Work-life balance is becoming increasingly important in today’s job market. Young professionals actively search for jobs that promote their well-being. The concept of well- being encompasses not just physical health. Psychological health, such as social connectedness and engagement, is just as important. Katz (1964) stated in his research that specifically extra-role actions intended to benefit people other than oneself, extra-role prosocial behaviors, are essential for successfully functioning organizations and well-being among employees. This project focuses on how office environments can foster these extra-role prosocial behaviors. Three themes were studied to answer this question.
Firstly, a literature study, two brain writing sessions and a focus group on prosocial behavior at work were executed to define various ways of- and incentives for these behaviors. These studies have shown that, in order for extra-role prosocial behaviors to occur more frequently, the most substantiated strategy is to invest in the improvement of collegial relationships across disciplines.
This leads to the second theme, interdisciplinary bonding at work. Interdisciplinary bonding encounters challenges due to differences in interests and practices. These differences are rooted within the organization’s culture. A literature- and generative study is performed, consisting of a questionnaire, interviews and observations, on cultural differences in organizations. These studies have shown that a common ritual can function as a way to enhance interdisciplinary bonding. A creative co-design session with an interdisciplinary group of participants resulted in the definition of four design strategies to strengthen interdisciplinary bonding in office environments.
The aim of fostering prosocial behaviors in office environments requires a sustainable change in routines and behaviors from the people in that environment. Research on the third theme, behavior change at work, has shown that for certain target behavior to happen, a person must have sufficient motivation, sufficient ability, and an effective trigger. Furthermore, the involvement of employees, for instance by allowing environment personalization, can have a positive effect on positive attitudes towards change. In addition, one can not neglect people’s different characters and their naturally different responses towards change. Three behavioral personas were defined in order to take these differences into account. Thereafter, the four defined design strategies are analyzed based on the above mentioned essentials for a sustainable change in behavior. As a result, the most viable design strategy is finding common ground in personal interests through environment personalization. The desired interaction consists of a ‘sharing’ and a ‘caring’ part. The design should facilitate employees to share personal interests, and for other employees to care for these interests. Three intervention iterations in context were performed based on the desired interaction. These interventions have shown that the development of genuine interest in one another is most important for sustainable change towards prosocial behavior. This led to the design goal: motivating knowledge workers to develop genuine interest in interdisciplinary colleagues. A benchmark analysis of existing interactions was performed to define the unique perspective of this desired interaction.
The conclusion from this benchmark analysis resulted in a definition of a product-service-system for Ahrend: the Ahrend Portrait. The Ahrend Portrait allows employees to visually portray their interest on the walls of their organization to personalize their work environment. Furthermore, it allows employees to develop interest in the portrayed interests on the wall by interacting with them. The concept combines the benefits of digital interactions (bridging distance) with benefits of the physical interactions (explicit and passive). Different use case scenarios of the concept describe the opportunities for interdisciplinary bonding and prosocial initiatives. In order to find backing for the effect of this concept, two validation tests were performed at two different offices. The results of these validation tests suggest that the concept is capable of fostering interdisciplinary bonding and attentive, prosocial, behaviors. Furthermore, the concept inherits the potential to lower communication thresholds and increase mutual understanding and tolerance in organizations.
From here, multiple validation tests are required, for a longer period of time, to prove its positive effect on prosocial behaviors in offices. Furthermore, further research has to show how misuse of the concept can be prevented, whether the incentive to interact with the concept is self sustaining and what the most effective way is to introduce the concept in offices.