ABSTRACT
For more than 80 years, business students have been taught the ‘Hawthorne eect ff’, which purports that physical changes made in the work environment were a signal of management’s concern for the workers. This chapter discusses that the characteristics of the workspace itself were not indicators of productivity and that the attentiveness of management was the primary factor leading to increased outputs. In a production area, aside from workplace safety, the needs of machines and equipment in a production area often take precedence over the needs of the people who operate the equipment. Designing for the human experience of each space type can be just as important as finding the perfect balance of office, communal, meeting, lab and production space types. Reducing stress and improving cognitive performance are desired outcomes that can be achieved through the integration of nature and natural patterns.
