ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of work environment on workers’ productivity, case study MitaCCUL Bamenda. A hypothesis was formulated that work environment has little or no effect on employees of MitaCCUL. The research design adopted for the study was the exploratory approach and the sampling technique was the stratified random sampling technique. The sample size was 20 made up of workers only. Data was collected using questionnaires and analyzed descriptively using tables and charts. The least square regression technique was used to test the hypothesis; the dependent variable was workers productivity. The findings revealed that there was a less significant relationship between the work environment and workers productivity in MitaCCUL with a coefficient of 3.055556 for the constant term. Two main factors were taken into consideration; physical condition and pay package and all had a positive relationship to workers productivity as 0.72757 and 1.87063. Recommendations were also made that a department should be established to take charge of the work environment just like other functional departments, physical conditions such as lighting, temperature, ventilation and furniture should be designed to suit an average person and lastly that the motivation system should be based on fairness and equality.

Key words: Work environment, productivity, physical conditions, pay package, satisfaction and comfort.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

The environment is man’s immediate surrounding which he manipulates for his existence. Wrongful manipulation introduces hazards that make the environments unsafe and impede the productivity rate of the worker. Therefore, the workplace entails and environment in which the workers performs his work (chapins, 1995) while an effective workplace is an environment where results can be achieved as expected by the management (Mike, 2010; Shikdar, 2002). Physical environment affect how employees in an organization interact, perform tasks, and are ked. Physical environment as an aspect of the work environment have directly affected the human sense and subtly changed interpersonal interactions and thus productivity. This is so because the characteristics of a room or a place of meeting for a group have consequences regarding productivity and satisfaction level. The workplace environment is the most critical factor in keeping an employee satisfied in today’s business world. Today’s workplace is different, diverse, and constantly changing. The typical employer/employee relationship of old has been turned upside down. Workers are living in a growing economy and have almost limitless job opportunities. This combination of factors has created an environment where the business needs its employees more than the employees need the business (Smith, 2011).

A large number of work environment studies have shown that workers/users are highly satisfied with reference to specific workspace features. These features preference by users are highly significant to their productivity and workspace satisfaction, they are lighting, ventilation rates, access to natural light and acoustic environment (Becker, 1981;Humphries, 2005; Veitch, Charles, Newsham. Marquardt and Greerts, 2004; Karasek and Theorell, 1990). Lighting and other factors like ergonomic furniture has been found to have positive influence on employees health (Dilani, 2004; Milton, Glencross and Walters, 2000; Veitch and Newaham, 2000) and consequently on productivity, this is so because light has a profound impact on worker’s/people’s physical, physiological and psychological health, and on their overall performance at the workplace. Ambient features in office environments, such as lighting, temperature, existence of windows, free air movement etc, suggest that these elements of the physical environment influence employee’s attitudes, behaviors, satisfaction, performance and productivity( Larsen, Adams, Deal, Kweon and Tyler, 1998; Veitch and Gifford, 1996).

Closed office floor plan, whether each employee has a separate office of their own or there are a few people in each closed office, allows staff a greater amount of privacy than an open plan office layout. They have the chance to work in peace and quiet, keeping them focused on the task in hand without getting overtly distracted by what their colleagues are doing. It offers employees a thinking fame or be creative without much interruption (Mwbex,2010).In the office plan, noise existence is stressful and de-motivating, posses high level of distraction and disturbance coupled with privacy level (Evans and Johnson,2000).

          With technological development innovative communication method virtual reality; e-market improvement and alternative work patterns, workplace continues to change rapidly (chanlenger2000). To accommodate these rapid changes while maintaining or improving outcomes, organizations have increasingly turned to some version of environment such as open office space (Terricone and Luca, 2002). This type of work environment support new styles of work and flexible work places which offer interpersonal access and easy of communication compared to fully enclose private offices. This change to open plan office has increase employees productivity compared to closed office spaces(Becker,2002).Furthermore it is easier to communicate with someone whom you can see more easily than someone adjacent/distant or separated by objects from you(J’istvan in business,2010). The open office creates egalitarian systems with equal working conditions that reduces the distant between employees and improve communication flow (Brennan, Chugh and kline, 2002, Hedge,1986,2000).

          Noise is one of the leading causes of employees’ distraction, leading to reduce productivity, serious inaccuracies, and increased job-related stress. According to Bruce (2008,study showed that workplace distraction cut employee productivity by as much as 40%, and increase errors by 27%. Also Moloney (2011) citing loftiness study of 2003 confirmed the importance of natural life and air (ventilation) to worker productivity. The study showed a 3-18% gain in productivity in buildings with day-lighting system.

          Effective work place communication is a key to cultivation of success and professionalism (Canadian center for communication, 2003). A company that communicates throughout the work place in effective manner is more likely to avoid problems with completing the daily procedures, and less likely to have a problem with improper occurrence and will generate a stronger morale and a more positive attitude towards work. When employees communicate effectively with each other, productivity will increase because effective communication means less complains and more work getting done (Quilan, 2001). It removes confusion and frees up wasted time that would have been otherwise spent on explanation or argument (Fleming and Larder, 1999). It makes workplace more enjoyable, less anxiety among co-workers which in turn means positive attitude towards work and increased productivity (Makin, 2006; Taylerson, 2012). Furthermore, another aspect of communication that affects productivity is noise level. Noise has negative influence on communication, frustration levels increase while productivity decreases in relation to persistence and loudness of noise. A reason adduced for this is that spoken communication becomes progressively more difficult as noise levels increase.

          Over the years, theories has made series of attempt to unravel the mystery surrounding why people tend to display certain behavior in a given condition, they believe that every behavior manifested in the work place or otherwise is a goal directed. Work environment entails its buildings, its furniture, and layout as well as the physical condition under which employee operates. This brings us to the definition of environment.

          Kochan (1980) consider environment in the following context, economic context and social and technology context. It could be looked at as the surrounding of all situation, people event etc that influence life. Thus, people who are working in good environment exert greater effort to perform than those who work in an unhealthy environment.

          Pech and Slade (2006) argued that the employee disengagement is increasing and it becomes more important to make workplaces that positively influence workforce. According to Pech and Slade the focus is on symptoms of disengagement such as distraction, lack of interest, poor decisions and high absence, rather than the root causes. The working environment is perhaps a key root causing employee’s engagement or disengagement.

Another research indicates that Simproving the working environment reduces complaints and absenteeism while increasing productivity (Roelofsen, 2002).Wells (2000) states that workplace satisfaction has been associated with job satisfaction. In recent years, employees comfort on the job, determined by workplace conditions and environment has been recognized as an important factor for measuring their productivity. This is particularly true for those employees who spend most of the day operating a computer terminal. As more and more computers are being installed in workplaces, an increasing number of businesses have been adopting ergonomic designs for offices and plant installations. Ergonomics, also called biomechanics, has become popular because of demand of workers for more human comfort.

A widely accepted assumption is that better workplace environment motivates employees and produces better results. Office environment can be described in terms of physical and behavioral components. These components can further be divided in the form of different independent variables. An organization’s physical environment and its design and layout can affect employee behavior in the workplace.

Brill (1992) estimates that improvements in the physical design of the workplace may result in a 5-10 percent increase in employee productivity. Stallworth and Kleiner (1996) argue that increasingly an organization’s physical layout is designed around employee needs in order to maximize productivity and satisfaction. They argue that innovative workplaces can be developed to encourage the sharing of information and networking regardless to job boundaries by allowing communication freely across departmental groups. Statt (1994) argues that the modern work physical environment is characterized by technology; computers and machines as well as general furniture and furnishings. To achieve high levels of employee productivity, organizations must ensure that the physical environment is conducive to organizational needs facilitating interaction and privacy, formality and informality, functionality and cross-disciplinarily. Consequently, the physical environment is a tool that can be leveraged both to improve business results (Mohr, 1996) and employee well-being (Huang, Robertson and Chang, 2004).

Ensuring adequate facilities are provided to employees is critical to generating greater employee commitment and productivity. The provision of inadequate equipment and adverse working conditions has been shown to affect employee commitment and intention to stay with the organization (Weiss, 1999; Wise, Darling-Hammond and Berry, 1987) as well as levels of job satisfaction and the perception of fairness of pay (Bockerman and Ilmakunnas, 2006). From a safety perspective, Gyekye (2006) indicates that environmental conditions affect employee safety perceptions which impact upon employee commitment.

Extensive scientific research conducted by Roelofsen (2002) has also yielded indications suggesting that improving working environment results in a reduction in a number of complaints and absenteeism and an increase in productivity. The indoor environment has the biggest effect on productivity in relation to job stress and job dissatisfaction.

 As suggested by Govindarajulu (2004), in the twenty-first century, businesses are taking a more strategic approach to environmental management to enhance their productivity through improving the performance level of the employees. It is evident in the research findings of Patterson et al., (2003) that the more satisfied workers are with their jobs the better the company is likely to perform in terms of subsequent profitability and particularly productivity.

 Sekar (2011) argues that the relationship between work, the workplace and the tools of work, workplace becomes an integral part of work itself. The management that dictate how, exactly, to maximize employee productivity center around two major areas of focus: personal motivation and the infrastructure of the work environment. (Sekar, C.(2011).

1.2   Statement of the problem

Many organizations believe that employees’ performance can be increased by motivating through salary or promotions. Despite these efforts to improve on workers’ productivity, it was somehow discovered that there is more to workers productivity than just motivation. These organizations have discovered that the work environment plays a significant role on workers output in terms of job satisfaction, work place health and safety, and working conditions.

In 1990 when MitaCCUL was created they managed a small building which was not well equipped, they however were productive, but today their productivity is improving as they are also improving their work environment.

As far back as independence, based on observation most organisations cared less about employees working condition; they strived hard to yield greater profit without taking into consideration the way the profits would be achieved. As a result, employees did their best to be productive to a certain extent, but their outcomes could not exceed a certain limit firstly because the work environment was not very conducive and also because customers feel attracted to organisations which have good layouts despite the kind and quality of services offered.

A lot of changes have occurred in many years with respect to the work environment and organisation’s layout. These organisations have realised that quality services can only be produced by healthy and satisfied workers. Also, organisational layout such as workplace design attracts a lot of customers. As a result, organisations which provide quality services have experience greater outcomes with respect to these changes while other has just improved. Thus more focus has been concentrated in this area to ensure that there is increase in workers’ productivity.

  A work environment has a lot of effects on the employees especially psychologically. Work in itself is tedious and needs a lot of effort and concentration. If the worker is not comfortable while working, mentally he becomes sick and stressed up thereby reducing the amount of work done per day. On the contrary some employees find more comfort at their jobsites than at home. This is because their environment is comfortable and boost up their Morales. Sometimes what really motivate employees is the perception and the extent to which they feel proud about their organisation based on the way they are treated and the work environment.

Most workplace environment in a majority of industries is unsafe and unhealthy especially in less developed countries. These include poorly designed work stations, unsuitable furniture, and lack of ventilation, in appropriate lighting, excessive noise, and insufficient safety measures. People working in such environments are prone to occupational disease and affect their performance. Productivity is decreased due to the workplace environment. This is an area where employees are highly facing difficulties

However, based on the above information, organisations today are making great efforts to see that employees are comfortable in this area. It is therefore necessary that in any business organisation, emphasis should be laid on a conducive work environment. It is at this point that the following questions are raised to address the problem:

• To what extent are employees of MitaCCUL satisfied with their work environment?
• How does MitaCCUL handle their work environment?
• How does the work environment really affect workers productivity in MitaCCUL?

1.3      objective of the study

Main objective

• To examine the effects of work environment on worker’s productivity in MitaCCUL.

This research work seeks to examine the effects of work environment on worker’s productivity. For a long time now, workers productivity has been linked to motivation.

Specific objectives

• To examine the extent to which employees of MitaCCUL are satisfied with their work environment.
• To find out how MitaCCUL can improve on its work environment.
• To verify how the work environment of MitaCCUL affects its workers and their productivity.