REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, NEW YORK - Walking while working, usually on a treadmill, has been gaining popularity in recent years, but the next office innovation should be standing while meeting, according to a new study.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, reported that groups working together on a project while standing were measurably more engaged and less territorial than while seated.

“A workspace that encourages people to stand up is going to lead to more collaborative and more creative outputs,” Andrew Knight told Reuters Health in an email.

The research was initially motivated by new building construction that resulted in meetings and conversations about new furniture design and layout at the university said Knight, who along with his coauthor Markus Baer, studies organizational behavior at the Olin Business School.

“I had read some of the research on non-sedentary work and standing desks that was focused on individual physiological benefits, but we were really intrigued and excited to see how the physical space might alter literally how people are interacting with and relating to one another over the course of the meeting,” Knight said.

The findings were published in Social Psychological and Personality Science.

For the study, the researchers recruited 214 students, who were asked to work together in small groups for 30 minutes to produce a university recruitment video that was recorded by a research assistant.

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