The Human-Environment Relationships And Workplace Environments

Humans live in an environment and interacts with it continuously. Humans affect environment and and so does environment affect us. And since humans spend most of their lives in and around built environment, it becomes imperative to design our environments consciously.

Every psychological process and every human interaction occurs in a physical place. The architecture and interior designs that create spaces for and guide daily human functioning are not only products of the human psyche but also act on the psyche in important ways.

The built environment may influence individuals’ moods, motivations, judgments, decisions, health, behavior, and interactions with others. Preferences for certain physical environments may be neurally/hormonally underpinned, evolutionarily driven, and/or culturally modulated. Furthermore, individual differences are likely to lead to diverging experiences of the same building or room.

Our environment interacts with us using stimuli. These stimuli stimulates our senses – and as a result our bodies react to it. Our bodies reaction to this stimuli depends on the kind of stimulus it receives and the harmones released as its result. Since most of the times these stimuli are generated by the built environment surrounding us, these can be to some extent control and so can, indirectly, our reactions to them.

Hence looking into theories of stimulation, considered as one of the foundational theories of environmental psychology (kopec 2006)

Stimulation theories consider the physical environment an important source of sensory information (Wohlwill, 1966). Sensory information coming from a built environment might be simple (e.g., light, color, sound, noise, temperature), or quite complex (e.g., a whole building, part of a neighborhood). – (Gifford 2007).

There are various theories which talk about the human-environment relationships. One of the most popularly accepted being the

Integration (integral) theories

Robert Gifford uses the term integral theories to describe a group of models used to understand the complexity of human-environment relationship. (5 kopec,2006)

Isidor chein’s integral framework (6 kopec 2006 p.20) described the following five major elements that work in harmony, or integrate, to facilitate a particular behaviour.

Global environment – generalised characteristics of an environment.

Instigators – stimuli that trigger particular behaviours.

Goal objects and noxients – situations that cause satisfaction or produce unpleasantness

Supports and constraints – environmental aspects that facilitate or restrict behaviours.

Directors – features that tell us where to go and what to do.

To allow for a greater understanding of these elements lets take an example of a McDonald’s outlet,

For most of us, the word McDonalds evokes an image of a place with everything red, yellow and white, with displays of fries and burgers all over the place and not to forget the image of the welcoming Ronald McDonald, the clown character used as the primary mascot of the McDonalds fast-food restaurant chain, and these generalised characteristics make a McDonalds outlet a global environment. Within it are the instigators designed to make people hungrier or to at least make them perceive that they are hungry, this is majorly achieved by using specific colour schemes. The colour, red, is considered to evoke feeling of hunger in humans, precisely why one will find most restaurant chains using this colour in their logos.

Control theories

Having a sense of control over our world and our place in it is crucial to our wellbeing. James Averill suggested that we have three types of control overo our environments:

Behavioural control. The ability to change the environment.

Cognitive control. The ability to change the way in which we conceive of an environment.

Decisional control. The ability to choose a response.

there is also primary and secondary control, with primary control being overt in given situation, and secondary control being more accommodating to the reality of a given situation. (10 kopec2006 p.22)

personal control within an environment relates to both our freedom of action and the level and type of stimulation to which we are subjected to; moreover, our actual or perceived influence or control over our environments directly affects our feelings within and about it. Most people have the ability to adapt to various levels of stimulation, have more actual control over certain settings than the others (e.g., at home as opposed to at work), and attempt to establish personal control using the psychological mechanisms of personal space and territoriality. (11 kopec 2006 p22)

when this ability is compromised- for example, we feel that our freedom is constrained, or even anticipate a restricting factor, when we exceed our threshold- we usually try to reassert control over the situation or setting, a phenomenon referred to as PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTANCE or simply reactance. (12 kopec 2006, p22). However, when people believe the cannot control distressing factors within their environments, or they experience repeated failed efforts to establish or regain control, they may create physical or psychological barriers (i.e, engage in social withdrawal behaviours) and eventually give up, succumbing to LEARNED HELPLESSNESS. (13 kopec 2006, p.22)

learned helplessness results from being put in a situation where there is no possibility of escape from harm or pain. Eventually, the person is powerless and decides there is no point in trying to improve the situation.

Behavioural-Setting theories

Some behaviours are considered appropriate in certain environments bit not in others (e.g., it is socially acceptable to dress and act provocatively in a night club but not at a house of worship). Roger Barker (14 kopec 2006 p.22) conceived the behaviour-setting theory, which he defined as public spaces or occasions that evoke particular patterns of behaviours. The theory proposes that behaviour must be studied in its natural context. These behaviour settings are small-scaled social systems composed of people and physical objects arranged in a way to carry out routine actions within a specified time and place. Examples include public places, such as schools, theatres, nightclubs, and places of worship, as well as occasions that shape our behaviours, such as graduations, weddings, and funerals.

Through operant conditioning (the act of reinforcing desired behaviour), we learn at an early age the behaviours expected from us within various environments and act accordingly; in this manner, different settings and situations prompt us to behave in specific manners. An important behaviour setting theory perspective is that of SYNOMORPHY, the principle that physical and social aspects of an environment should fit well together. (15 kopec 2006 p.22).

Most behaviour settings are public environments that contain the following three components:

a. Physical properties

b. Social components

c. The environment setting

A novice designer attempting to develop a behaviour setting through design alone would be fulfilling only one of barker’s criteria if he or she did not consider the social components or the environmental setting. In this case, the designer would be engaging in a concept known as architectural determinism. A direct and absolute relationship between the designed environment and a particular behaviour.

Research shows that behaviours can indeed be activated by environmental cues without conscious thought (18 kopec 2006, p.23) the behaviour manifested is is often unconscious and the person is unaware of the potential influence of the stimulus in shaping his or her behaviour. Because people differ in their everyday motivations, differences arise over time in the way such unconscious behaviours manifest. (kopec 2006, p.23)

Stimulation theories

Every living thing on earth reacts to sensory stimulation. Stimulation theories serve to conceptualise and explain the environment as a source of sensory information derived from sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. (kopec 2006, p.23)

Most environments only affect sight, sound and smell, while environments like a winery might stimulate all the five senses.

Examining the different levels of sensory information deriving from an environment enables us to assess that environment’s level of stimulation.

Each of our five senses can be overstimulated (hyperstimulated) or understimulated (hypostimulated). An important concept to understand is that of threshold, the point at which too much or too little stimulation Is available. At one end of the threshold spectrum is the absolute minimal intensity of stimulus we can perceive and at the other is the maximum amount of stimulation we can cope with effectively. Once accustomed to a certain level of a stimuli, we will no longer consciously notice it until it changes. Our level of perception will often dictate how much the stimulation must change before It is noticed.

Related theories that help to explain the relationship between stimulation and human behaviours include the arousal perspective, environmental load or overstimulation, and adaptation. According to the arousal perspective, the environment itself causes an autonomic physiological response related to increased heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, adrenaline (epinephrine) secretion, and neural activity within the brain. In this way architectural determinism does play a role in environmental design.

e.g., an excited child is overaroused, and a bored child is underaroused. Optimum arousal is an important factor in successful learning and productivity.

While over arousal can lead to cognitive chaos (I have so many ideas flooding in my head that I don’t know where to start’), under arousal can lead to inaction (‘my mind is blank, I don’t know where to start’) or even apathy (‘I cant think, and I don’t care’). Simply stated, arousal is a component of human psych and is dependant on stimulation. Design cannot affect arousal directly, but it can serve to modify stimulation levels that affect arousal.

WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENTS

Dak Kopec defines every environment in which work of any kind is carried out as a workplace. (kopec 2006 p.233)

This definition identifies a vast variety of spaces as workspaces. Every profession or occupation has its workplace, be it a chef, a teacher, a business man or even a cabdriver,and hence a kitchen, a classroom, an office or even a car becomes ones workplace.

In todays’ world people from different castes, culture, gender, age and physical abilities together compose a workforce and have different working environment requirements. For example elderly people might have diminished eyesight or hearing abilities and the workspace design should accommodate for that.

Driven by changing and evolving technology and innovation, workspaces have been constantly changing, from hierarchical setting to open floor plans to collaborative spaces. Today’s workplace options support popular trends in computer-aided work decentralisation such as nonterritorial offices, telecommunicating, home offices, virtual offices, satellite offices and neighbourhood work centers. Trending today are the SMART Workspaces, with most recent offices boasting about how technology driven and smart their work environments are, the question here arises, are these SMART Environments designed keeping the psychological perspective in mind? are they actually helping in the unleashing of the true potential of their workforce? And if not are they really, smart?

Workplace culture and architecture

Workplace culture refers to the social dynamics within a company. These social structures within work environments are gradually built over time and can result in job satisfaction for employees who feel a personal connection with fellow workers. Often, when a company undergoes restructuring, such as downsizing or corporate takeover, the resulting damage to, or destruction of, the workplace culture can lead to significant employee dissatisfaction, absenteeism, poor work quality, and poor customer relations.

The majority of workspaces are semi-public spaces, as well as behaviour settings, that make up both social systems and physical environments.

And hence architecture, to some extent, does play a role in creating and fostering a work culture.

Important physical indicators of an organisation’s culture include lighting levels and access to natural views, aesthetics, levels of privacy, and quality of furnishings. These attributes of the physical environment serve as symbolic representations of the working conditions and the workplace culture. For example, when similar physical environments are shared by managers and staff, this represents equality within the workplace culture.

Issues in workplace environments

Stress and employee satisfaction

Job satisfaction is determined by how well people’s jobs meet their work expectations. A person’s satisfaction with his or her physical work environment is positively associated with job satisfaction, which is positively correlated with life expectancy and employee well-being and negatively associated with stress, anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. Although every job and every workplace has stressful elements, people who are dissatisfied with their jobs experience higher levels of negative stress.

Sources of work related stress can be physical – e.g., repetitive movements, such as typing and lifting; ambient environmental conditions, such as noise, temperature, and indoor pollutant levels, or a lack of suitable furnishings, tools, or illumination, psychological or social.

Computer technology may be considered a mixed blessing for office workers. More work can be done by fewer people, which can increase production levels as well as reduce the need for new or expanded facilities for workers or archive storage. However, when we work with computers, we do it sitting down, and decreased physical activity contributes to the decline of our overall health status – as do a range of other computer related worker ailments (e.g., strained eyes, necks, shoulders, and backs; headaches; carpal tunnel syndrome) that results in thousands of disability and worker’s compensation insurance claims around the world each year.

The consequences of physical and psychological workplace stress costs millions of dollars annually in insurance payments.

The question is how through designing the work environment consciously can we try eliminating or at least reduce the work place stress?

e.g., play of ergonomics in office design

Sick building syndrome

Sick building syndrome is a serious health problem. Thousands of people each year report a host of illnesses related to respiratory problems, headaches, and fatigue; chronic coughing and overactive sinuses; and chronic eye, nose, and throat irritations (28 kopec 2006 p.238)

Many workplace environments display circumstances and attributes that cause SBD. (29 KOPEC 2006 P.238)

Poor indoor air quality results from air-conditioned rooms, sealed windows, limited ventilation, and lack of natural light, and these conditions. (29 kopec 2006, p.238)

Research indicates that carbon dioxide levels, in combination with other indoor pollutants – such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by building materials, office machines, and cleaning products and equipment, human bioeffluents, formaldehyde found in carpets and furniture, and dust – are responsible for symptoms related to SBS. (30 kopec 2006 p.238)

Carpeting, draperies, upholstered furniture and seat cushions, and fabric-covered partitions are significant sources of known allergens (e.g., dust, dustmites) and increased static loads. Use of such materials should be avoided and hence there is a need to come up with alternatives to replace such materials.

Use of plants can sometimes help improve indoor air quality hence reducing the chances of SBDs.

Open office plans – their merits and demerits

Open office plans are popularly adopted based on the concept that, due to the minimalization of barriers, employees will be more likely to increase communication and collaborative efforts. Open office plans can provide both financial and spatial conservation (i.e., portable, modular furnishings are less expensive and occupy less floor space than constructed partitions) and are popular with organisations that are highly dependant on creativity;walls and work spaces can easily reconfigured, which facilitates adaptability and competitiveness.

Though certain research findings suggest that open office designs are insufficient to meet privacy needs, and visual and aural distractions- consequences of a lack of privacy – both decrease worker productivity and increase the frequency of errors. It also results in lower levels of workers sense of ownership and territoriality. (kopec2006 p.241)

People associate psychological privacy with architectural privacy (i.e., physical barriers), and common com0plaints regarding open offices are related to disturbances and lack of privacy among employees. (43 kopec 2006 p.242)

Studies of open plan offices have shown increases in worker interaction and problem solving, but also more instances of interruptions and privacy violations.

Personalization of work space

Workplace personalization serves to signify individuality and identity, mark territories, and regulate social interactions, and leads to a positive work place culture, higher employee morale, and less employee turnover. (49 kopec 2006 p.242)

Some employees believe that office ‘clutter’ is a mark of inefficiency and chaos, and therefore their company policies prohibit employees from personalizing their workstations, where as others allow or even encourage personalization as an expression of individuality and a symbol of the individuals contribution to the corporation.

Personalization can positively affect not only individual’s environmental satisfaction, well-being, and overall job satisfaction, but also the corporate culture.