Please Sit With Your Group

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Please Sit With Your Group
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Office Layout Exercise

• In your group, design the office layout
• for Pegasus Software as described in
• the handout materials.

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Discussion Questions

• (1) What were the key factors that influenced
  your design? For example, cost, privacy (yours,
  employees), status, other?
• (2) How does the office design youve created
  compare with offices you may have worked in?
• (3) Be prepared to make a 2 minute presentation
  to the rest of your class about your design
  (including showing your floor plan for the
  overhead projector)

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Workplace Environmental Psychology
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A Model of Workplace Environmental Psychology
Rules Incentives Management style
Worker Characteristics
Work Policies
Age Education Experience Job level Personality Abi
lity Motivation
Worker- Environment Interaction
Outcomes
Psychological Processes
Performance Feelings Health Stress Interpersonal
behaviors
Arousal Personal control Adaptation Overload Affec
t
Congruence Meaning
Physical Work Setting
Sound Temperature Air Light color Space
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A Model of Workplace Environmental Psychology
Worker Characteristics
Work Policies
Worker- Environment Interaction
Outcomes
Psychological Processes
Performance Feelings Health Stress Interpersonal
behaviors
Physical Work Setting
Sound Temperature Air Light color Space
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Environmental Variables Noise Music

• Performance
• Feelings
• Health Stress
• Social Behavior

Simple tasks noise doesnt hurt (may help)
Complex tasks - noise hurts performance
Music research findings are mixed
Workers believe noise hurts performance
Workers believe music helps performance
High levels of noise/music can cause hearing loss
Noise limits acoustical privacy Noise causes
people to be less helpful Noise can negatively
affect judgment of peers
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Your Personal Experiences with Noise Music in
the Environment??
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Environmental Variables Temperature

• Performance
• Feelings
• Health Stress
• Social Behavior

Performance goes down as temperature goes up Fine
motor skills start to degrade below 570 F Cool
offices dont affect cognitive tasks
Comfort range defined for temp/clothing
combinations Effective temp. index of
temp/humidity/air motion Perceived control over
temperature desired
With appropriate clothing, workers can adapt to
wide range of temps. Long-term exposure ?
cardiovascular disease
Heat may increase aggression
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Your Personal Experiences with Hot and/or Cold
Environments??
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Environmental Variables Air Quality

• Performance
• Feelings
• Health Stress
• Social Behavior

CO and bad-smelling air can reduce
performance High negative ion concentration may
help performance Fragrances may lead to
temporary improvement
Most workers think air circulation is bad _at_
office Mixed reaction to fragrances in air
Sick building Syndrome Chemical sensitivity to
fragrances
Nonsmokers like other nonsmokers Smokers like
other smokers
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Mold in duct work of building
Sick Building Syndrome a disease of modern
architecture sealed, energy conserving buildings
continually recycle air which may contain
contaminants. OSHA estimate 1/3 of indoor
workers work in sick buildings
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Environmental Variables Air Quality

• Performance
• Feelings
• Health Stress
• Social Behavior

CO and bad-smelling air can reduce
performance High negative ion concentration may
help performance Fragrances may lead to
temporary improvement
Most workers think air circulation is bad _at_
office Mixed reaction to fragrances in air
Sick building Syndrome Chemical sensitivity to
fragrances
Nonsmokers like other nonsmokers Smokers like
other smokers
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Your Personal Experiences with Air Quality issues
in the Workplace??
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Environmental Variables Light

• Performance
• Feelings
• Health Stress
• Social Behavior

Performance generally increases with more
light Lighting should be tailored to the task
Darker offices are less satisfying Employees like
outdoor light Windows increase satisfaction
reduce boredom
More light can reduce industrial accidents Light
important for certain nutrients Glare (from VDT)
-- major source of eyestrain Seasonal Affective
Disorder (SAD)
Little research on effect of light on social
behavior in office settings
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Your Personal Experiences with Lighting or
Windows in the Workplace??
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Environmental Variables Space

• Performance
• Feelings
• Health Stress
• Social Behavior

Performance declines in offices with higher
density and less privacy Open plan offices
improve social communication but not
work-related communication
Most workers dislike open plan offices Visitors
perceptions of offices occupants in- fluenced
by neatness, furniture arrangement, etc.
Open plan office workers report more headaches
other psychosomatic symptoms
Status issues Open plan offices lead to more
communication but less confidential
communication Workers prefer to be able to
personalize work areas
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Environmental Variables Space

• Performance
• Feelings
• Health Stress
• Social Behavior

Performance declines in offices with higher
density and less privacy Open plan offices
improve social communication but not
work-related communication
Most workers dislike open plan offices Visitors
perceptions of offices occupants in- fluenced
by neatness, furniture arrangement, etc.
Open plan office workers report more headaches
other psychosomatic symptoms
Status issues Open plan offices lead to more
communication but less confidential
communication Workers prefer to be able to
personalize work areas
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Your Personal Experiences with Office Layout?
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Faculty Office Design and Student Reactions

• How does faculty office design affect students
• perceptions and interactions with faculty?

• 2 studies
• Zweigenhaft (1976)
• Campbell (1979)
• (summarized on your handout)

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Zweigenhaft compared 2 office arrangements
Faculty sits opposite student (desk between)
Faculty sits adjacent to student
(desk not between)
His hypothesis faculty who place desk between
selves and students would be more distant from
students, i.e., older, higher rank, less student
oriented
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Zweigenhafts results
Faculty sits opposite student (desk between)
Faculty sits adjacent to student
(desk not between)
From evaluations
Faculty Status Jr Sr Age
Encouraged different Show Gave
individual student viewpoints
Favoritism Attention
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Campbell looked at student responses to various
office characteristics
The presence of living things
Aesthetic objects
Neatness
Furniture arrangements
Desk between
Desk adjacent
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Campbell found
Positive Ratings of Professor expected comfort
with professor


Clutter led to strong negative feelings
Little impact on ratings
Furniture arrangement
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What is the impact of color?

• lots of claims about the impact of color on
  performance and morale with little research
  support
• Some consistency in workers preferences for
  color schemes in workplace
• Research on the meaning of colors does not find
  consistent associations

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Color scheme preferences among office workers
Preference ()
Color Scheme Neutral colors (e.g., beige,
putty or tan) Pastel colors (e.g., light
blue or pale yellow) White Warm colors
(yellows and reds) Cool colors (blues and
greens) Subdued colors with intense color
accents Grays Intense colors (e.g., fire
engine red or kelly green)
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67 (2)
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59 (3)
72 ( 1)
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The meaning of color2 studies
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Designing More Fitting Environments
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Two contrasting approachesFormal Design vs.
Social Design

• Formal Design
• large-scale
• corporate
• high cost
• exclusive
• authoritarian
• high tech
• concerned with
• style
• the paying client
• national focus

• Social Design
• small-scale
• human oriented
• low cost
• inclusive
• democratic
• low tech
• concerned with
• meaning and context
• occupants the paying client
• local focus

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What happens when good architects design bad
buildings?
(Destruction of Pruitt-Igoe public housing units)
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Factors contributing to design problems

• Architects view designs differently than end
  users professional training can lead to
• more complex cognitive styles
• authoritarian values (not involving end
  user)
• misunderstanding of client needs
• Misguided way that architects win recognition
• winning awards in competitions judged by other
  architects
• problem designs that impress other architects
  may not impress (or work for) laypeople!

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6 Social Design Process Goals

• 1. Create physical settings that match the needs
  and activities of their occupants
• 2. Satisfy building users
• 3. Change behavior
• 4. Enhance occupants personal control
• 5. Facilitate social support
• 6. Employ imageability

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The end
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The following 2 slides were used as templates for
handouts in class
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Rules Incentives Management style
Worker Characteristics
Work Policies
Experience Job level Personality Ability Motivatio
n
Worker- Environment Interaction
Outcomes
Psychological Processes
Arousal Personal control Adaptation Overload Affec
t
Performance Feelings Health Stress Interpersonal
behaviors
Physical Work Setting
Congruence Meaning
Sound Temperature Air Light color Space
Psychology 125 Spring 2002 Goldstein
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Psychology 125 Fall 2001
Hallway
S T A I R W E L L
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