Topic 6: Territory & Personal Space: Wells

Question 1

(Topic 6: Wells) What does this study investigate?

Answer 1

This study investigates the personalisation of office environments.

Question 2

(Topic 6: Wells) State the 4 aims of the study.

Answer 2

1) Do men and women personalise their workplaces differently?
2) Is personalisation of workspaces associated with enhanced employee well-being?
3) Is personalisation of workspaces more important to women’s well-being than to men’s?
4) Is a company’s personalisation policy associated with organisational well-being?

Question 3

(Topic 6: Wells) Describe the sample. (4)

Answer 3

• Office workers in 20 companies in Orange County, California
• The small businesses volunteered and 661 surveys were distributed to office workers and 338 were returned
• For the case study follow up 23 employees from 5 of the companies were used.
• Data was collected in 2 ways.

Question 4

(Topic 6: Wells) Method: State the 7 sections of the survey.

Answer 4

1) Workspace personalisation
2) Satisfaction with physical work environment
3) Job satisfaction
4) Well-being
5) Employee perception of organisational well-being (e.g. staff morale)
6) Personality traits
7) Personal demographic information

Question 5

(Topic 6: Wells) Method: Describe the use of the case study.

Answer 5

• Tape recorded structured interviews.
• Each interview lasted between 10-15 minutes.
• The workspace of the interviewee was then inspected and
  photographs taken.

Question 6

(Topic 6: Wells) Describe the results for aim 1.

Answer 6

Men and women personalise their workspaces differently.

Women personalise more than males (11.12 items vs 7.68).
Women tended to use items that represented family, friends and pets. Men tended to personalise with symbols of their achievement and sports related paraphernalia.

Question 7

(Topic 6: Wells) Describe the results for aim 2.

Answer 7

• Personalisation significantly associated with satisfaction of the work environment.
• This in turn is linked to job satisfaction and well-being.
• So there is an indirect relationship between workspace personalisation & well-being.

Question 8

(Topic 6: Wells) Describe the results for aim 3.

Answer 8

• Personalisation not significantly more important to women’s well-being than men’s.
• However the interviews suggest that this might not be the case as some women said they would not work for a company that did not allow them to personalise their workspace.

Question 9

(Topic 6: Wells) Describe the results for aim 4.

Answer 9

Companies who are more lenient with workspace personalisation reported a more positive organisational climate, greater staff morale and less staff turnover.

Question 10

(Topic 6: Wells) What were the conclusions of the study?

Answer 10

Wells did suggest that caution should be taken when generalising the results of her study as there could be other policies that could lead to a feeling of well-being, plus the results might not be generalisable to large companies.

However there does appear to be some practical application here – if companies wish to retain employees and keep them happy then they should allow them to personalize their workspace.