It is a proven fact that proximity to natural setting plays an important role in human well-being in the contexts of prisons, hospitals and residential settings. (Moore 1981 Ulrich 1984 Verderber 1986 West 1986 Kaplan Kaplan 1989) But little research is done in the context of the corporate settings. Purpose of the paper is to clarify the role of nature at workplace to the well-being of the employees
b) a clear statement of the problem the article addresses
Health Programs offered by the corporation to its employees are not money savers
A windowless environment tends to make employee more prone to fatigue and ill health
Employees with access to natural environment are high ranking executives and are more satisfied and patient
c) the significance of the problem
Corporate with spending on health program is just an eyewash benefits to the employee to either get them on roll or to retain them, research do say that employees do tend to have the same level of satisfaction and is a factor to retain the employee.
Employee spend maximum time in his work place , with out access to nature he is prone to fatigue and depression which could cause the change in the nature of the employee making him prone to frustration and in turn can cause other employees to effect their performance hitting the organization output.
Research showed that employees with higher ranks have more windows to their cabins than with lower ranking employees.
d) the literature it draws on
Author has incorporated support from
Collins (1975) who points out in a review on windows and people that people do not like to work in windowless offices.
Finnegan and Solomon (1981) who found job satisfaction and work attitudes were significantly related to the presence of windows for their sample of 123 office workers and healthcare providers.
Farrenkopf and Roth (1980) who reported that of their sample of 150 faculty members at two universities, half had windowed offices and those with higher academic rank had significantly more windows.
e) the approach or methods employed
Author conducted two studies each coming to the conclusion that the workforce with access to nature or working with nature were having much higher satisfaction.
Study 1 (Kaplan et al., 1988)
Sample included 168 employees from one large corporation and two public agencies
Majority were desk workers with 55 having no view to the outside and 60 could see natural elements from their work place. 48 participants worked outdoors.
Participation was voluntary and anonymous
Six-page survey form which titled Job Pressures Research Project with the explanation an attempt to understand both the pressures people face and how they deal with them is used for data collection
Questions were given five point rating scales ranging from not at all to a great deal and were about perceived job stresses, perceived effectiveness of various restorative opportunities, life satisfaction, physical health, and about some job setting characteristics
Study 2
Sample included 615 participants with sedentary jobs with 92 women participants
Five-page survey form is sent to a random sample of 1000 using the organizations internal mailing system
Cover letter was titled hassles are a part of life with an explanation daily hassles and their costs, as well as exploring ways that help people recover from their effects. In particular the study involves seeing whether plants and nature can be helpful in this process
Participants were assured of anonymity and confidentiality
Survey questions were on health, psychological functioning, life satisfaction, job satisfaction, recreational activities and home settings, as well as demographic settings
View from work questions- Participants were asked about difficulty of seeing outside and their likelihood of doing so and on the satisfaction with the view from the workplace and satisfaction with the opportunity to look out and whether the view was restorative
f) the basic findings
Study 1 showed that participants who worked outside in the natural environment felt less pressured, less frustrated and less harried.
Study 2 showed that the ratings of satisfaction with the view and the opportunity to look out strongly related to the ease of doing so but what could be seen out the window made a big difference. The availability of the nature in the view strongly affected satisfaction and restorative ratings. Those with a view of nature felt less frustrated and more patient. They found their job more challenging.
g) the implications,
Non of the Health programs are supported by any quantifiable proofs.
All studies carried out are an indicator to the nature and human correlation, and greater harmony prevail in an open work environment
An organization which has a better work place harmony with the environment do tend to achieve the job satisfaction among its employees, with less attrition even if the job has less pay
h) a critique in terms of the threats to validity of the study.Work setting is what an employee confronts most of his time and hence a view of the nature through the window definitely matters a lot for him. They provide an excellent means to reduce attentional fatigue. Though the author has only been able to give a theoretical fact, to ignore this fact would be a big mistake from the part of large corporations.
Categories:
0 comments:
Post a Comment