Untitled
Abstract
Creating an effective workplace to fit each unique setting can be useful to change social cognitive behavior, increase employee retention, provide effective work environments, increase company profits and attract new employees. Corporate businesses are in a heightened pressure state to adapt to changing world economies. The margin for error of a faulty space plan is diminishing as the cost of doing business skyrockets. Businesses are being asked to adapt, realign and alter their practices in order to promote greater profits and maintain a stable workforce. Traditional planning methods are being found ineffective in today's changing environment. Most space planning practices use past ideas and intuitive guesses to create what is needed to for a satisfactory space plan. A level of internal understanding is needed to capitalize on management decisions and promote employee satisfaction. The level of understanding would benefit from a precise manner of determining workplace environmental preferences. It is a common understanding within the architectural and business research fields that office employees are highly affected by the setting in which they conduct their work (Becker, 1995). Not only are workers users of spaces within the workplace, but also today's worker recognizes, responds to and is motivated by aesthetically pleasing places and useful spaces that are meaningful and congruent in supporting their work activities (Wicker, 1992). Past research has studied the person-environment relationship and studies have shown that the person-environment (P-E) congruence heavily influences the level of job satisfaction, employee retention and motivation (Caplan, 1987). The P-E congruence model seeks to understand the nature of how the environments that people use or experience have an effect upon their behaviors as well as the manner that people
Degree
M.S.