Browsing by Subject "Open-plan offices"

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    Evaluating the relationship between visual privacy and work-process interactions in open-plan offices: a space syntax approach
    (Emerald, 2024-11-13) Güler, Gizem Yenel; Demirkan, Halime
    Purpose - Previous studies on privacy in offices have primarily focused on the characteristics of generic visibility, examining the entire visible space from each workspace in 360 degrees. Nevertheless, employees in their workspaces investigate the visual targets within their binocular vision at 120 degrees. Therefore, by adopting the affordances perspective, this study aims to examine deeply generic and targeted visibility in open-plan offices and their relationship to interactions. Design/methodology/approach - The study consisted of two phases utilizing space syntax techniques. Initially, work-process interactions of the employees were determined through the survey. The survey data underwent spatial analysis to calculate the number of work-process interactions. Subsequently, DepthMapX software was used for visibility analyses. A new Python script for DepthMapX was developed to analyse the targeted visibility ratio. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between the number of work-process interactions with generic and targeted visibility parameters. Findings - The findings revealed that a higher number of visible employees within the 120-degree and 360-degree fields of vision corresponded to a lower number of work-process interactions in open-plan offices. Furthermore, the study establishes a direct link between visual privacy and interaction, indicating that increased visibility leads to decreased visual privacy. Originality/value - The current research concluded that the relationship between visual privacy and interaction in open-plan offices differs from the previous studies, as employees with low visual privacy and high visibility tend to engage in fewer interactions. Overall, this study highlights that increased employee visibility is not directly associated with increased interaction in open-plan offices unless adequate visual privacy is provided.
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    ItemOpen Access
    The effects of generic and targeted visibility on work-process interactions in open-plan offices
    (2024-06) Yenel Güler, Gizem
    Visibility within open-plan offices plays a crucial role in shaping employee behaviors, including how they interact. The main aim of this thesis is to investigate the impacts of generic and targeted visibility on work-process interactions in open-plan offices. In the first phase, adopting a qualitative approach, this study aimed to detect work-process interaction patterns through a survey in two open-plan offices with 30 employees. Survey questions related to work-process interactions were analyzed through axial analysis. The second phase of the study, adopting a quantitative approach, was conducted through generic and targeted visibility analysis and new codes written for DepthMapX. The outputs of the two phases were analyzed to comprehend the influence of generic and targeted visibility on work-process interactions in open-plan offices. The results showed that density values for 120° and 360° isovists are determinant factors for the number of work-process interactions in all generic and targeted visibility parameters. Moreover, a negative correlation was found between density parameters and the number of work-process interactions. Therefore, it was found that more visible employees per unit in 120° and 360° isovists result in fewer work process interactions in open-plan offices. In other words, it was found that when an employee has a desk with low visual privacy or high visibility, this employee avoids interacting with their colleagues in open-plan offices. Therefore, the study's findings reveal that the impact of visual privacy on work-process interactions in open-plan offices is not as same as previously thought. In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that more visibility does not result in more work-process interactions in open-plan offices unless employees’ visual privacy is preserved.