Variety, customizability, and appeal: A model of workplace environment

In the following presentation, Elizabeth J. Sander, Arran Caza and Peter J. Jordan, propose a conceptual model and measure of the physical environment to investigate the impact of aspects of workplace design on behavior and performance. Recent research has suggested that a single physical workplace design is unlikely to provide the solution to optimizing performance (Chan et al., 2007). While the physical environment has been shown to influence a range of workplace outcomes, the mechanism by which the physical environment overall affects behavior and performance is not well understood. As such, the authors focus in particular on a model of workplace design that embraces these multiple expectations and provides a range of different work environments within a single workplace to suit the particular task or disposition of the individual.