Job satisfaction versus office environment : influences on academic knowledge worker productivity

This research paper provides a more encompassing review of self-assessment of a variety of knowledge worker activities, as well as providing the basis for these self assessments. A novel aspect is the inclusion of motivational affects which are considered alongside work environment influences on productivity. A questionnaire was administered on 25 academics. The group was questioned for their perceptions of their productivity for a range of their everyday activities and what areas of their work environment enhanced or disrupted their productivity. Job satisfaction was also assessed. The results from a series of self-assessments show that on the whole, the sample perceive themselves to be reasonably to very productive in all tasks undertaken. Staff satisfaction measures are generally very positive with collaboration and job enjoyment being motivational factors for this group. Noise levels, thermal conditions, poor lighting and a lack of storage seem to be the biggest inhibitors of productivity. Having a window to look out of and access to natural light seem to enhance an academics view of their productivity. <br /

The future of facilities management : educators and professional bodies working together

Facilities management programmes in Australia suffer from poor recruitment levels. This is in strong contrast to nearby Asian countries such as Hong Kong and Singapore where facilities management is a well-respected profession and programmes recruit in the 100&rsquo;s. Facilities management seems to be more regarded as purely a technical or even a janitorial job by potential students rather than a profession that offers scope for the development and exercise of high level skills in Australia. The word &ldquo;management&rdquo; seems to be ignored in the minds of the general public, despite the aspirations of practitioners and researchers to reach board-level influence. Facilities management is not the only one of the built-environment professions being viewed in this way. A number of professional bodies have difficulty recruiting fresh graduates into their ranks in Australia and research suggests that low recruitment levels will lead to a moribund profession with the potential for being downgraded to quasi or para-professional status. This paper would like to stimulate debate about the future of construction professions generally, how to encourage quality graduate entrants and educate employers about the need, indeed the necessity, for requiring professional qualifications in addition to graduate or post-graduate education to ensure the highest standards and continuing development of skills and knowledge

The psychological and physical needs of workers impacting office design

Office design needs to be based on the needs of the most important producers of profit and value for any organisation &ndash; the workforce. Drivers affecting office design have been economics &ndash; space being often viewed as a cost-centre rather than a business enabler; and more recently, ideas that office design can impact organisational culture &ndash; resulting in the adoption of more collaborative working spaces in an attempt to force interaction. What is not always considered are the actual working stylesof the individuals and their motivations nor the requirements of the work itself. There is a need to profile not only the workforce, but also the work carried out. Recent research into space requirements for work is reviewed and reported with recommendations for better consideration of the psychological and physical needs of workers for office design.<br /

Carbon dioxide levels and ventilation strategies in \u27green\u27 office buildings

Energy efficient office buildings are intended to provide a comfortable and healthy environment for their occupants as well as reducing the energy consumption of the building. They are often designed as &quot;showcase&quot; buildings illustrating the potential for savings through some innovative design technology. But do such buildings actually deliver the desired energy savings and satisfactory comfort conditions for occupants? Measurements of a &quot;green&quot; University campus building in Victoria, Australia, designed with an innovative fabric energy storage system, demonstrate that the ventilation system is not providing acceptable indoor air quality conditions. The design strategies used to reduce energy consumption have had negative consequences on the air quality of the building. Insufficient fresh air is being drawn into the building leading to an excessive build up of carbon dioxide. It is recommended that monitoring systems need to use a wider range of measurements than temperature alone to guarantee good quality indoor air and working conditions and that commissioning of buildings should include adequate monitoring of the operational performance of the building. Designers need to be made aware of the potential consequences of their decisions when attempting innovative energy-efficient designs.<br /

An optically guided atomic fountain

This thesis describes the development of a laser-cooling experiment aimed at efficient transfer of cold atoms over a short distance, for loading into a conservative atom trap. We detail the construction of a 3D magneto-optical trap (MOT) and perform characterisation measurements to optimise the number and temperature of the cold atoms. The atoms are launched vertically in a fountain from the MOT using a 'moving molasses' technique and a red-detuned far-off-resonant laser beam is used to guide them into an UHV chamber. Loading into the guiding beam is optimised with respect to the beam and MOT parameters. We demonstrate a maximum loading of 20% and guiding over a distance of more than 10 cm without loss of atoms. The atoms are delivered to the UHV chamber in a cloud with a transverse dimension of order 200 µm. We discuss the extension to continuous operation of the guided atomic fountain. The 3D MOT is replaced by a funnel with 2D trapping and 3D cooling which continuously extracts the cold atoms using moving molasses. A comparison between the flux of guided atoms obtained in a pulsed fashion from the 3D MOT and continuously from the funnel indicate that the pulsed case is a factor of ten more efficient. The difference is due to inferior loading from the funnel. The optically guided fountain is used to load an optical dipole trap in the UHV chamber, using an 'optical trap door'. No additional cooling is required. The dynamics of the atoms in the optical dipole trap are studied. We discuss multiple loading of a conservative trap with the view of accumulating more atoms than can be obtained in a MOT

Student expectations of teaching and learning

Higher education aims to develop students as life-long learners. Facilitative, learning-centred approaches are more likely to develop independent learners. However, these learning methods may challenge students&rsquo; conceptions of &ldquo;good teaching&rdquo; developed from their previous learning experiences. Student beliefs and expectations about teaching were examined through interviews of a small number of students as part of a wider study looking at developing techniques to assist students to become more aware, engaged and appreciative of their learning experience. The analysis of the interviews offer some useful suggestions for lecturers engaged in teaching professional disciplines wishing to use facilitative, student-centred teaching approaches.<br /

A review of the scope of scientific studies relating indoor environment and student performance

In 2006-7 the Australian government will invest $9.3 billion in state government and nongovernment educational facilities (DEST 20061). One area of particular interest to both government and school designers is maximising this investment through providing students with healthy andproductive indoor learning environments. The lack of post-occupancy evaluations carried out in schools (Lackney 2001) means that designers are reliant on &ldquo;best practice&rdquo; indoor environment quality guidelines developed primarily from scientific studies. The problem with scientific evaluation is that often the complexity of the influences upon student performance is simplified in order to gather information, rather than necessarily providing a more holistic and realistic explanation of any improved outcomes. This paper examines the scope of various studies of classroom indoor environment qualities that have thus far contributed to current understanding of their impact on student learning outcomes. The review demonstrates the lack of comprehensive research into the full range of influences on student performance and offers a better understanding of the limitations of knowledge about indoor environment qualities. This information provides valuable input to research development and post-occupancy evaluation that can better integrate the full range of influences upon students of school facilities and test the assumptions made about &ldquo;best practice&rdquo;.<br /

A question of continuing control -balancing building quality of housing and building codes

The Building Code of Australia seeks to establish &ldquo;nationally consistent, minimum necessary standards of relevant, health, safety (including structural safety and safety from fire), amenity and sustainability objectives efficiently&rdquo;. These goals are laudable &ndash; but where are the goals of quality and maintenance, which are also an essential part of achieving adequate and continuing health and safety for the built environment? Defects such as dampness, settlement and cracking, staining, wood rot, termite damage, rusting, and roof leakage are common enough to suggest that there are still issues with building quality in housing. They are caused by a combination of initial poor workmanship and poor quality materials and latterly by poorly executed or inadequate maintenance. Local architecture, developed over many years of trial and error, produce buildings linked to their climate and local materials (think of the typical &ldquo;Queenslander&rdquo; house). Today&rsquo;s architecture imports technologies and materials from many differing countries and climates &ndash; that are not necessarily suitable for the location, nor is there necessarily the same quality control over the material quality and production. Inappropriate use and inadequate understanding of new materials and techniques can lead to the generation of further defects.Whilst the building code contains provisions for initial-build material quality and workmanship, there is no continuing control over a house over its life span. Reliance is placed on advertising the need, for example, to employ qualified tradespeople; replace batteries in smoke detectors; and other good advice to help maintain housing to a minimum standard. Is this sufficient?Mechanisms to make the transfer of knowledge to those who need to use it &ndash; be it the workforce or the houseowner &ndash; need to be improved. Should the building code be more visual and accessible in it&rsquo;s content? Should the building code include provisions for maintenance? Should the building code require every house to have a &ldquo;users manual&rdquo; &ndash; much like a car? An extensive review of literature identifies the scale of the problem of poor quality housing and highlights some suggested causes &ndash; inadequate knowledge of the BCA by general housebuilders being one. However little work has been done to investigate what could be done to improve the situation. This work suggests that improvements to knowledge transfer would improve the quality of housing and a model of the knowledge transfer process is proposed, identifying those areas where the knowledge flows need to occur that would impact both the builders and users of housing.<br /

The degree of job satisfaction experienced by site-based construction professionals

The construction industry worldwide is having problems attracting and retaining skilled workers. This study analyses a series of factors affecting job satisfaction of site-based construction professionals employed in medium to large scale metropolitan construction firms in Melbourne, Australia. The industry survey carried out identified salary as the strongest determinant of job satisfaction. However, many respondents reported being dissatisfied with pay levels when compared to other industries and the number of work hours expected. The greatest causes of dissatisfaction were related to difficulties in maintaining a work-life balance. The indicator &quot;Variety, interest and challenge&quot; was the most frequently cited positive aspect of a career in construction. Given the shortage of skilled construction workers in Australia, it is important for companies to maximise the retention of site-based construction professionals and ensure that key job satisfaction indicators are met.<br /

Developing student transferable skills through reflective porfolios

The development of transferable skills in students, ie those relevant to any future employment, is a common goal of degree programmes. Reflection is a mechanism frequently used in the training of medical and teaching professionals to develop self-awareness of personal skills levels that enable participants to become self-reflective practitioners. The intention in this research was to trial reflection for construction management and architecture students through a series of interventions to engage students in the explicit development of transferable skills and self-awareness. Students were required to keep a &lsquo;diary&rsquo; or journal under specific skills headings: communication (involving active listening, conflict resolution, negotiation), team building, problem solving, report writing and presentation skills based on their experiences at university, work and in social situations. A range of learning resources were made available to assist students. The journals were analysed according to a recognised coding for the depth of their reflection . At the end of the semester, students were required to &ldquo;apply&rdquo; for a job description that required explication of the knowledge and skills that were intended to be further developed during the unit. In practice, few students appreciated the journaling and some were even hostile to the process, but all students demonstrated good appreciation of their abilities and skills in the job application &ndash; essentially a mechanism that required reflection. In conclusion, explicit reflection through journaling is not a universally popular practice, but tasks that appear to have some foundation in practicality that require reflection are more likely to be appreciated. Students depth of reflection was found to improve through practice.<br /