Physical Environments and Employee Reactions: Effects of Stimulus-Screening Skills and Job Complexity

The Physical Environment of the Office: Contemporary and Emerging Issues

“…In partial support of these findings, O'Neill (1994) found a weak but significant relationship between job level and environmental satisfaction. Although job level has not been found to be significant in all studies (e.g., Ferguson & Weisman, 1986;Oldham et al, 1991), overall results support the assertion that managers and supervisors respond more negatively to environments that reduce their privacy. The mixed results in this area may partly be explained by the differing operationalization of job level, with some studies simply classifying respondents as managerial or not (e.g., O'Neill, 1994), others using aspects such as job type and number of supervisees (e.g., Ferguson & Weisman, 1986).…”

“…Environmental satisfaction, usually taken as the degree to which an individual is satisfied with their immediate workspace or area, has been frequently measured in some form in studies involving the physical environment (e.g., Brennan, Chugh, & Kline, 2002;May, Oldham, & Rathert, 2005;O'Neill, 1994;Oldham, 1988;Oldham, Kulik, & Stepina, 1991;Sundstrom, Burt, & Kamp, 1980;Sundstrom, Town, Rice, et al, 1994;Sutton & Rafaeli, 1987). Open-plan workspaces (e.g., Brennan, Chugh, & Kline, 2002) and those offices with raised density or increased proximity of co-workers (e.g., May, Oldham, & Rathert,, 2005;O;Neill, 1994;Oldham, 1988;Oldham, Kulik, & Stepina, 1991;Sundstrom, Burt, & Kamp, 1980) have been related to reduced levels of environmental satisfaction.…”

“…Open-plan workspaces (e.g., Brennan, Chugh, & Kline, 2002) and those offices with raised density or increased proximity of co-workers (e.g., May, Oldham, & Rathert,, 2005;O;Neill, 1994;Oldham, 1988;Oldham, Kulik, & Stepina, 1991;Sundstrom, Burt, & Kamp, 1980) have been related to reduced levels of environmental satisfaction. Given that environmental satisfaction has been found to be positively related to job satisfaction (e.g., Veitch, Charles, Farley, et al, 2007), and in turn to organizational commitment and turnover intent (Carlopio, 1996), clearly another risk that needs to be managed when introducing open-plan working is the potential concomitant decrease in job or work satisfaction (e.g., Oldham & Brass, 1979;Zalesny & Farace, 1987).…”

“…A number of studies have attempted to assess the effects that job level and complexity might have on workers' interactions with their environments (e.g., Brennan, Chugh, & Kline, 2002;Carlopio & Gardner, 1992;Ferguson & Weisman, 1986;Hedge, 1982;Konar, Sundstrom, Brady, et al, 1982;O'Neill, 1994;Oldham, Kulik, & Stepina, 1991;Sundstrom, Burt, & Kamp, 1980;Sundstrom, Herbert, & Brown, 1982;Zalesny & Farace, 1987). With regard to job level, Carlopio and Gardner (1992) found that managers were more satisfied in enclosed offices than their clerical colleagues.…”

“…Furthermore, studies have found that specific skills can influence the relationship between job complexity and reactions to the physical environment. For example, stimulus screening skills -how well an individual is able to screen out unimportant, unwanted aspects of their environment (Mehrabian, 1977) -have been found to interact with job complexity, with stronger screeners reporting more favorable outcomes than weak screeners in more open or distracting conditions (e.g., Fried, 1990;Oldham, Kulik, & Stepina, 1991). However, overall the literature is inconsistent: some field studies not having found significant relationships between task-complexity and the work environment (e.g., Sundstrom, Burt, & Kamp, 1980).…”