Personality and Workstation Type Predict Task Focus and Happiness in the Workplace

Employee personality traits have long been studied in the context of workplace outcomes, and drawbacks of certain workstation types have become regularly debated in the last decade. However, very little is known at the intersection of these two areas of interest. This study of 231 federal office workers explored how personality levels interacted with workstation type (open bench seating, cubicle, private office) on-task focus and happiness. Momentary assessment and global, one-time survey methods were used to capture a more ecologically valid understanding of such interactions. While global ratings of task focus were higher for those in private offices than those in cubicles and open bench seating, there were no differences between workstation types in momentary assessments of focus. Several personality trait-workstation type interactions were found, including support for the idea that certain affordances of open bench seating are more beneficial to momentary focus and happiness for employees high in extraversion, while detrimental to momentary focus for those high on neuroticism. Taken together, these findings suggest that a consideration of individual differences is critical to advance the workstation design conversation in order to best support the most valuable asset of an organization: the employee. Concern for the employee is especially important in the current context of the global pandemic that is driving a rapid evolution in approaches to both short and long-term strategies for workplace design and policy.

Modeling design conversation

En este artículo, se presenta el desarrollo experimental del sistema analítico físico 3D para la realización de análisis cualitativos y cómo ha contribuido al proceso de reflexión ente los miembros del equipo de diseño. El objetivo principal de este proyecto ha sido incrementar el involucramiento de los diseñadores en los análisis colaborativos y mejorar la calidad de sus resultados. Este texto se ha focalizado en entender el rol de la conversación en la consecución de los dos objetivos. En total, se han realizado una serie de 14 workshops. Aquí se presenta en detalle, como caso de estudio, sólo una de las sesiones, seleccionada debido a que posee un estándar bastante sofisticado en relación a que los participantes rechazaron la brevedad analítica para producir, en cambio, una compleja meta-interpretación de la información.

Internationalization of the Internet by design: The first decade

The successes and failures of Internet Internationalization reveal struggles between two systems: the network political (oriented around the machinic) and the geopolitical (oriented around the social). The frames through which this conflict are understood, and the technical decisions that enacted such frames, were put in place during the first decade of the network design process, 1969–79. Analysis of the technical document series that records the history of that process provides evidence of internationalization processes that include extension of the network outside of the United States, international participation in the design conversation, the influence of international organizations and associations, support for internationalization in the design criteria that serve as policy principles, and attention to issues raised by internationalization within the course of technical decision-making.

Conversation for School Change

The purpose of the chapter is to explore design conversation as it is lived out in the communication processes amongst stakeholders involved in school change and design of new learning environments. School reform efforts in various countries look for increased participation in design and decision-making at the local level. Design conversation, embedded in the theoretical framework of systems thinking and systems design has not, to date, been researched as a theoretical construct. Experiences and perceptions gathered in a phenomenological research study are presented. Data were gathered at three internationally dispersed sites in the Czech Republic, Germany, and the United States of America. The results indicate that teachers do value the process, describe changing mindsets, designing visions, concrete strategies, equitable participation, trust, and risk taking. The study hopes to lead those interested in school change to increased use and evaluation of design conversation in educational systems design.