Background
Allen, Thomas John was born on August 20, 1931 in Newark. Son of Thomas John and Margaret Ann (Conley) Allen.
( The original edition of this book summarized more than ...)
The original edition of this book summarized more than a decade of work on communications flow in science and engineering organizations, showing how human and organizational systems could be restructured to bring about improved productivity and better person-to-person contact. While many studies have been done since then, few of them invalidate the general conclusions and recommendations Allen offers. In a new preface he points out - new developments, noting areas that need some modification, elaboration, or extension, and directing readers to the appropriate journal articles where the findings, are reported.The first three chapters provide an overview of the communication system in technology, present the author's research methods, and describe differences in the career paths and goals of engineers and scientists that cause special problems for organizations. The book then discusses how technological information is acquired by the R & D organization, shows how critical technical communication within the laboratory is for R & D performance, and originates the idea of the "gatekeeper," the person who links his or her organization to the world at large. Concluding chapters take up the influence of formal and informal organization and of architecture and office layouts on communication. Many of these ideas have been successfully incorporated by architects and managers in the design of new R & D facilities and complexes.Thomas J. Allen is Professor of Organizational Psychology and Management at MIT's Sloan School of Management.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0262010488/?tag=2022091-20
(Building on his pioneering work on the management of tech...)
Building 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 people―in this case, engineers, scientists, and others in technical organizations―and 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 Audi’s corporate headquarters, Steelcase’s corporate design center, and the Corning Glass Becker building, as well as several of Gunter Henn’s 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 Architekten’s 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 world’s 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 BMW’s Research Center in Germany.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0750682361/?tag=2022091-20
Allen, Thomas John was born on August 20, 1931 in Newark. Son of Thomas John and Margaret Ann (Conley) Allen.
Bachelor of Science, Upsala College, East Orange, New Jersey, 1954. Postgraduate, University Washington, 1958. Master of Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1963.
Doctor of Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1966. Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), Ramon Llull University, Spain, 2003. Doctor Management (honorary), Rijkuniversiteit Gent, Belgium, 1990.
Doctor of Science (honorary), Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, 1992. Doctor in Engineering (honorary), Linkoping University, Sweden, 1998.
Design engineer, Tung-Sol Electric Company, Bloomfield, New Jersey, 1956-1957; research engineer, Boeing Company, Seattle, 1957-1964; research associate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 1963-1966; D Business Administration (honorary), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, since 1966; associate chairman faculty, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1983-1985; MacVicar faculty fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, since 1993; senior associate dean, Howard W. Johnson professor management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, since 1994. Distinguished visiting professor U. College Dublin, Ireland, 1993. Honorary member of faculty Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, since 1992.
( The original edition of this book summarized more than ...)
( The original edition of this book summarized more than ...)
(Building on his pioneering work on the management of tech...)
Chairman Catholic-Jewish Committee, Boston, 1977-1979. Chairman of the Board Rosary Academy, Watertown, Massachusetts, 1976-1979. Trustee Mount St. Joseph Academy, Boston, since 1992.
Served to sergeant United States Marine Corps, 1954-1956. Fellow American Association for the Advancement of Science. Member Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, American Psychological Association, Irish American Cultural Association, Sigma Xi.
Married Joan Marie Gilmartin, January 28, 1961. Children: Thomas John, Susan Marie, Máirín.