Tobias Otterbring, Christina Bodin Danielsson and Jörg Pareigis
This study aims to examine the links between office types (cellular, shared-room, small and medium-sized open-plan) and employees' subjective well-being regarding cognitive and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the links between office types (cellular, shared-room, small and medium-sized open-plan) and employees' subjective well-being regarding cognitive and affective evaluations and the role perceived noise levels at work has on the aforementioned associations.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey with measures of office types, perceived noise levels at work and the investigated facets of subjective well-being (cognitive vs affective) was distributed to employees working as real estate agents in Sweden. In total, 271 useable surveys were returned and were analyzed using analyses of variance (ANOVAs) and a regression-based model mirroring a test of moderated mediation.
Findings
A significant difference was found between office types on the well-being dimension related to cognitive, but not affective, evaluations. Employees working in cellular and shared-room offices reported significantly higher ratings on this dimension than employees working in open-plan offices, and employees in medium-sized open-plan offices reported significantly lower cognitive evaluation scores than employees working in all other office types. This pattern of results was mediated by perceived noise levels at work, with employees in open-plan (vs cellular and shared-room) offices reporting less satisfactory noise perceptions and, in turn, lower well-being scores, especially regarding the cognitive (vs affective) dimension.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to compare the relative impact of office types on both cognitive and affective well-being dimensions while simultaneously testing and providing empirical support for the presumed process explaining the link between such aspects.
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Christina Bodin Danielsson, Cornelia Wulff and Hugo Westerlund
This explorative study aims to examine the impact of office type on employees' perception of managerial leadership, a largely unexplored area. A gender perspective is applied to…
Abstract
Purpose
This explorative study aims to examine the impact of office type on employees' perception of managerial leadership, a largely unexplored area. A gender perspective is applied to examine whether women and men perceive leadership differently in different office types.
Design/methodology/approach
Cross-sectional study is based on 5,358 office employees from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Study of Health in 2010. The employees worked in the seven different office types identified in contemporary office design: cell-offices, shared-room offices, small open plan offices, medium-sized open plan offices, large open plan offices, flex-offices, and combi-offices. Cell-office was used as reference in the analysis.
Findings
Poorer ratings of leadership were found in shared-room offices, and better in medium-sized open plan offices. A tendency towards a gender difference in perceived leadership was found only in small open plan offices, which appear to be better for men and worse for women.
Practical implications
The results suggest that the office environment has an influence on perceived managerial leadership. This means office design should be considered in relation to leadership style in order for an organization to be successful.
Originality/value
To the authors' knowledge, no other study has investigated the relationship between office environment and managerial leadership.
Details
Keywords
The concept of Lean office design has emerged, claiming to support an efficient labour process. This article aims to investigate how the two main perspectives identified in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The concept of Lean office design has emerged, claiming to support an efficient labour process. This article aims to investigate how the two main perspectives identified in the Lean office: the neo-Tayloristic approach and the team-based approach, based in different historical backgrounds, use the office design to shorten lead time and free up time.
Design/methodology/approach
An extensive review is done in the article of what the Lean office concept means for different research areas and to practitioners.
Findings
The study presents the two Lean office perspectives in relation to each other, something that has not been done before since it is only recently the team-based Lean office was introduced. The study also presents possible risk and benefits of two perspectives from an employee and organizational perspective.
Research limitations/implications
Since this is a first exploratory review of the Lean office concept based on theories and examples from design practice, further empirical studies are needed to determine risks and benefits of the concept.
Practical implications
The clarifying examples in the article make it useful for people involved in the design and building process of offices.
Originality/value
The article brings together the fields of labour process, office research and facility management with the design practice and presents the two perspectives Lean office design in relation to each other, which has not been done before since the team-based Lean office has only recently been introduced.