Sociologists have long recognised that organisations of less than 200 individuals can operate through the free flow of information among the members. Once their size goes beyond this figure, the organizations are getting less flexible. So it seems necessary to prevent total disorder resulting from failures of communication.
社会学家早就认识到，少于200人的组织可以通过成员之间的信息自由流动来运作。一旦规模超过这个数字，组织的灵活性就会降低。因此，似乎有必要防止因沟通失败而导致的全面混乱。
One solution to this problem would, of course, be to structure large organisations into smaller units of a size that can act as a group. By allowing these groups to build reliance on each other, larger organizations can be built up. However, merely having groups of, say, 150 will never of itself be a complete solution to the problems of the organization. Something else is needed: the people involved must be able to build direct personal relationships. To allow free flow of information, they have to be able to communicate with each other in a casual way. Maintaining too formal a structure of relationships inevitably prevents the way a system works.
当然，解决这一问题的一个办法是将大型组织拆分成规模较小、可以作为一个团体的单元。通过允许这些组织建立相互依赖，可以建立更大的组织。然而，150人的团队本身并不能完全解决组织的问题。还需要：参与的人必须能够建立直接的个人关系。为了让信息自由流动，他们必须能够以随意的方式相互交流。维持过于正式的关系结构不可避免地阻碍了系统的工作方式。
The importance of this was drawn to my attention two years ago by the case of a TV station. Whether by chance or by design, it so happened that there were almost exactly 150 people in the station. The whole process worked very smoothly as an organization for many years until they were moved into purpose-built accommodation. Then, for no apparent reason, the work seemed to be more difficult to do, not to say less satisfying.
两年前，一家电视台的案例引起了我对这一点的重视。无论是偶然还是有意，车站里几乎正好有150人。多年来，作为一个组织，整个过程非常顺利，直到他们搬进专门建造的住所。然后，由于没有明显的原因，这项工作似乎更难完成，更不用说不太令人满意了。
It was some time before they work out what the problem was. It turn out that, when the architects were designing the new building, they decided that the coffee room where everyone ate their sandwiches at lunch times was an unnecessary luxury and so did away with it. And with that, they accidentally destroyed the close social networks that strengthened the whole organization. What had apparently been happening was that, as people gathered informally over their sandwiches in the coffee room, useful information was casually being exchanged.
他们过了一段时间才弄清楚问题是什么。事实证明，当建筑师在设计新建筑时，他们认为用于每个人在午餐时间吃三明治的咖啡厅是一种不必要的奢侈，因此放弃了它。因此，他们意外地破坏了加强整个组织的密切社交网络。显然，当人们在咖啡厅非正式地聚在一起吃三明治时，有用的信息被随意地交换了。
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