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A Simulation Model of the Effect of Workplace Structure on Productivity

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Workplace productivity is a result of many factors, and among them is the setup of the office and its resultant noise level. The conversations and interruptions that come along with converting an office to an open plan can foster innovation and creativity, or they can be distracting and harm the…

Workplace productivity is a result of many factors, and among them is the setup of the office and its resultant noise level. The conversations and interruptions that come along with converting an office to an open plan can foster innovation and creativity, or they can be distracting and harm the performance of employees. Through simulation, the impact of different types of office noise was studied along with other changing conditions such as number of people in the office. When productivity per person, defined in terms of mood and focus, was measured, it was found that the effect of noise was positive in some scenarios and negative in others. In simulations where employees were performing very similar tasks, noise (and its correlates, such as number of employees), was beneficial. On the other hand, when employees were engaged in a variety of different types of tasks, noise had a negative overall effect. This indicates that workplaces that group their employees by common job functions may be more productive than workplaces where the problems and products that employees are working on are varied throughout the workspace.
ContributorsHall, Mikaela Starrantino (Author) / Pavlic, Theodore P. (Thesis director) / Cooke, Nancy (Committee member) / Industrial, Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
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Corrosion of the US Steel Industry: Macroeconomic Competition and Productivity

Description
The US steel industry experienced a great decline between 1950-1985. Influenced by several government policies, the industry was first cartelized during the great depression and then subjected to an extremely powerful organized labor force. Due to high demand between and during WWII and the Korean War, the industry expanded capacity…

The US steel industry experienced a great decline between 1950-1985. Influenced by several government policies, the industry was first cartelized during the great depression and then subjected to an extremely powerful organized labor force. Due to high demand between and during WWII and the Korean War, the industry expanded capacity using existing technologies. Simultaneously, organized labor was able to secure increased wages and large severance costs for firms that decided to shutdown existing steel mills. In the post war years this prevented firms from innovating through investing in newer, more efficient, technologies. Eventually US steel firms had no advantage against foreign producers who could produce steel cheaper and more efficiently.
ContributorsCole, Andrew Arthur (Author) / Lagakos, David (Thesis director) / DeSerpa, Allan (Committee member) / Dillon, Eleanor (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor)
Created2013-05