Greetings from Massachusetts, where I’ve just completed a series of face-to-face interviews with several technology and business executives at MassMutual for an upcoming Carrier Confidential feature.

The Springfield, Mass.-based carrier is in the midst of an ambitious and far reaching technology transformation effort and while the nuts and bolts of that initiative (including SOA and ECM implementations) dominated many of the conversations, MassMutual’s technology leadership made sure that the topic of workplace culture was discussed as well.

In part to facilitate the kind of collaboration and cross-department outreach that is needed to support these large technology and process transformation, MassMutual has taken time to reassess its work environment. And in two specific programs, says Rich Pedersen, MassMutual’s corporate vice president and division head for US insurance group systems, the company has completely changed it workplace layout to address those needs.

“We’ve changed completely the lay out of the room [in these cases]. There are big open spaces and big overstuffed chairs,” Pederson says. “It’s a much more conducive place for creative work and for doing that out-of-the-box type thinking.”

Also as part of that effort, IT and business workers were co-located in the same space to facilitate alignment between the two groups. Overall, the goal is for open spaces and non-hierarchical seating. “You can see from one end of the room to the other. It’s that open, expansive kind of feeling and it’s just a different way than [how] a traditional insurance company might have approached it even five years ago,” Pedersen says.

As someone who has worked in both stuffy, uninviting workspaces and in more open, collaborative areas (the I&T offices share much in common with MassMutual’s new spaces, although I wouldn’t mind a more “overstuffed” desk chair.) I believe that these efforts are more important than most realize.

If you treat someone like a cubicle monkey, don’t be surprised when they act like one. And, on the other hand, when you place your intellectual capital in a collaborative environment, don’t be surprised if you start to see better partnerships formed and more innovative ideas.

“It’s a move away from that expected conservatism towards a more collegial environment,” explains MassMutual deputy CIO Bob Casale. “People seem to respond well to that.”

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