People-plant relationships in an office workplace: preceived benefits for the workplaces and employees

Jane Dyrhauge Thomsen, Hans Henrik Krogh Sønderstrup-Andersen, Renate Müller

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    35 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The study presented in this article represents an initial attempt to generate indepth
    information about how ornamental plants in real-life office workplaces interact
    with workplace characteristics, thus influencing working environment and well-being
    of the employees. Using a qualitative, explorative, and inductive case-study design, the
    study provides an example of how a cross-disciplinary unit engaged in administrative
    office work at a Danish institution applied ornamental plants. The results document that
    ornamental plants are an integrated part of the workplace. The employees used ornamental
    plants in numerous ways to either actively manipulate different aspects of the
    surroundings or more passively cope with demands from the surroundings. Furthermore,
    the use of the ornamental plants was structured by a number of factors:
    culture and traditions, provisional orders, organizational structures, practices, values
    and history, company policies, and characteristics of the indoor architectural environment.
    Ornamental plants were perceived as affecting many aspects of the working
    environment (e.g., the physical surroundings, the social climate, image of the workplace,
    etc.), the individual’s well-being (e.g., mood, general well-being, emotions, self confi-
    dence, etc.), and to some degree the workplace’s competitiveness. However, the actual
    effects were the results of a complex interaction among the way the ornamental plants
    were applied, characteristics of the present ornamental plants (e.g., size, species and
    condition), and characteristics of the individual employee (e.g., personal experiences,
    preferences, and values).
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalHortScience
    Volume46
    Issue number5
    Pages (from-to)744-752
    Number of pages9
    ISSN0018-5345
    Publication statusPublished - 2011

    Keywords

    • BRIC
    • human issues in horticulture
    • indoor plants
    • environmental psycology
    • qualitative research
    • occupational health

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