This ethnographic study extends the findings of earlier research that examined the impact of workplace design features on newly acquired communication skills back on the job. The qualitative nature of this earlier study, however, limited quantitative measurement of the design features and learned skills. The present study examined supervisor perceptions about the relative importance of organizational factors affecting transfer, measured relationships between learned skills and workplace design features, and prioritized the importance of the design features to support learned communication skills. Participants in this case study held nonacademic supervisory positions at a major land-grant university. The supervisors had attended a communication skills training workshop and had been applying their learned skills for about 6 months. The findings indicate that workplace design appears to play a vital role in facilitating as well as impeding communication skills transfer in face-to-face interaction with employees. As a case study, organizations should not infer that these findings apply to all work settings as it may depend on the relevancy to the particular work situation and circumstances.
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