Office design and personality

The employment world consists of many organizations that differ in their activities and goals, but they all have a common denominator - the office, that space to which people come to perform tasks and advance processes. The decision on how the spatial design of the office will look differs between organizations and types of work performed - whether the office is personal and cube-like, or shared with other people, whether it has clear boundaries or no boundaries, like an open-space office, or if its location changes daily. In this article, we will try to determine what is the impact of the spatial design of the office on employee achievements and feelings?

Our era is characterized by a conceptual change in the concept of "work". From physically-based work to knowledge-based work. These changes can be observed through the expansion of the concept of "office" - the concept of "virtual office", working from home, or the development of the "open office" - a workspace shared by team and management alike. These terms are entering the job market and our occupational jargon.

The study of the spatial design of the office and its influence began as early as 1983, in research conducted by Morrow and McClelry. The study found that offices where desks face the wall are perceived as employing more sociable and extroverted people than offices where desks are close together and cubicle-like.

(McElroy, J. C., Morrow, P. C., & Ackerman, R. J. (1983

 

Research conducted in recent years has continued to examine the relationship between the level of privacy, job satisfaction, and levels of distraction within different types of workspaces. It was found that an office built as an "open space" (open space )- without walls or boundaries except those structuring the building, reduces the level of privacy felt by the employee and decreases job satisfaction. No clear effect of open office design on employee productivity was found, but some say that sharing the office with other people improves inter-office communication and thus should increase achievement.

In contrast, working in cubicle offices maintains a high level of privacy and was found to reduce office illness rates, especially influenza, and increases employees' physical health ratings. Even in terms of job satisfaction, it was found that people working in cubicle offices report higher levels of satisfaction compared to people working in a shared office or open space.

 Kim J, de Dear R (2013) Workspace satisfaction: The privacy-communication trade-off in open-plan offices. Journal of Environmental Psychology 36: 18–26

 

When the level of distraction at work was examined, it was found that people working in open-space offices, compared to those working in cubicles or "flexible" (without a fixed desk - "hot desk system"), reported higher levels of distraction, while employees in shared offices and cubicle offices reported higher levels of concentration, which in turn affected the sense of productivity. 

A surprising finding emerged in the research of Sedig[1] et al., who examined the relationship between office type and task type. Their research found that when a complex task was given - the highest level of distraction and cognitive load came from participants sitting in open-space offices or shared offices, followed by "flexible" offices. In contrast, participants who worked in cubicle offices reported that the complexity of the task did not change the degree of cognitive load and did not affect the level of distraction felt by the employees.

 

How is the office form related to employee personality?

The question arose, is the office form characteristic of a certain personality type? The answer is not clear. In a study conducted by McCoster[2], the relationship between personality traits and open-office forms was investigated. The study found that people with high scores in the extroversion trait, agreeableness, or conscientiousness, reported higher satisfaction with the communicative climate and personal feedback in the open-office atmosphere than those who scored low in any of these personality traits. 

Additionally, employees with high conscientiousness scores reported high satisfaction with the way they communicated with the employer in an open-office atmosphere. However, as mentioned, this study was conducted only on employees in open offices and therefore does not reflect the overall picture of the influence of office types.

Another study by Sedig et al. (2016) examined the levels of distraction, occupational satisfaction, and work achievements in relation to personality traits based on the Big Five model (BIG 5) , and office types (cubicle office, shared office, open space, and flexible). The study included 1205 participants working in five different organizations, from both the private and business sectors.

Regarding the relationship between office type and distraction, it was found that compared to employees in cubicle offices, those in shared, open, or flexible offices reported higher levels of distraction. In terms of job satisfaction - office type was not found to be related to the feeling of job satisfaction.

Regarding the relationship between Big Five traits and distraction, it was found that participants with high scores in agreeableness and openness to experience, and low scores in emotional stability, reported high levels of distraction. In terms of job satisfaction - people with higher scores in emotional stability and conscientiousness reported higher satisfaction with work. 

Regarding the relationship between office type and the Big Five model, it was found that high scores in the conscientiousness trait and working in a cubicle office increase the level of job satisfaction, more than workers in other types of offices. It was also found that high scores in the emotional stability trait predicted high job satisfaction regardless of office type.  

	Open Office	Shared Office	Cubicle Office
Distractions	Report high levels of distractions. As the office becomes more open and flexible - people with high scores in the agreeableness trait report more problems.	Report high levels of distractions.	Report the lowest level of distractions.
Satisfaction Level – High score in emotional stability predicts job satisfaction regardless of office form.	People with high scores in extroversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness traits thrive, while people with low scores in these traits are less satisfied.		High score in conscientiousness - increase in satisfaction level, more than open or shared office.

 

 

In conclusion, different styles of office space affect the percentage of job performance, distraction level, privacy, and the picture is even broader. Research should continue, but it's interesting to think about the conditions in which a certain personality will flourish and increase its productivity level and under which conditions this will not happen. This study and others like it open awareness regarding the influence and connection between the external framework in which we work, and the personality traits that we bring with us to the work process.  

Tell us how you feel in the office where you work?
What is the ideal office space for your personality? Why?

 

By: Daniel Danino.

McElroy, J. C., Morrow, P. C., & Ackerman, R. J. (1983). Personality and interior office design: Exploring the accuracy of visitor attributions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 68(3), 541.‏

Seddigh, A., Berntson, E., Platts, L. G., & Westerlund, H. (2016). Does personality have a different impact on self-rated distraction, job satisfaction, and job performance in different office types?. PloS one, 11(5), e0155295.‏

 

[1] Seddigh A, Berntson E, Bodin Danielson C, Westerlund H (2014) Concentration requirements modify the effect of office type on indicators of health and performance. Journal of Environmental Psychology 38: 167–174.

[2] McCusker JA (2002) Individuals and open space office design: The relationship between personality and satisfaction in an open space work environment. 1076 p.