The Influence of the Physical Environment in Offices

The Physical Environment of the Office: Contemporary and Emerging Issues

“…The removal of physical barriers was seen as symbolic of the desired cultural change within the factory and led to greater integration between design and manufacturing. Like the aforementioned McElroy and Morrow (2010) field study, this case study illustrates the potential for open-plan offices not only to cut overheads or affect the frequency of interpersonal interaction, but also to act as a catalyst for wider cultural change within an organization (for further discussion of the symbolism of design see Davis, 1984;Vilnai-Yavetz, Rafaeli, & Yaacov, 2005).…”

“…Sundstrom, Town, Rice, et al (1994) have suggested that this is likely to be due to managers requiring greater confidentiality to perform aspects of their role. Alternatively or in addition, a symbolic interpretation would posit that managers and other higher level staff may experience negative reactions, not simply because of the functional inadequacies of an open-plan office, but also because of the loss of status and differentiation that uniform or smaller openplan workstations confer (for further discussions of this issue see Davis, 1984).…”

“…Theories and frameworks have been drawn from social relations, cognitive psychology, systems thinking, symbolic, and physiological standpoints to investigate relationships between workers and their physical environment (e.g., Altman, 1975;Baum & Paulus, 1987;Becker, 1981;Carnevale, 1992;Cohen, 1980;Cummings, 1978;Davis, 1984;De Croon, Sluiter, J., Kuijer, et al, 2005;Desor, 1972;Duffy, 1997;Elsbach & Pratt, 2007;Ferguson & Weisman, 1986;Festinger, Schachter, & Back, 1950;Geen & Gange, 1977;Oldham, Cummings, & Zhou, 1995;Paciuk, 1990;Paulus, 1980;Schuler, 1980;Steele, 1973;Stokols, Smith, & Prostor, 1975;Sundstrom, Burt, & Kamp, 1980;Sutton & Rafaeli, 1987;Vischer, 1989Vischer, , 2007. However, as discussed by several previous reviewers (e.g., Baron, 1994;Elsbach & Pratt, 2007;Oldham, Cummings, & Zhou, 1995), none of these approaches has received overwhelming empirical support.…”

Communication and Human Factors

“…Physical environments within organizations represent material, although subtle, constraints on behavior, interaction, and possible interpretations. Influential aspects of physical environments include social density, proximity, access, exposure, privacy, mobility, time-space paths, physical structure (architectural and construction choices), physical stimuli (artwork, noise), and symbolic artifacts (office size and windows) (Archea, 1977;Davis, 1984;Johnson, 1993). Physical elements not only facilitate and constrain activities and relations, but often represent particular resources and contexts (consider the familiar concept of the influence of "the water cooler" on emergent relations and communication climate).…”

Physical separation in the workplace: Separation cues, separation awareness, and employee motivation

“…Separation artifacts may also play a role in influencing organizational divisions in terms of ingroups and outgroups. Not surprisingly, organizational members attribute meaning to separation artifacts (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010), and these artifacts have consistently been found to be highly important to the functioning of organizations (Allen, 1977;Davis, 1984;Kelly, 1992;Laing, Craig, & White, 2011).…”