Territory + Personal Space (social)

Question 1

personal space

Answer 1

• An area with invisible boundaries, surrounding a persons body, into which intruders may not come!
• The size of these zones can be influenced by:
  > Individual factors: age, gender , a person’s cultural background , personality (introvert, extrovert)
  > Situational factors: temperature, light

Question 2

Theory 1: Personal Space – Hall (1969) Different Zones

Answer 2

In western culture there are sort to be four zones of interpersonal distance.
1. Intimate 0 - 45cm
2. Personal 45 – 120 cm
3. Social 120 – 365 cm
4. Public 365cm +

Question 3

Invasion of personal space Middlemist (1976)

Answer 3

• investigated impact of invasions of personal space
• results confirmed that closer distances is bathrooms leads to increases urination delay + decrease in urination persistence
• proposes that close interpersonal distances are interpersonal stressful, increasing arousal and discomfort

Question 4

types of territory - Altman 1975

Answer 4

• Primary- Clear boundaries-inappropriate to invade without permission (house)
• Secondary- Temporary ownership- sit in the same seat every lesson then someone sits there one time (classroom)
• Public- May use markers to claim areas that are mostly respected by others (area of beach)

Question 5

Key Study – Wells (2000)

Answer 5

Office clutter or meaningful personal displays: The role of office personalisation in employee and organisational well-being

Question 6

extent to which the 3 types of territory is occupied

Answer 6

• primary = high - perceived to be owned in a relatively perenant manner by occupant + others
• secondary = moderate - not owned; occupant perceived by others as one of a number of qualified users
• public = low - not owned; control is very difficult to assert, and occupant is perceived by others as one of a large number of possible users

Question 6

likelihood of defence if violated

Answer 6

• primary = extensively personalised - owner has complete control and intrusion is a serious matter
• secondary = may be personalised to some extent during period of legitimate occupancy; some regulatory power when individual is legitimate
• public = sometimes personalised in a temporary way; little likelihood of defence

Question 7

background of Wells

Answer 7

• people personalise their workspaces with things such as family photographs and mementoes.
• previous research has suggested that there are gender differences in personalisation but has not empirically tested whether personalisation of an employees workspace can enhance well-being.
• Meredith wells wanted to test whether this was the case as well as looking at gender differences

Question 8

aim of Wells

Answer 8

• Is office personalisation associated with employee well-being?
• Does Gender effect how we personalise our office space?
• Does Gender effect whether office personalisation effects well-being?

Question 9

hypotheses of wells

Answer 9

1. Men and women will personalise their offices differently.
2. Personalisation will be positively associated with employee wellbeing (improve job satisfaction due to work environment)
3. Workspace personalisation will be more integral to the well-being of women than men.
4. Companies that have more lenient personalisation policies will report higher levels of organisational well-being than companies with stricter policies

Question 10

research method

Answer 10

• Self-report method to gather data in relation to the four research questions and hypotheses to determine whether office personalisation is associated with employee well-being and to determine the effect of gender on this relationship.
• The self-reports included:
  > An employee survey
  > A co-ordinator survey
• The researcher also observed and photographed workspaces and interviewed some employees at five of the companies who agreed to participate as case studies

Question 11

Sample - The participating companies - of Wells

Answer 11

• A letter study sent out
• companies would receive a report of the study’s findings, a report of the findings specific to their company, and recommendations for simple changes to their work environment
• 20 companies in Orange County, California during the winter and spring of 1997 volunteered.
• All companies involved at least 30 employees with at least 15 being office employees.
• 20 participating companies

Question 12

Sample-The human participants

Answer 12

• 338 respondents
• 187 (55%) were male and 138 (41%) were female.
• 69% Caucasian/white
• (55%) were married
• 23 employees agreed to be interviewed

Question 13

procedure of surveys

Answer 13

• The first assessed workspace personalisation (e.g. the number of personal items displayed)
• The second assessed satisfaction with the physical work environment
• The third assessed job satisfaction
• The fourth assessed well-being using measures of global well-being, physical health and psychological well-being (all used rating scales)
• The fifth assessed employee perceptions of organisational well-being
• The sixth assessed personality traits
• The final section consisted of personal demographic information.

Question 14

procedure of case studies

Answer 14

• Coordinators at each company completed the employee survey and questions regarding the company’s personalisation policy and organisational well-being
• five of the 20 companies agreed to participate as case studies. interview some employees and observe and photograph their workspaces.

Question 15

procedure - the interview

Answer 15

• Participating employees were interviewed at their workspaces for 10-15 minutes.
• structured interviews with open-ended questions and were tape-recorded. The questions asked about the personal items participants had displayed
• also asked whether they thought that being able to personalise their workspace affected their job satisfaction, and their overall well-being.
• also asked how they would feel if their company prohibited personalisation.

Question 16

observation checklist

Answer 16

• list of personalisation categories
• space to list unusual items and themes
• a scale measuring aesthetic quality of the workspace
• the gender of the workspace occupant.

Question 17

results

Answer 17

• Men and women will personalise their offices differently.
• Personalisation will be positively associated with employee wellbeing (improve job satisfaction due to work environment)
• Workspace personalisation will be more integral to the well-being of women than men.
• Companies that have more lenient personalisation policies will report higher levels of organisational well-being than companies with stricter policies (i.e. lower turnover, lower absenteeism, higher employee morale, and higher productivity)

Question 18

results for Hypothesis 1 - Men and women will
personalise their offices differently. - quantitative

Answer 18

Reasons for personalising workspace;
- 56% = Express identity
- 30% = Improve the feel of the workplace
- 16% = Express emotions
- 15% = Show workplace belonged to them
- 6% = Show status in the organisation
- 5% = Control interactions with co-workers
- 3% = Everyone did

Question 19

results for Hypothesis 1 - Men and women will
personalise their offices differently - qualitative

Answer 19

• More women reported personalising to express their identities, individuality + their emotions, + to improve feel of the workplace.
• However more men reported personalising their workspace to show their status within the company
• women personalising their workspaces significantly more
• women’s displays contained significantly more symbols of personal relationships
• men’s displays contained more sports-related items

Question 20

results for Hypothesis 2 - Personalisation will be positively associated with satisfaction with the physical work environment, which will be positively associated with job satisfaction, which will be positively associated with employee well-being.

Answer 20

• The association between satisfaction with the physical environment and job satisfaction was found to have a positive correlation (p <0.001).
• Job satisfaction was found to be positively associated with employee well-being in relation to global well-being, physical health, psychological well-being.

Question 21

results for Hypothesis 3 - Workspace personalisation will be more integral to the well-being of women than men.

Answer 21

• Survey results showed that personalisation was no more important to the well-being of women than to that of men, thus not supporting the hypothesis.
• However the hypothesis was supported by the interview data. When asked whether personalisation improved their well-being, women consistently replied ‘Yes’. Men were not so sure that personalisation enhanced their well-being.

Question 22

results for Hypothesis 4 - Companies that have more lenient personalisation policies will report higher levels of organisational well-being than companies having stricter personalisation policies.

Answer 22

Companies that allow more personalisation, have a more positive organisational climate, a more positive social climate, greater levels of employee morale and reduced turnover

Question 23

conclusions

Answer 23

• Men and women personalise their workspaces differently.
• Employee well-being is enhanced if individuals are allowed to personalise their workspace.
• Women place more importance on personalisation (of their workspace) than men.
• Companies with lenient personalisation policies have greater levels of organisational well-being than companies with strict personalisation policies.

Question 24

application 1 - no hot desking

Answer 24

• No desk=no territorial space
• this may be at one of the few desks somewhere in a relatively small room, but in some organisations there could be hundreds of ‘hot-desk’ spaces. there may not be enough space for everyone
• Carstairs argues that having own spaces allows people to gain control within that small environment + personalise it with little things to define their identity. the threats to that of a non-territorial office can result in a lack of motivation and even to stress

Question 25

application 2 - changing perceptions of open-planned offices

Answer 25

• Kim + de Dear found workers in private offices were most satisfied whereas people in a open-plan office were most dissatisfied with the privacy aspect of their working environment
• in an open plan environment it may be easier to interact with others however there are also more factors to distract them from working

Question 26

pros and cons of open-planned offices

Answer 26

pros;
+ Economic reasons for the company
+ Ease of communication with co-workers – sharing of ideas
+ Avoids loneliness
cons;
- Lots of distractions/ can’t concentrate
- Very noisy
- Disease spreads amongst work force
- Feel watched- no privacy
- Personal space is invaded by others

Question 27

application 3 - seating

Answer 27

• Humphrey Osmond, a British psychiatrist (1917 - 2004) .
• Two types of seating arrangements:
  > Sociofugal arrangements which promote seclusion by having the seating facing outwards
  > Sociopetal encourages interaction by having the seating facing into a group. (circle)
• Tajadura-Jimenez studied how and iPod can cause a sense of personal space