The effects of workplace design on job satisfaction: a case study of mukwano industry Uganda

By njau njoki Naomi

Bebm/09/d/105

A RESEARCH PROPOSAL SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD
OF BACHELORS DEGREE IN BUSINESS ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND BUSINESS MANAGEMENT IF ST
LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY.

MARCH, 2011
SECTION ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

(Arora, 2002) states that work place design is the arrangement of all physical components
within the available ork place to provide maximum effectiveness and the coordination of
these components into an effective and attractive unit. Traditionally the office was designed
i.e built around the organization heirachy as reflected in the organization chart not around
the flow of information and paper through the office, he further argues that uts obviously
important to spend and effect on good environment design to achieve comfortable
conditions – employees satisfaction however this has been ignored by mos organizations.

(Denyer, 1993) states that work place design can be described as the arrangement of the
different equipments and men within a given available floor space with a view to make
optimum utilization of space and ensure maximum effectiveness of the office. However, he
states that some cases of workplace design are unsuccessful in this regard they have failed
because they are in appropriate for the workers and the type of work performed within the
organization.

(Armstrong, 2006) states that job satisfaction refers to the attitude and feelings people have
about work. Positive and favourable attitudes towards job indicate job satisfaction high
moral is often defined as being equivalent to job satisfaction. Negative and unfavorable
attitudes towards the job indicate job dissatisfaction. He also defines morale as a collective
attitude of workers towards one another, their employer, the management and their work.
In addition the existing structure are able to hinder achievement of a successful
occupational environment hence job dissatisfaction

(lenz Sampson and peterson) states that job satisfaction is an important element of
employee mental and health since individuals spend approximately 8600 hours of their lives
working and because of this they have to derive satisfaction from the job and the workplace
which is mostly ignored by the top management. In their view they attribute workplace
design such as workspace, layout, size of personal, surface area, usability of furniture, social
spaces, visual disturbance and access to privacy all affect the occupant satisfaction but are
greatly ignored.

Hence its important for managergs to design work places in such a way that employee feels
secured, appreciated and that employees needs are supported for balancing privacy which
leads to job satisfaction since they feel their needs have been met.
 1.2 statement of the problem

results by () davies, 2005 show that layout and visual quality of the environments design, rated as
adequate noise suppression and avoidance of visual disturbance, are equally unsuccessful in all types of
workplace design. This means that these physical aspects of environmental quality, which are
considered highly influential on job satisfaction and well being, are currently not addressed. In addition
most companies spend less than 10 percent of their operating expenses on workplace design compared
with the cost of labor. Therefore there is need for highly satisfying workplace features for instance, the
provision of social spaces and meeting rooms.

1.3 purpose of the study/research

the purpose of the research is to examine how work place design is related to job
satisfaction

1.4 objective of the study

a) to show the different kinds of work place design
b) to examine the determinants of job satisfaction
c) to acquire knowledge on the relationship between workplace design and job
satisfaction.
1.5 research questions
a) what are the different kinds of work place design?
b) What are the determinants of job satisfaction?
c) What is the relationship between workplace design and job satisfaction?
1.6 scope of the study

the study is focused on the effect of workplace designon job satisfaction

1.7 significance of the study

a) the study will help most organization in designing an effective workplace design
that will lead to job satisfaction
b) the study will help organizations to understand the determinants of job
satisfaction
c) the study will help organizations to know what the effect of workplace design on
job satisfaction is.
d) the research will give room for further findings on the topic.
Section two

Literature review
2.1 introduction

This chapter involves presentation of the view of different authors about the effect of workplace
design on job satisfaction.

2.2. workplace design

According to (Arora, 2002) in his book office organization and management workplace design is the
arrangement of all the physical components within the available work floor space to provide
maximum effectiveness and coordination of these components into an effective and attractive unity.

According to B-net business dictionary.com business definition of workplace design is the

arrangement of workplace so that work can be performed in the most efficient way.

According to (denyer, 2000) workplace is described as the arrangement of different departments,

equipments and men within a given available floor space with a view to make optimum utilization of
space and ensures maximum effectiveness of the office.

Office design incorporates both ergonomics and workflows which examines the way in which work is
performed in order to optimize layout.

Office design is an important factor in job satisfaction if it sttracts the way in which employees work
and behave and mainly organization have implemented open plan office design to encourage
teamwork, the changes in information technology have led to changes in traditional layouts and same
offices are designed to facilitate hot desking. The design of work spaces must confirm to health
legislation (bnet.com)

2.3 types of workplace design

(Arora, 2002) talks about two types of workplace design based on the activities performed in an office,
they are; group layout and process layout.

2.3.1. group layout/ Group workspace design

This is where the office is designed in such a way tha employees performing similar activities or similar
machines are grouped together for example all accountants are placed together and the same with
accounting machines and equipments.

2.3.2. this is a layout of office design in which men and machines are arranged on the basis of the
sequence of operations for example the filling section is placed next to the dispatch section and the
packing section follows.
However, in practice neither this two types of layout can be used exclusively, both types of workplace
design are to be combined to attain the desired flow of work and efficiently for example while most of
the sales people might be put in a centralized sales pool, yet some of them would be place next to
important executives.

2.3.3. Systems approach of work place design

(arora, 2002) also talks about the systems approach of office design. The systems approach to office
design begins with the analysis of the flow of documents and the flow of oral communication in the
organization.

Once these two types of flows have been properly identified and described, an office layout that
permits optimum efficiency in the flow of information can be described.

One of the important features of the systems approach is the open office and small individual office,
traditionally office was designed backwards; it was built around the organsition chart and not around
the flwo of information and papers through the office as the case in the systems approach of work
place design.

2.3.4 open plan and private office types of workplace design.

(Denyer, 2000) is of the view that there are two types of workplace design. They are open plan design
and prvate offices.

2.3.5 open plan offices design

This can be any size to accommodate all sections of a complete department or several
departments( denyer, 2000).

(Arora, 2002), defines open office as where staffs are put in a large room or hall instead of in separate
rooms, every section or department is allotted to separate space within the hall and counter high
filling cabinet and shelves are used to demarcate the area of each section or department.

Open plan have become common in recent years primarily because the space can be used more
effectively that is more people can be accommodated in a given area of an open plan office than
would be the case if they were in a small offices covering the same area. This is a very serious cost
saver because rent is charged per square foot.

In open plan offices there is lack of privacy, noise is present and distraction due to lack of
concentrations in one’s work (Shaw 2005).

(Denyer, 2000) talks of the old fashioned type of open office that is not landscaped and may look like a
factory and create an impersonal atmosphere he continues and talks about office landscaping that
originated from west germany in the 1950s which provided the answer to the factory like atmosphere
of the large open plan.
2.3.6 private office design (small offices)

(Denyer, 2000) defines private offices as those that can accommodate from one to a maximum of
eight people.

(Arora, 2000) defines private offices designas offices that a small group of staff or executive sits in
small rooms and they are two categories namely cell office and shared. In the sell office there is one
individual per room while in shared room office two or more individuals use the same rom.

Shared rooms are used when work is of confidential nature, top executives are provided with private
offices for reasons of prestige and in cases where work must be isolated in order to eliminate nosie.

In private office design there is privacy, personal atmosphere and efficiency is created due to the
absence of noise. However, they are non economical, can hamper good lighting due to walls and
partitions.

2.4. Aspect of job satisfaction

According to (Armstrong, 2006) job satisfaction refers to the attitude and feelings of like or dislike
people have about their work. Positive and favourable attitudes towards the job indicate job
dissatisfaction.
Armstrong goes ahead and talks about morale being oftern defined as being equivalent to job
satisfaction. (Denyer, 2000) defines morale as a collective attitude of workers towards one another,
their employer, the management and their work.

(Newstrom and Davis 2002) view job satisfaction as a ste of favourable or unfavouble feelings and
emotions with which employees view their work. They further defined it as anaffective attitude a
feeling of realistic dislike or like towards something.

According to (mathis and Jackson, 1991) job satisfaction is a pleasurable or positive emotional state
resulting from the appraisal of one’s job experiences. Job dissatisfaction occurs when these
expectations are not.

2.5. determination of job satisfaction

2.5.1 (Hertzberg, 1991) presented a two factor theory which looks at motivators and hygiene factors
as being responsible for job satisfaction and dissatisfaction and suggested that job satisfaction and job
dissatisfaction appear to be caused by essential set of questions after interviewing a group of
employees so as to find out what made them satisfied and dissatisfied with their work.
Hertzberg discovered the feeling of achievement led to job dissatisfaction. However, lack
ofachievement was never named as a cause of job dissatisfaction; instead other factors like style of
supervision, condition of work among others were mentioned as causes of job dissatisfaction.

Hertzberg adopted this approach and assorted that is relevant to determine the over reaching
differences between those elements which are related to job content which he termed as
motivators/satisfiers and thos that are part of the job context as hygiene factors or maintenance
factors.

Satisfiers/motivators include factors such as sense of achievement, recognition, advancement and the
nature of the job while hygiene factors include interpersonal relations, salary, working conditions and
supervision and job security.

He further argued that the presence of motivators in the work place caused enduring satisfaction but
their absence did not lead to dissatisfaction.

Hygiene factors on the other hand produced an acceptable working environment but it didn’t increase
satisfaction, their absence however didn’t cause dissatisfaction.

Hertzberg 1959, also adopted such a similar approach by stating that it is relevant to distinguish
between these elements which are directly related to the job context and those elements which are
part of the job context for example supervision style and interpersonal relations and consequently
examines how each of these affects the employee’s level of satisfaction.

(Merdell and callen 1995) concur with Hertzberg that if an organization policies, systems and practices
are unfairly designed then they stand to hinder employee satisfaction (Sypatak and David 2000)
refined this view by suggesting that an organizations policies systems will be frustrating if they are not
clear, unfair, unnecessary of if not everyone is required to follow them.

A research carried out by the enterprise social learning architectures within the Australian defence
organization 1999 showed the seven determinants of job satisfaction as shown.

2.5.2. condition of service

There is a perception that the conditions of service and the implementation of certain associated
policies and practices have some negative impacts on how people view their work environment.

2.5.3. recognition and reward

The lack of proper recognition for a job well done seems to be a problem to many organizations
(Mitchell, 2000) this demotivates the employees as their efforts have not been recognized, hence
dissatisfied employees. Hence it is important to recognize employees by giving them thanks at every
stage of achievement of their tasks by rewarding them inform of liquid money or promotions since
this acts as an incentive to induce high level of employee performance so as to nhance organization
effectiveness.

2.5.4 organsiation loyalty and workers.

According to (Reicheld, 2001) unless leaders of an organsation have built relationship based on loyalty
then nothing will keep the staff and other stakeholder from leaving the organization due to the low
level of job satisfaction.

2.5.5 work place design

The physical layout of an office impacts on the behavior of employees in the workplace. (California
management review review (2007 Solar) said in open plan design there is lack of personal atmosphere
where bby employees sit next to the supervisors, they tend to feel is too much control, lack of
concentration hence lead to job dissatisfaction.

2.5.6 job significance

This is the extent to which one feels his or her work is significant if not they are unlikely to develop a
high of job satisfaction of work motivation. (Hackmanard Oldham, 1980)

2.6 other determinants of job satisfaction

2.6.1 communication system

(Stoner, 1996) organization should endeavour to use an open door policy to closed door policy of
communication. Communication detween managers and the surbodinates should be made easy
instead of having a high degree of hierarchies.

2.6.1. Good working conditions

The working conditions should be free from noise to allow concentration. Should also be well
ventilated and employee working in risky environments should be provided with protective gears
(Robbin 2000)

2.6.3. Team work

A sense of team work should be developed in the organization. This encourages a sense of sharing
knowledge as well as improving interpersonal skills and unity in the organization. (Robbin 2000)
further noted that an employee gets satisfies when he learns that his fellow workers are concerned
and care about him and this leads to increased commitment and high productivity.

2.6.4 meaningful performance appraisal

Employee performance should be evaluated and timely feedbacks to allow them to know areas to
improves. Delay of feedback would make the whole process useless and eads to job dissatisfaction.

2.6.5 training and development

According to (pigors and Myers, 2000) imparting knowledge and skills to an employee enables him or
her to perform his or her job. This provides satisfaction as the employee’s gains confidence in what he
does.

2.6.6. recognition
Managers and supervisors should ensure that good performance is recognized and rewarded which
brings about motivation. Reward and compensation should be fair and equitable it should be
competence and performance based to motivate staffs.

2.6.7 job autonomy

Employers should provide freedom to workers to perform their tasks and duties with minimum
supervision thia will make them feel that there is minimum control while performing their job hence
leading to job satisfaction.

According to (Vaney and chen, 2003) heighlights two social theirs that determine job satisfaction,
which is bottom up theory and top down theory.
The bottom theory states that individuals have needs and that they will be happy if their needs are
satisfied. The top down theory states that there is global propensity to experience things in a positive
way. In other words all individuals will be major influence in their lives.

2.7 relationships between workplace design and job satisfaction.

A survey by knoll (reported by barber, 2001) of workers showed that the greated boost to job
satisfaction would come from having state of the art technology, the ability to control climate,
storage, space, quiet space and space that can be personalized.

When lighting dimming controls were introduced, significant improvements in mood, room appraisal
environmental satisfaction (veitch and Newsham, 2001)

Research by (kruk 2000) showed that a well designed office chair increased job satisfaction by 27
percent.

It obviously important to spend time and effort on good environment design to achieve comfortable
conditions – employees satisfaction with work environment has been found to be directly related to
employees job satisfaction (carlopio, 2001)

(Weiss, 2002) has argued that job satisfaction is an attitude but points out that researchers should
clearly distinguish the objects of cognitive evolution which affects emptions, behaviours and beliefs.
This definition suggests that we form attitudes towards our job by taking into account our feelings,
beliefs and behavior.

One of the biggest studies of job satisfaction was the hawthorne studies (1924 - 1933) which primarily
credited Elton mayo of Harvad business school sought to find the effects of various conditions on
worker’s productivity. These studies showed that charges in working condition temporary increases
productivity called the hawthorne effect. It was later found that increase resulted not from the new
conditions but from the knowledge of being observed and this is evidenced in open type of work place
design where there is easy supervision. These findings provided strong evidence that people work for
purposes of others other than pay which paved way for the researchers to investigate other factors in
job satisfaction.

According to (Ellicksin, 2002) in article public management talks about the relationship between
workplace design and job satisfaction is positively influenced by employee perception of sufficient
physical work space. Whe work is poorly designed not meeting their needs hence their workers will
develop dissatisfaction on their jobs.

Furthermore (Haynes and Price 2004) suggests that innovative workplaces improve job satisfaction by
attracting and retaining more innovative workers. (Duffy 2001) stresses that it is important not to put
the right organization into the worng building. In such a case he argues, the occupants would gradually
destroy the work of the designers in order to make themselves comfortable.

According to a research carried out by the enterprise social learning (architectures within the
Australian organization 2003) shared that workplace design is one of the determinants of job
satisfaction. The physical layout of an office impacts the behavior of employees for example open plan
encourages team work.

2.7 conclusion
In conclusion, therefore since workplace design greatly influences employee job satisfaction there is
great need that organizations should design theor workplace s as to promote maximum effectiveness
and collaboration as well as to meet employee’s needs like personal atmosphere, good working
conditions so as to ensure employee job satisfaction.

2.8, description
Socio-economic background influence output thus leads to increased job satisfaction.
Socio economic background influences types of workplace design such as group target in such a way
that employees performing similar activities or similar machines are grouped together for examples
all accountants are placed together and the same with accounting machines and equipment hence it
affects output by increasing job satisfaction.

Socio economic background such as teamwork encourages a sense of sharing knowledge as well as
improving interpersonal skills and unity in the organization this affect output by increasing job
satisfaction.
 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Types of Workplace Design

Group target/group workplace
Process workplace
Systems approach of workplace
Open plan and private office types
Open plan office
Private office

Determined of job satisfaction

Condition of service
Socio economic background Recognition and reward
Sex Organizational loyalty and worker
Age Workplace design
Education Job significance
Occupation Communication system
Income Good working conditions
Team work
Meaningful performance appraisal
Training and development
Relationship between workplace
design
Job satisfaction

Output
Increased job satisfaction
Section three

Methodology

3.1 introduction
3.2 research design
The research will be both descriptive and analytical to study the effect of work pplace design on job
satisfaction. The research will be based on explanatory research and correlation research design. Here
the researcher will give reasons and justify the relationship between the two variables and therefore
attaching meaning to the available data.

3.3. sources of information

The researcher will use both primary and secondary data. Primary source of data will be through
direct observation and use of questionnaires. Secondary source of data will include textbooks,
journals, online journals, newspapers and magazines that are related to the variables at hand.

3.4. types of information

The data that will be collected will entail both qualitative type. Qualitative data will be described in
tabulation form while qualitative will be described in essay form.

3.5 Table of Approach

Approach Sample Selection Data Collection Types of Samples

Methods
Quantitative Stratified and Structured 1.30 recipients
systematic Interviews 2.20 women recipient
sampling Total = 50 responsible
Qualitative Purpose sampling Semi-structured 1.8 dept of finance
interviews 2.5 dept of marketing
3.4 dept of IT
4.3 dept of HRM
5.2 dept of Promotion
6.1 dept of Engineering
7.3 dept of accounting
Total = 26 key
informants

Qualitative Purpose sampling Group discussion 1.1 group of recipients

2.1 group of non recipients
 3.1 group of defaulters
4 group of 8 discussants

3.6. data collection method

The researcher will focus on documentary review whereby data is to be obtained from textbooks,
newspapers, journals, and magazines. This will be through reading.

3.7 data analysis and presentation

After collection of data mainly in form field of notes and documents review, data will be sorted, edited
and summarized using tables and percentages for consistency and finally presented in form of a
report.

3.8 Limitations
1. there is a likelihood of being restricted from the literature available in the library
2. the researcher is likely to be costly in terms of publication
3. time will be a great challenge since the researcher has to attend lectures, collect data and analyse it
and finally present a report.
References
Armstrong micheal (2005), a handbook of human resource management, 9 th edition, London, Replika
press ltd

Ahuja k.k (2000) personnel management, kalgani publisher new delhi

Barber, c (2001) how buildings learn what happens after they are built, penguin Books, new York, N.Y

Cole. G. A (2002) personal and Human resource Management 6 th Edition, new jersey. Prentice hall
International ltd.

Haynes, and Price, I (2004), “Quantifying the complex adaptive workplace” facilities, vol. 22 NO, pp 8-
18.

Kruk, L.B (1989), “Consider seating last?” the office vol. 109 pp 45-55

Veitch, J.A and Hesham, G. R (2002) , Exercised control, lighting choices and energy use; an office
simulation experiment”. Journal of environment psychology, Vol 20 no. 3 pp 219-237

ww.wikipedia.com

www.emeraldinsight.com
The effects of workplace design on job satisfaction: a case study of mukwano industry Uganda

Interview schedule for recipient of services from mukwano industry

Introductory talk

I am Njau naomi Njoki, a student of St. Lawrence University conducting research as a requirement for
degree bachelor of Entrepreneurship and Business. The title of the research is effects of workplace
design on job satisfaction a case study of mukwano industry. The purpose of this study is to find out how
workplace design in mukwano industry affects ots job satisfaction. A random method was used to select
you and it is important that you answer question on behalf of those that were not selected. Information
you give us will be kept confidential. It will not be revealed when the findings will be reported. Thank
you very much for agreeing to participate in this research.

1.0 socio economic Background

1.1. What is your sex?
1. Male 2. Female
1.2. What is your age?
1.3. What is your level of Education?
1. None 2. Primary 3. Secondary 4. Tertiary
1.4. What is your level of Urbanization?
1.5. What is your marital status?
1. Single 2. Married 3. Separated 4. Widowed
1.6. What is your religion?
1. Catholic 2. Protestant 3. Muslim 4. Seventh day 5. Others

2.0 Workplace design

2.1 which type of workplace design do you prefer?
1. Group Layout 2. Process workplace 3. System approach
2.2 How long does it take to complete workplace design
1. Weeks 2. Months 3. Year
3.0 job satisfaction

3.1. what are the determinants of job satisfaction?

3.2 (a) how have you benefitted from job satisfaction?

(b) if yes, how have you benefitted?

Do you have any comments about this research? If not, thank you very much for your cooperation.