Thursday, October 11, 2007
Working in an open plan office
There's been a bit of discussion in the Times Higher recently about flexible working and open plan offices (see "Say goodbye to the office" 28th Sept p. 48 and a letter "Open plan needs good planning" 5th October p.15). You can see from the title of the letter which way this is leaning with comments such as "nothing prepared me for the open-plan offices I have encountered in universities: as many desks as possible arranged in a large room, with apparently no thought given to team dynamics, noise management, privacy, heating and ventilation, storage space, meeting space or even cleaning." (5/10) Also "It is impossible to think, write, exchange ideas here. Thinking and writing has to be done at home or while travelling to/from work. It is noisy and any discussion interrupts other staff." (28/9)
There was also a lot of discussion about working in open plan offices on one of the lists I subscribe to, the following article was mentioned (our institution subscribes to Ergonomics journal) :
Office noise and employee concentration: Identifying causes of disruption and potential improvements
SP Banbury A1 and DC Berry A2
A1 School of Psychology Cardiff University UKA2 Department of Psychology Reading University UK
Ergonomics, Volume 48, Number 1 / January 2005, p. 25 - 37
Abstract:
A field study assessed subjective reports of distraction from various office sounds among 88 employees at two sites. In addition, the study examined the amount of exposure the workers had to the noise in order to determine any evidence for habituation. Finally, respondents were asked how they would improve their environment (with respect to noise), and to rate examples of improvements with regards to their job satisfaction and performance. Out of the sample, 99% reported that their concentration was impaired by various components of office noise, especially telephones left ringing at vacant desks and people talking in the background. No evidence for habituation to these sounds was found. These results are interpreted in the light of previous research regarding the effects of noise in offices and the 'irrelevant sound effect'. ¶ 2:59 pm
There was also a lot of discussion about working in open plan offices on one of the lists I subscribe to, the following article was mentioned (our institution subscribes to Ergonomics journal) :
Office noise and employee concentration: Identifying causes of disruption and potential improvements
SP Banbury A1 and DC Berry A2
A1 School of Psychology Cardiff University UKA2 Department of Psychology Reading University UK
Ergonomics, Volume 48, Number 1 / January 2005, p. 25 - 37
Abstract:
A field study assessed subjective reports of distraction from various office sounds among 88 employees at two sites. In addition, the study examined the amount of exposure the workers had to the noise in order to determine any evidence for habituation. Finally, respondents were asked how they would improve their environment (with respect to noise), and to rate examples of improvements with regards to their job satisfaction and performance. Out of the sample, 99% reported that their concentration was impaired by various components of office noise, especially telephones left ringing at vacant desks and people talking in the background. No evidence for habituation to these sounds was found. These results are interpreted in the light of previous research regarding the effects of noise in offices and the 'irrelevant sound effect'. ¶ 2:59 pm
