Topic 6 - Territory + Personal Space

Question 1

Key Research

Answer 1

Wells (2000) - Office clutter or meaningful personal displays: the role of office personalisation on employee and organisational well-being

Question 2

Research Questions

Answer 2

1. Do men + women personalise their workspaces differently ?
2. Is personalistation of workspaces associated with enhanced employee well-being ?
3. Is personalsation of workspaces more important to women’s well-being than to men’s ?

Question 3

Sample

Answer 3

Office workers in 20 companies
California
All small businesses (15+ employees)
661 surveys sent, 338 returned
Follow up study used 23 p’s

Question 4

Method

Answer 4

Survey with 7 sections; Workspace personalisation, Satisfaction with work environment, job satisfaction, well-being, employee pereception of the company’s well-being, personality traits + demographic info

The follow up case studies involved a tape recorded structured interview with open questions (10-15 mins)

This was followed up by an examination of the interviewees workspace.

Question 5

Results

Answer 5

1. Men and Women personalise differently, eg. women have 11.2 items vs men’s 7.86 items on average.

Women tend to decorate with family, men decorate with achievments.

Personalisation was significantly associated with work environment satisfaction

The survey data did not show that personalisation was more important to the women than the men. (case studies may have shown this)

Companies with lenient personalisation policy reported a more positive organisational climate.

Question 6

Smith

Answer 6

Territorial behaviour on beaches

People from West Germany + France were compared with secondary data of Americans in terms of how they competed for beach space on holiday.

Short interviews were held + data collected on the size, depth, width and number of territorial markers

West Germans made extremely large territorial claims

Males claim for territory than females

1/5 of West Germans - “A man’s home is his castle”

French participants did not grasp the concept of territory

Question 7

Hall

Answer 7

Zones of Personal Space

Personal space can be divided into four zones;

1. Public Distance (>12ft) = Formal Contact
2. Social Distance (4-12ft) = Business / Impersonal contact
3. Personal Distance (1.5-4ft) = Close friends
4. Intimate Distance (0-1.5ft) - Physical Sport / relationships

Question 8

Middlemist

Answer 8

Personal space invasion in urinals

Men who entered the toilet had to use the left-most urinal.

A confederate was either using the middle or right urinal, or not present (control)

An observer stationed in the cubicle next to the urinal with a stopwatch and a periscope

The measured the urination delay and the urination persistence.

The closer the confederate was, the increased delay and reduced persistence.

Question 9

Sommer + Ross

Answer 9

Visited the newly decorated ward of a hospital in Canada to investigate why it seemed to have a depressing effect on patients.

When the waiting room chairs were arranged in a circle (sociopetal spacing) rather than lines (Sociofugal spacing), people were more likely to interact.

Question 10

Application - Managing territorial behaviour in a workplace

Answer 10

1. Allow employees to personalise - Wells
2. Acknowledge cultural differences regarding territory - Smith
3. Introduce hot desking - Wells