Work Environment

 Problem of increasing production &

making work more pleasant calls for
change in work environment.
 Time & motion study can be one of
the alternatives. But it mainly leads
to change in job.
 But change related to Noise,
Illumination, Color, Vibration,
ventilation, temperature etc lead to
direct effect on work environment.
 When environment change takes
place, it leads to:
 Changed environment
 Response to change
 Major problems in introduction of
environmental change:
 Whether resulting increase in
production is to be attributed to
factor that is changed or
 To the factor that is incidental to the
change
 But miracles should not be
expected as a result of these
changes. Drastic changes in
performance due to these
factors are not possible.
The Arousal Hypothesis
 It is a model for understanding the
effects of auditory stimulation upon
the worker.
 Duffy was one of the earliest to point
out the possible importance of
overall level of activation of a person
in determining his task performance.
 Activation level is the degree of
excitation of the brain stem reticular
formation.
 Determinants of individual’s activation
level:
 Stimulus intensity
 Stimulus variation
 Stimulus complexity
 Stimulus uncertainty
 Stimulus meaningfulness
 Since noise & music are external stimuli
that can be controlled in terms of intensity,
variation & meaningfulness so they qualify
as potential arousers.
 Duffy- human performance
tends to vary in accordance with
general activation level of
individual.
 This relationship is described by
an inverted U shaped function.
HIGH
AROUSAL HYPOTHESIS FUNCTION

LOW HIGH
 Mc Bain Study
 Applied this hypothesis on members
of Royal Canadian Air Force who
were made to perform a monotonous
work task under both quiet & noise
conditions.
 The results were ambiguous. But it
was seen that noise conditions
facilitated performance.
Smith-Curnow Study
 They varied the intensity of
background music in two large
supermarkets to see what effect it
would have on purchasing
behaviour.
 It was found that shoppers spent
significantly less time in the store
during loud music time periods but
there was no significant changes in
total sales or customers’ reported
satisfaction as a function of music
intensity.
Noise
 Generally regarded as distractor interfering with efficiency.
 When noise is steady person adapts himself on it but
when it is intermittent, greater effort is required to
maintain efficiency.
 Vernon & Warner made a group of subjects to solve
arithmetic problems & read material in a book of
psychology during alternate periods of noise & quiet.
 No significant effect was found on the accuracy or speed
of solving arithmetic problems.
 Slight increase in expenditure of energy was found as
measured by oxygen consumption.
 Effect of noise on a job is apparently determined by
whether noise is a necessary accompaniment to the job or
not.
 Whether noise is annoying or harmful should be
determined experimentally & not emotionally.
Illumination
 Research by Ferree & Rand:
 Daylight provides best illumination
for work, artificial light that closely
approximates daylight in colour is the
next best.
 Important considerations: distribution
& location of lights, intensity of light,
combination of artificial light &
daylight.
 One of the most common causes of
visual discomfort & fatigue is
brightness in the field of vision.
Colour
 Popular Science Monthly in one of its
articles in 1947 claimed that less
fatigue, increased production &
greater safety results from scientific
use of colours in the factory.
 The ability of the surface to reflect
light & contrast between the colour of
the work area & wall colour may
reduce eyestrain.
 Blue is considered as cool colour &
red as warm colour.
Vibration

 Many work environments

involve substantial amount of
vibration.
 Limitation: visual & motor
processes of workers are
affected because of vibration.
 Miscellaneous factors
(contributing to employees’
attitudes)
 Cafeteria
 Snack bar
 Automatic drinks
 Sandwich dispensers
 Drinking fountain with its cool
bubbling water
 Rest rooms
 Sanitary conditions
 Interpersonal relations & production