AN APPRAISAL OF THE DETERMINANT OF PHYSICAL WORKING ENVIRONMENT ON ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

In today’s competitive business environment, organizations can no longer afford to waste the potential of their workforce. There are key factors in the employee’s physical working environment that impact greatly on their level of motivation and performance. The physical working environment that is set in place impacts employee morale, productivity and engagement – both positively and negatively. It is not just coincidence that new programs addressing lifestyle changes, work/life balance, health and fitness – previously not considered key benefits – are now primary considerationsof potential employees, and common practices among the most admired companies.

The environment is man’s immediate surrounding which he manipulates for his existence. Wrongful manipulation introduces hazards that make the environments unsafe and impede the productivity rate of the worker. Therefore,the workplace entails an environment in which the worker performs his work (Chapins, 1995) while an effective workplace is an environment where results can be achieved as expected by management (Mike, 2010; Shikdar, 2002). Physical working environment affect how employees in an organization interact, perform tasks, and are led. Physical working environment as an aspect of the work environment have directly affected the human sense and subtly changed interpersonal interactions and thus productivity. This is so because the characteristics of a room or a place of meeting for a group have consequences regarding productivity and performance level. The physical workplace environment is the most critical factor in keeping an employee satisfied in today’s business world. Today’s workplaceis different, diverse, and constantly changing. The typical employer/employee relationship of old has been turned upside down. Workers are living in a growing economy and have almost limitless job opportunities. This combination of factors has created an environment where the business needs its employees more than the employees need the business (Smith, 2011).

A large number of physical work environment studies have shown that workers/users are satisfied with reference to specific workspace features. These features preference by users are highly significant to their productivity and workspace performance, they are lighting, ventilation rates, access to natural light and acoustic environment (Humphries, 2005; Veitch, Charles, Newsham, Marquardt &Geerts, 2004; Karasek& Theorell, 1990).

Lighting and other factors like ergomic furniture has been found to have positive influence on employees health (Dilani, 2004; Milton, Glencross& Walters, 2000; Veitch&Newsham, 2000) and consequently on productivity. This is so because light has a profound impact on worker’s/people’s physical, physiological and psychological health, and on their overall performance at the workplace. Ambient features in office environments, such as lighting, temperature, existence of windows, free air movement etc, suggest that these elements of thephysical environment influence employee’s attitudes, behaviours, satisfaction, performance and productivity (Larsen, Adams, Deal, Kweon& Tyler, 1998).

Closed office floor plan, whether each employee has a separate office of their own or there are a few people in each closed office, allows staff a greater amount of privacy than an open plan office layout. They have the chance to work in peace and quiet, keeping themfocused on the tasks in hand without getting overtly distracted by what their colleagues are doing. It offers employees a thinking fame or be creative without much interruption (Mwbex, 2010). In the open office plan, noise existence is stressful and demotivating, posses’ high level of distraction and disturbance coupled with low privacy level (Evans & Johnson, 2000).

With technological development, innovative communication methods, virtual reality; e-market improvement and alternative work patterns, workplace continues to change rapidly (Challenger, 2000). To accommodate these rapid changes while maintaining or improving outcomes, organizations have increasingly turned to some version of environment such as open office space (Terricone and Luca, 2002). This type of work environment supports new styles of working and flexible workplaces which offers interpersonal access and ease of communication compared to fully enclosed private offices. This change to open plan office has increased employee’s productivity compared to closed office spaces (Becker, 2002).

Furthermore, it is easier to communicate with someone whom you can see more easily than someone adjacent/distant or separated by objects from you (J’Istvan in Business (2010). The open office creates egalitarian system with equal working conditions that reduces the distance between employees and improves communication flow (Brennan, Chugh& Kline, 2002, Hedge, 1986, 2000).

Noise is one of the leading causes of employees’ distraction, leading to reduced productivity, serious inaccuracies, and increased job-related stress. According to Bruce (2008), study showed that workplace distractions cut employee productivity by as much as 40%, and increase errors by 27%. Also, Moloney (2011) citing Loftness study of 2003 confirmed the importance of natural light and air (ventilation) to worker performance. The study showed a 3-18% gain in productivity in buildings with day-lighting system.

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The physical working environment in a majority of organizations and industry isunsafe and unhealthy. These includes poorly designed workstations, unsuitable furniture, lack of ventilation, inappropriate lighting, excessive noise,insufficient safety measures in fire emergencies andlack of personal protective equipment. People working in such environment are prone to occupational disease and it impacts on employee’s performance. Thus organizational performance is decreased due to the workplace environment. It is a wide occupational area where the employees are facing a serious problemin their work place like environmental and physical factors. So it will be difficult to provide facilities to increase their performance level.