Bad Weather Means Good Productivity

While effect of weather has been considered as influencing factor for several industries such as stock marketing, retail/sales business, it keeps the question remaining unknown: Does weather have anything to do with productivity? In a period when everybody still believes sunny days as the good indicator for working weather, Harvard University Doctor Lee, Gino, and Staats (2014) shared their interest in further investigation on indeed how the weather impacts on workers’ productivity and unveils how this study can help companies in engaging their employees. The researchers performed four different experiments on drastically different locations all illuminated that good weather conditions distract workers due to potential increased outdoor activities while the bad weather did the exact opposite, and hence workers were likely to be distracted during good weather. The researcher started off by theorizing that thoughts that are connected to outdoor options easily come into people’s mind during good weather as opposed to days with bad weather. Based on the theory of Simonsohn (2010), that; cloud cover at the time of visits to a college known for academic prestige by prospective students was capable of projecting whether they enrolled in the visited schools, the study hypothesized the negative effects that good weather has on individual’s productivity.

Consequently, in attempt to prove their theory, a study has been carried out by Lee et al. , (2014) on 198 adults to predict the effects that the weather had on people’s productivity at workplaces. From subjective opinion of participants, Eighty-two percent of the respondents in this study stated that good weather conditions were in favor of increasing productivity, while another 83 percent suggested that bad weather conditions had the capacity to decrease productivity. In a nutshell, the research revealed that generally people assumed that weather has an impact on productivity and that bad weather conditions, in particular, are considered to be detrimental to it while good weather is beneficial for a working environment. As all four different experiments this research has indicated that in several occasions, workers were more easily distracted because of good weather which led to decrease level of productivity. The cause of the distraction from good weather was predicted to be individual’s thoughts of seeking attention outside. To illustrate, study three has indicated the assumption that good weather conditions potentially increased the attractiveness of options for outdoor activities. Meanwhile, this hypothesis has been testified by 77 online workers who were required to participate in a five-minute study for a flat fee of $0. 20.

Separated in two groups, the participants were asked to list activities that they would do based on the following conditions; one group was to imagine that it is sunny outside and another was to imagine that it is rainy outside. Comparing the both lists of each group activities, it suggested that workers who were told to imagine good weather conditions significantly listed more outdoor activities than those who imagined bad weather. Thus, the report later concluded that the impact of weather on productivity cannot be neglected due to the phenomena that good weather distracts people attention to outside activities thus compromises their productivity.

Critique of the study

The definition of validity of an experiment is the ability to be considered as scientifically formatted in a correct position, which has followed the required scientific mechanism and order thus it could leads the experiment to be qualified. On the other hand, reliability is the ability for the study to be applied by desired and interested individuals. These two relate in the sense that the validity of the research causes its reliability. In this case, the study by Lee et al. , (2014) is valid because scientifically method has been used for the entire study. For instance in the first study titled, Field Evidence From a Japanese Bank, they were participants, there was the control variable and in the end a linear curve was used to display the results. The second study done on participants in U. S. was also valid because the participants were properly selected and the measures were not irregular. Most importantly though is that the researchers conducted the studies repeatedly on different populations and the results were the same which hence increases the validity and the reliability of the study. When it comes to the question of ethical safeguards, the study ensured that the participants we willingly recruited and their privacy considered. This is a consideration that was guided by the requirement that there must be informed consent of the participants in the study.

Moreover, they were not subjected to any inhuman or unethical conditions that would be considered illegal by the standards of research regulations. This action was on its part guided by the fact that participants’ privacy must be guarded. For instance, in the second experiment, the participants were required to give their zip codes; the researcher had to ensure that these zip codes remain private between them and the participants This study has shown that there is a direct impact or connection between the weather and the way people work and so it means that productivity of individuals depends on the weather. Moreover, it has been revealed through the experiments done, that clear skies tend to reduce productivity since people are psychologically distracted by thoughts of outdoor activities. Meaning that the study insinuates that good weather has lower productivity that poor weather where people have no significant outdoor activities to interrupt their thought. Having seen these implications, another implication that is likely to emerge that has not been discussed in the study it that, the weather has a direct impact on individual’s moods and as such, the mods will reflect on the productivity. This assertion is pegged on the argument that, as long as good weather causes individuals to have thoughts of outdoor activities, they are likely not to be in a working mood. As such, the research is also showing that the mood to work and be productive is affected by the weather.

The author has indicated that when workers are working on a sunny day, there are increased errors in work due to constant distractions caused by thoughts of outdoor activities. While this result presented is a strong claim by the researcher that weather really has an effect on productivity, the results are much stronger than that. The reasons are that the results do not only show the impact that weather has on psychological function of individuals, but it also shows that weather has a stronger impact on the individual’s mood. Moods play significant roles in determining the psychological functions. Therefore, the results are much stronger because they go beyond mental concentration to explain other biological functions of people in relations to the type of weather.

Brief Summary

This study is conducted based on the hypothesis that weather has a direct impact on employee productivity. Several experiments in this study have been conducted by Lee, Gino, and Staats in different regions to determine whether the hypothesis is true or false. In all the four experiments, the researchers have shown that it is affirmative that warm sunny weather leads to lower productivity as a result of individuals having constant thoughts of outdoor activities. On the other hand, the rainy season has higher productivity because of lack of many outdoor activities. In the end, the report has shown that this study, when put into practice, can be used by organizations to increase productivity. This assertion has been encouraged by the fact that there are increased errors during warm sunny weather as discovered through the study.