Architectural enclosure's effect on office worker performance: A comparison of the physical and symbolic attributes of workspace dividers

Abstract

Most studies of offices examine their physical or symbolic attributes independently. Yet office components can contain both attributes. To minimize unintended but potentially negative effects on occupants, researchers must consider both the physical and symbolic attributes of components when making recommendations about their deployment. This study compares the effects of the physical and symbolic attributes of architectural enclosure on worker performance using a survey database that contains workers' ratings of their office components. The amount of enclosure is determined by the height of the occupant's workspace divider, with taller dividers offering more enclosure. Divider height is positively associated with ratings of the two physical attributes considered: speech privacy and visual privacy. Divider height, however, does not affect occupants' ratings of a home-like atmosphere or workplace pride, the symbolic attributes considered. Yet, the occupants indicate that the two symbolic attributes are more important than the two physical attributes in improving their work performance. This might lead to office design choices. An office designed to maximize worker performance might do so by maximizing its symbolic impact. This analysis suggests that an office's symbolic impact may not always be increased by including more offices with tall dividers like enclosed, private offices.

The many faces of office noise – case contact center

“…2004;Jensen & Arens, 2005;Evans & Johnson, 2000;Sundström & al. 1999) Further, as resent studies by Goins, Jellema and Zhang (2010) and Rasila and Rothe (2011) suggest the office features are not either advantages or problems but each office feature may have both positive and negative consequences. Thus assuming that office noise is merely a problem for the office users is an over-simplification.…”

Text mining for occupant perspectives on the physical workplace

“…For example, some workers play music to cope with noise or to suit their work style, and the music in turn annoys others and limits the kind of work that can be (Klitzman and Stellman, 1989). Goins et al (2010) suggests that the symbolic meaning of workplace organization and design are, overall, more important to worker performance than the physical attributes per se, and many open-ended comments seem to support that conclusion. At extremes, physical qualities may overwhelm other concerns, but, overall, comments about workplace organization and design transcend dimension-by-dimension assessment of physical qualities (Vischer, 2008).…”

The Rise of the Productive Non-Place

“…Carpet in an office exists only by virtue of its symbolic implication of domesticity and stability. The symbolic effect of carpet should not be dismissed; as Goins, Jellema, and Zhang (2010) suggest the symbolic design of an office is at least as important, if not more important for the psychological perception of staff, than physical elements.…”