A Socio-Technical Perspective on the Application of Green Ergonomics to Open-Plan Offices: A Review of the Literature and Recommendations for Future Research

Norton, Thomas A.; Ayoko, Oluremi B.; Ashkanasy, Neal M.

doi:10.3390/su13158236

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A Socio-Technical Perspective on the Application of Green Ergonomics to Open-Plan Offices: A Review of the Literature and Recommendations for Future Research

Thomas A. Norton

¹,

Oluremi B. Ayoko

^2,* and

Neal M. Ashkanasy

^2,*

Arup Group, Ltd., London W1T 4BJ, UK

School of Business, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Academic Editors: Christina Bodin Danielsson and María del Mar Molero Jurado

Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8236; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158236

Received: 30 April 2021 / Revised: 30 June 2021 / Accepted: 5 July 2021 / Published: 23 July 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue A Sustainability Perspective on Office Environment Influence on Employees and Organizations)

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Abstract

Open-plan office (OPO) layouts emerged to allow organizations to adapt to changing workplace demands. We explore the potential for OPOs to provide such adaptive capacity to respond to two contemporary issues for organizations: the chronic challenge of environmental sustainability, and the acute challenges emerging from the great COVID-19 homeworking experiment. We apply a socio-technical systems perspective and green ergonomics principles to investigate the relationship between an OPO environment and the occupants working within it. In doing so, we consider relevant technical and human factors, such as green technology and employee green behavior. We also consider how a green OPO might provide non-carbon benefits such as improving occupant well-being and supporting the emergence of a green organizational culture. Our investigation highlights several avenues through which an OPO designed with green ergonomic principles could benefit occupants, the organizations they work for, and the natural environment of which they are a part and on which they depend. We find reason to suspect that green OPOs could play an important role in sustainable development; and offer a research agenda to help determine whether it is true that OPOs can, indeed, exemplify how “going green” may be good for business. View Full-Text

Keywords: open-plan office; socio-technical systems; green ergonomics; biophilic design; sustainable development; human factors

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

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MDPI and ACS Style

Norton, T.A.; Ayoko, O.B.; Ashkanasy, N.M. A Socio-Technical Perspective on the Application of Green Ergonomics to Open-Plan Offices: A Review of the Literature and Recommendations for Future Research. Sustainability 2021, 13, 8236. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158236

AMA Style

Norton TA, Ayoko OB, Ashkanasy NM. A Socio-Technical Perspective on the Application of Green Ergonomics to Open-Plan Offices: A Review of the Literature and Recommendations for Future Research. Sustainability. 2021; 13(15):8236. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158236

Chicago/Turabian Style

Norton, Thomas A., Oluremi B. Ayoko, and Neal M. Ashkanasy 2021. "A Socio-Technical Perspective on the Application of Green Ergonomics to Open-Plan Offices: A Review of the Literature and Recommendations for Future Research" Sustainability 13, no. 15: 8236. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158236

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A Socio-Technical Perspective on the Application of Green Ergonomics to Open-Plan Offices: A Review of the Literature and Recommendations for Future Research

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