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Differential perceptions of teamwork, focused work and perceived productivity as an effect of desk characteristics within a workplace layout

The impact of the physical workplace on behaviors and attitudes at work is a much-studied topic. Major research streams over the last decades investigated either satisfaction with offices in relation to physical comfort, or how layout decisions influenced interaction and collaboration in the workpla...

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Autores principales: Sailer, Kerstin, Koutsolampros, Petros, Pachilova, Rosica
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8081188/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33909638
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250058
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author Sailer, Kerstin
Koutsolampros, Petros
Pachilova, Rosica
author_facet Sailer, Kerstin
Koutsolampros, Petros
Pachilova, Rosica
author_sort Sailer, Kerstin
collection PubMed
description The impact of the physical workplace on behaviors and attitudes at work is a much-studied topic. Major research streams over the last decades investigated either satisfaction with offices in relation to physical comfort, or how layout decisions influenced interaction and collaboration in the workplace with a focus on open-plan offices. Rather little is known on the effect a workplace layout (such as its openness) has on perceptions of staff regarding teamwork, focused work and perceived productivity. We aim to close this gap by taking a differential approach which appreciates detailed variations within open-plan offices. Not every corner of an office is the same, so the question arises whether satisfaction with workspace differs depending on where someone is sitting. Bringing results of a staff survey in the UK headquarters of a global technology company together with a detailed analysis of spatial qualities at desks based on isovist and visual field analysis, we find that staff are less likely to rate their workplace environment favorably when they have higher numbers of desks within their own field of vision; and when they are facing away from the room with a relatively larger area behind their back compared to the area surrounding them. Aspects of teamwork that are negatively affected include sharing information with others, as well as team identity and cohesion. Focused work (concentration) and working productively are impacted even more so with the largest effect sizes throughout. These findings highlight the relevance of investigating detailed spatial qualities of micro-locations in workplace layouts. Our results also raise important questions regarding the current popular practice in workplace design of providing large open-plan offices for technology companies.
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spelling pubmed-80811882021-05-06 Differential perceptions of teamwork, focused work and perceived productivity as an effect of desk characteristics within a workplace layout Sailer, Kerstin Koutsolampros, Petros Pachilova, Rosica PLoS One Research Article The impact of the physical workplace on behaviors and attitudes at work is a much-studied topic. Major research streams over the last decades investigated either satisfaction with offices in relation to physical comfort, or how layout decisions influenced interaction and collaboration in the workplace with a focus on open-plan offices. Rather little is known on the effect a workplace layout (such as its openness) has on perceptions of staff regarding teamwork, focused work and perceived productivity. We aim to close this gap by taking a differential approach which appreciates detailed variations within open-plan offices. Not every corner of an office is the same, so the question arises whether satisfaction with workspace differs depending on where someone is sitting. Bringing results of a staff survey in the UK headquarters of a global technology company together with a detailed analysis of spatial qualities at desks based on isovist and visual field analysis, we find that staff are less likely to rate their workplace environment favorably when they have higher numbers of desks within their own field of vision; and when they are facing away from the room with a relatively larger area behind their back compared to the area surrounding them. Aspects of teamwork that are negatively affected include sharing information with others, as well as team identity and cohesion. Focused work (concentration) and working productively are impacted even more so with the largest effect sizes throughout. These findings highlight the relevance of investigating detailed spatial qualities of micro-locations in workplace layouts. Our results also raise important questions regarding the current popular practice in workplace design of providing large open-plan offices for technology companies. Public Library of Science 2021-04-28 /pmc/articles/PMC8081188/ /pubmed/33909638 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250058 Text en © 2021 Sailer et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Sailer, Kerstin
Koutsolampros, Petros
Pachilova, Rosica
Differential perceptions of teamwork, focused work and perceived productivity as an effect of desk characteristics within a workplace layout
title Differential perceptions of teamwork, focused work and perceived productivity as an effect of desk characteristics within a workplace layout
title_full Differential perceptions of teamwork, focused work and perceived productivity as an effect of desk characteristics within a workplace layout
title_fullStr Differential perceptions of teamwork, focused work and perceived productivity as an effect of desk characteristics within a workplace layout
title_full_unstemmed Differential perceptions of teamwork, focused work and perceived productivity as an effect of desk characteristics within a workplace layout
title_short Differential perceptions of teamwork, focused work and perceived productivity as an effect of desk characteristics within a workplace layout
title_sort differential perceptions of teamwork, focused work and perceived productivity as an effect of desk characteristics within a workplace layout
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8081188/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33909638
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250058
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