ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS ON HUMAN MOODS AND EMOTIONS: IMPLICATIONS FOR WORKPLACE AND WORKFLOW DESIGN

摘要

The human body is designed to monitor a variety of multi-band channels delivering extremely large amounts of information from the environment. It is also designed to monitor vast amounts of information regarding its own internal states and conditions. This information flow is filtered and assessed by a large number of control loops that prepare the body for life-sustaining activity. These preparations also generate a large number of subliminal emotions that start to intrude themselves into a person's inner dialog if the control loops generating them remain unclosed or unsatisfied for a long enough period of lime. The lack of congruence between natural environments and the typical workplaces inhabited by knowledge workers means that the information flow received by these control loops lacks evidence that the workplace can sustain life, and the loops remain unclosed and unsatisfied. The implication of these information deficient work environments on knowledge worker mental health and productivity is discussed, and general recommendations made for re-engineering workspaces and workflow.