<p>The ambient conditions such as air quality, noise, music, temperature, lighting and colour, in open-plan offices and their impact on employees are important for managements to recognize because open-plan offices are becoming more and more common in Swedish companies' office design today (Aronsson, 2005). For students, who will soon be entering the work force, it is important to understand how the characteristics of the ambient conditions can influence employee behaviour/satisfaction.</p><p>To have a working knowledge of what kinds of effects the ambient conditions can have is likely to increase one's chances of becoming a satisfied employee. An employee that is aware of the importance of creating a servicescape (the attributes of the physical surrounding) that meets its needs and desires is likely to enhance its satisfaction in the ambient conditions. A great number of managements may not be aware of the risks of working in an open-plan office where the ambient conditions are not satisfying the employees; ergonomic issues as well as heart diseases are the most serious results (Evans and Johnson, 2000, pp. 780-782). This leads to the problem formulation of this thesis: "How can management improve employee satisfaction in an open-plan office through the characteristics of a servicescape's ambient conditions?”.</p><p>Four main theories are included in the Theoretical Framework to provide a deep understanding for the reader about the complexity of problems that comes with working in an open-plan office. The Bitner theory and the research compiled by Sundstrom discuss ambient conditions and their impacts on employees' behaviour/satisfaction. Evans and Johnson’s theory discusses how stress is related to low-intensity noise. The final main theory, Person-Environment Fit, upholds the importance of a servicescape that fits employees’ needs and desires.</p><p>The ambient conditions influence employee behaviours in numerous ways (Davis, 1984, pp. 271) and at Sogeti’s open-plan office several ambient conditions are studied through an observation conducted during April 17th 2007 and a questionnaire with 15 closed questions. The outcomes of the observation and the questionnaire are analysed and concrete proposals are created for the Sogeti management to act upon in order to improve the characteristics of their open-plan office’s ambient conditions and thereby improve employee satisfaction.</p><p>One of the concrete proposals to how Sogeti may improve the ambient conditions in their open-plan office is to introduce a survey that should be handed out to the employees three or four times a year. The purpose of the survey is to define employees’ perceptions of the different ambient conditions.</p><p>Based on the outcomes from the survey, employees’ needs and desires of the servicescape, the ambient conditions’ characteristics, can be improved. Also, some examples of actions geared towards reducing the level of noise in the Sogeti open-plan office are to use ear phones when listening to music and to leave the open-plan office when conducting phone calls. The concrete proposals developed based on the Sogeti employees’ perceptions of the ambient conditions in the open-plan office are outcomes of this thesis that may serve as a tool for the Sogeti management to improve the ambient conditions of their servicescape and thereby increase employee satisfaction.</p>

The ambient conditions such as air quality, noise, music, temperature, lighting and colour, in open-plan offices and their impact on employees are important for managements to recognize because open-plan offices are becoming more and more common in Swedish companies' office design today (Aronsson, 2005). For students, who will soon be entering the work force, it is important to understand how the characteristics of the ambient conditions can influence employee behaviour/satisfaction. To have a working knowledge of what kinds of effects the ambient conditions can have is likely to increase one's chances of becoming a satisfied employee. An employee that is aware of the importance of creating a servicescape (the attributes of the physical surrounding) that meets its needs and desires is likely to enhance its satisfaction in the ambient conditions. A great number of managements may not be aware of the risks of working in an open-plan office where the ambient conditions are not satisfying the employees; ergonomic issues as well as heart diseases are the most serious results (Evans and Johnson, 2000, pp. 780-782). This leads to the problem formulation of this thesis: "How can management improve employee satisfaction in an open-plan office through the characteristics of a servicescape's ambient conditions?”. Four main theories are included in the Theoretical Framework to provide a deep understanding for the reader about the complexity of problems that comes with working in an open-plan office. The Bitner theory and the research compiled by Sundstrom discuss ambient conditions and their impacts on employees' behaviour/satisfaction. Evans and Johnson’s theory discusses how stress is related to low-intensity noise. The final main theory, Person-Environment Fit, upholds the importance of a servicescape that fits employees’ needs and desires. The ambient conditions influence employee behaviours in numerous ways (Davis, 1984, pp. 271) and at Sogeti’s open-plan office several ambient conditions are studied through an observation conducted during April 17th 2007 and a questionnaire with 15 closed questions. The outcomes of the observation and the questionnaire are analysed and concrete proposals are created for the Sogeti management to act upon in order to improve the characteristics of their open-plan office’s ambient conditions and thereby improve employee satisfaction. One of the concrete proposals to how Sogeti may improve the ambient conditions in their open-plan office is to introduce a survey that should be handed out to the employees three or four times a year. The purpose of the survey is to define employees’ perceptions of the different ambient conditions. Based on the outcomes from the survey, employees’ needs and desires of the servicescape, the ambient conditions’ characteristics, can be improved. Also, some examples of actions geared towards reducing the level of noise in the Sogeti open-plan office are to use ear phones when listening to music and to leave the open-plan office when conducting phone calls. The concrete proposals developed based on the Sogeti employees’ perceptions of the ambient conditions in the open-plan office are outcomes of this thesis that may serve as a tool for the Sogeti management to improve the ambient conditions of their servicescape and thereby increase employee satisfaction.

Denna experimentella studie undersökte om maskerande brusljud på ovidkommande tal påverkar inlärning av visuell information. Experimentet genomfördes i ett laboratorium med 32 försöksdeltagare. Visuella ord presenterades för försöksdeltagarna samtidigt som auditivt tal från samma semantiska kategori, med eller utan maskerande brusljud, presenterades. De visuella orden skulle återges i valfri ordning. Resultatet av studien visar att ett maskerande brusljud på ovidkommande tal har positiv effekt på inlärningsförmågan. Detta visades av att försökspersonerna mindes fler visuellt presenterade ord samt att de lyckades ignorera det ovidkommande talet bättre då talet maskerades av ett brusljud jämfört med om talet inte maskerades av ett brusljud. Resultaten av studien kan med fördel tillämpas i öppna kontorslandskap. Detta då medarbetare i öppna kontorslandskap ofta utför kognitivt krävande uppgifter i en bullrig miljö innehållande bland annat bakgrundstal. Ett maskerande brusljud kan minska störningen av ovidkommande kontorsljud och ovidkommande tal och på så sätt positivt påverka arbetsprestationen. / This study examined if a masking white noise on irrelevant speech affects the encoding of visual information. An experiment was carried out in a laboratory with 32 participants. The participants were presented to a series of written words and were prompted to recall these words in any order. While the participants studied the written words, irrelevant speech from the same semantic category was presented with or without a masking noise. The participants were told to ignore the irrelevant speech. The results of this study showed that the number of intrusions from the irrelevant speech decreases and the number of recalled written words increases when the irrelevant speech is masked by a white noise compared to irrelevant speech without a masking noise. The findings of this study could be applied in the acoustic design of open-plan offices where cognitive tasks, such as reading comprehension and proofreading, are performed in a noisy environment. A white noise can reduce the intelligibility of office noise and irrelevant speech, which have positive effect on work performance.

During our education to become lighting designers at Jönköping University, the artificial lighting has been in focus. Therefore we wanted to learn more about daylight. We chose to do this from a visual approach in open plan offices. Since daylight is part of the architects´ responsibility to master, we wanted to examine what architects think of when they plan daylight environments in open plan offices and how this is expressed in the buildings with focus on the visual factors. Our questions at issue are: What knowledge do architects have concerning daylight planning, and how do they use this knowledge in their practice? How well do the chosen daylight environments meet the end-users need of a good visual environment? The study consists of three case studies, carried out in the same way. Each case study contains an analysis of the daylight environment in a modern building with open plan offices. A responsible architect was interviewed about the intensions for the building, and about his or her general thoughts about daylight. Three end-users were also interviewed about their experiences of their working environment and the daylight conditions in each building. In total three buildings were analysed, three architects and nine end-users were interviewed. The result shows that it is hard to tell what knowledge architects have about daylight, since it is a part of the overall design of the building. It is also very individual whether the architect displays an interest, and work with daylight issues in an active way. We can see differences in this matter between the interviewed architects. The analysed buildings also show varying results in the visual qualities. The results from our environment analyses are at most part confirmed by the end-users in each building. The problems we have found concerning the daylight environment are primarily the solar shadings and the layout of furnishing. Our conclusion is that architects could benefit from collaboration with lighting designers in daylight issues. This is because lighting designers have more knowledge about the visual conditions of the eye, and a more explicit focus on the end-user. To ensure a good collaboration the lighting designers also need to increase their knowledge about daylight in buildings, and about the building construction as a whole. / Under vår utbildning till ljusdesigners på Jönköpings Tekniska Högskola har fokus legat på det elektriska ljuset. Då vi ville lära oss mer om det minst lika viktiga dagsljuset, valde vi att undersöka detta ur ett visuellt perspektiv i kontorslandskap. Dagsljuset är arkitektens ansvar att behärska, varför vi ville undersöka vad arkitekter tänker på när de planerar dagsljusmiljöer i kontorslandskap, och hur detta yttrar sig i den färdiga byggnaden med fokus på de visuella faktorerna. Följande frågeställningar formulerades: Vilken kunskap har arkitekter om dagsljusplanering och hur använder de sig av denna kunskap i praktiken? Hur väl uppfyller utvalda dagsljusmiljöer brukarens behov av en god visuell miljö? Studien bygger på tre fallstudier utförda på samma sätt. Varje fallstudie innefattar en analys av dagsljusmiljön i en modern byggnad innehållande kontorslandskap. En ansvarig arkitekt intervjuades om intentionerna med respektive byggnad, samt om dennes tankar kring dagsljus i allmänhet. I respektive byggnad intervjuades även tre brukare om deras upplevelse av arbetsmiljön och dagsljuset. Totalt analyserades tre byggnader, och tre arkitekter samt nio brukare intervjuades. Resultatet visar att det är svårt att uttala sig om arkitekters kunskap om dagsljus, då det ingår som en del i gestaltningen av hela byggnaden. Det är även väldigt individuellt huruvida arkitekten intresserar sig för och aktivt arbetar med dagsljusfrågor. Vi ser stora skillnader i det avseendet hos de arkitekter vi intervjuade. De analyserade byggnaderna visar även skiftande resultat i dagsljusmiljöns visuella kvaliteter. Resultatet av våra miljöanalyser bekräftas till stor del av brukarna i respektive byggnad. Problemområden för den visuella dagsljusmiljön som vi fann, är i första hand solavskärmningar samt möblering i rummet. Vår slutsats är att arkitekter kan ha nytta av att samarbeta med ljusdesigners i dagsljusfrågor då ljusdesigners har en större kunskap om ögats visuella förutsättningar och ett tydligare brukarperspektiv. För att ett gott samarbete ska kunna upprättas krävs samtidigt att ljusdesigners ökar sin kunskap om dagsljus i byggnader, och om byggnaders konstruktion som helhet.

<p>During our education to become lighting designers at Jönköping University, the artificial lighting has been in focus. Therefore we wanted to learn more about daylight. We chose to do this from a visual approach in open plan offices. Since daylight is part of the architects´ responsibility to master, we wanted to examine what architects think of when they plan daylight environments in open plan offices and how this is expressed in the buildings with focus on the visual factors.</p><p>Our questions at issue are:</p><ol><li>What knowledge do architects have concerning daylight planning, and how do they use this knowledge in their practice?</li><li>How well do the chosen daylight environments meet the end-users need of a good visual environment? </li></ol><p>The study consists of three case studies, carried out in the same way. Each case study contains an analysis of the daylight environment in a modern building with open plan offices. A responsible architect was interviewed about the intensions for the building, and about his or her general thoughts about daylight. Three end-users were also interviewed about their experiences of their working environment and the daylight conditions in each building. In total three buildings were analysed, three architects and nine end-users were interviewed.</p><p>The result shows that it is hard to tell what knowledge architects have about daylight, since it is a part of the overall design of the building. It is also very individual whether the architect displays an interest, and work with daylight issues in an active way. We can see differences in this matter between the interviewed architects.</p><p>The analysed buildings also show varying results in the visual qualities. The results from our environment analyses are at most part confirmed by the end-users in each building. The problems we have found concerning the daylight environment are primarily the solar shadings and the layout of furnishing.</p><p>Our conclusion is that architects could benefit from collaboration with lighting designers in daylight issues. This is because lighting designers have more knowledge about the visual conditions of the eye, and a more explicit focus on the end-user. To ensure a good collaboration the lighting designers also need to increase their knowledge about daylight in buildings, and about the building construction as a whole.</p> / <p>Under vår utbildning till ljusdesigners på Jönköpings Tekniska Högskola har fokus legat på det elektriska ljuset. Då vi ville lära oss mer om det minst lika viktiga dagsljuset, valde vi att undersöka detta ur ett visuellt perspektiv i kontorslandskap. Dagsljuset är arkitektens ansvar att behärska, varför vi ville undersöka vad arkitekter tänker på när de planerar dagsljusmiljöer i kontorslandskap, och hur detta yttrar sig i den färdiga byggnaden med fokus på de visuella faktorerna.</p><p>Följande frågeställningar formulerades:</p><ol><li>Vilken kunskap har arkitekter om dagsljusplanering och hur använder de sig av denna kunskap i praktiken?</li><li>Hur väl uppfyller utvalda dagsljusmiljöer brukarens behov av en god visuell miljö?</li></ol><p>Studien bygger på tre fallstudier utförda på samma sätt. Varje fallstudie innefattar en analys av dagsljusmiljön i en modern byggnad innehållande kontorslandskap. En ansvarig arkitekt intervjuades om intentionerna med respektive byggnad, samt om dennes tankar kring dagsljus i allmänhet. I respektive byggnad intervjuades även tre brukare om deras upplevelse av arbetsmiljön och dagsljuset. Totalt analyserades tre byggnader, och tre arkitekter samt nio brukare intervjuades.</p><p>Resultatet visar att det är svårt att uttala sig om arkitekters kunskap om dagsljus, då det ingår som en del i gestaltningen av hela byggnaden. Det är även väldigt individuellt huruvida arkitekten intresserar sig för och aktivt arbetar med dagsljusfrågor. Vi ser stora skillnader i det avseendet hos de arkitekter vi intervjuade.</p><p>De analyserade byggnaderna visar även skiftande resultat i dagsljusmiljöns visuella kvaliteter. Resultatet av våra miljöanalyser bekräftas till stor del av brukarna i respektive byggnad. Problemområden för den visuella dagsljusmiljön som vi fann, är i första hand solavskärmningar samt möblering i rummet.</p><p>Vår slutsats är att arkitekter kan ha nytta av att samarbeta med ljusdesigners i dagsljusfrågor då ljusdesigners har en större kunskap om ögats visuella förutsättningar och ett tydligare brukarperspektiv. För att ett gott samarbete ska kunna upprättas krävs samtidigt att ljusdesigners ökar sin kunskap om dagsljus i byggnader, och om byggnaders konstruktion som helhet.</p>

Les conditions de travail peuvent-elles générer des problèmes attentionnels chez certains salariés ? Cette question est actuellement au cœur de nombreuses recherches dans le domaine de la psychologie du travail, de l’ergonomie et de la psychologie cognitive appliquée. Au cours de ce travail de thèse, nous avons tenté de comprendre quels facteurs pourraient provoquer ces difficultés. Nous avons scindé notre approche en deux parties : (i) l’étude en laboratoire des liens entre les interruptions et les capacités cognitives, et (ii) l’étude des conditions de travail et de leurs retentissements sur la cognition. Les parutions scientifiques issues de la littérature des interruptions sont de plus en plus nombreuses. Elles ont notamment vécu un essor au début des années 2000. Pourtant, de nombreuses interrogations persistent encore, comme les effets réels des interruptions sur la tâche principale et les différents facteurs qui les potentialisent. De plus, les processus cognitifs spécifiques mis en jeu lors des interruptions n’ont pas tous été étudiés. C’est pourquoi, nous avons proposé une nouvelle définition formelle du phénomène d’interruption, ainsi qu’un nouveau cadre de recherche pour unifier le champ d’étude actuel. Nous avons également mené plusieurs études expérimentales dans le but de répondre à certains questionnements encore présents. L’ensemble de nos résultats suggèrent que les interruptions sont la plupart du temps délétères, et que des processus jusqu’alors insoupçonnés pourraient permettre de diminuer leurs retentissements. En second lieu, nous avons étudié l’impact de certaines conditions de travail sur le développement de plaintes attentionnelles et cognitives. Tout d’abord, nous avons construit un nouveau matériel à même de détecter ces changements au niveau cognitif en réalisant plusieurs études de création et validation d’une nouvelle échelle. Ensuite, nous l’avons utilisé sur un échantillon de plusieurs centaines de salariés pour tirer des conclusions sur les prédicteurs de ces difficultés. Dans l’ensemble, le genre, le statut social, le temps passé en environnement de travail partagé, la fréquence des interruptions et certaines nouvelles technologies pourraient être à l’origine de difficultés attentionnelles au travail. / Can Working conditions generate attentional problems for some employees? This issue is currently at the heart of research in the field of work psychology, ergonomics and applied cognitive psychology. During this thesis, we tried to understand exactly what factors might cause these problems. We have divided our approach into two parts: (i) the laboratory study of the links between interruptions and cognitive abilities, and (ii) the study of working conditions and their repercussions on cognition. Scientific publications from interruptions literature are becoming more numerous. In particular, they experienced a boom in the early 2000s. However, many questions still persist, as the real effect of interruptions on the main task and the various factors which potentiates this effect. Moreover, the specific cognitive processes involved during interruptions have not all been studied. Therefore, we proposed a new formal definition of the phenomenon of interruption and a new research framework to unify the current field of study. Also, we conducted several experimental studies to answer some questions still present. Together, our results suggest that interruptions are usually deleterious regarding the performance of the primary task, and that some cognitive processes unsuspected to this day might help their repercussions. Secondly, we studied the impact of specific working conditions on attentional and cognitive complaints. First, we built a new test able to detect these changes on a cognitive level by carrying out several construction and validation studies of a new scale. Then we used a sample of several hundred employees to draw conclusions on the predictors of these difficulties. Overall, gender, social status, time spent in shared working environment, the frequency of interruptions and several aspects of new technologies may be the cause of attentional difficulties at work.