4.4 Organisational work conditions

4.4.1 Physical work conditions.

• impact of physical work conditions on productivity and the Hawthorne effect, e.g. Kompier (2006).
• impact of the design of the work environment focusing on open plan offices, including a study, e.g. Oldham and Brass (1979).
• Relevant issues and debates and methodology for this topic include: determinism versus free-will, experiments, questionnaires, longitudinal studies, quantitative and qualitative data.

This matters because —physical work conditions determines what can be inferred or chosen; begin with the stated conditions and keep the conclusion tied to the evidence.

Example: apply —physical work conditions to one small, clearly defined case, show the key step or comparison, and explain the result in words.

Boundary: —Physical work conditions is not a universal recommendation. Check the syllabus scope, assumptions, units and the limits of the evidence before generalising.

4.4.2 Temporal conditions of work environments.

• design of work: shiftwork: rapid rotation and slow rotation, on-call and flexitime including definitions and examples of each.
• effects of shiftwork on health and accidents, including a study, e.g. Gold et al. (1992).
• Relevant issues and debates and methodology for this topic include: application to everyday life, determinism versus free-will, questionnaires, quantitative and qualitative data, validity.

This matters because —temporal work conditions determines what can be inferred or chosen; begin with the stated conditions and keep the conclusion tied to the evidence.

Example: apply —temporal work conditions to one small, clearly defined case, show the key step or comparison, and explain the result in words.

Boundary: —Temporal work conditions is not a universal recommendation. Check the syllabus scope, assumptions, units and the limits of the evidence before generalising.

4.4.3 Health and safety.

• accidents at work focusing on human errors (errors of omission, commission, sequencing and timing) and system errors in operator-machine systems (machine controls and displays).
• reducing accidents at work: token economy, including a study, e.g. Fox et al. (1987).
• monitoring accidents (exemplified by the following key study).
• Key study on the monitoring of accidents and risk events: Swat (1997).

This matters because —health and safety determines what can be inferred or chosen; begin with the stated conditions and keep the conclusion tied to the evidence.

Example: apply —health and safety to one small, clearly defined case, show the key step or comparison, and explain the result in words.

Boundary: —Health and safety is not a universal recommendation. Check the syllabus scope, assumptions, units and the limits of the evidence before generalising.