Final Project: Final Research Paper
damerson
ohara_d_m4_a2.docxRunning head: MUSIC PRODUCTIVITY IN THE WORK ENVIRONMENT 1
MUSIC PRODUCTIVITY IN THE WORK ENVIRONMENT 4
Music Productivity in the Work Environment
Donna O’Hara
Argosy University
March 9, 2016
Introduction
“Music is medicine” this saying carries a deeper meaning that is applicable in different fields including a work environment. Music has been considered as an activity that triumphs the creativity of the human brain, emotions, and feelings. These facts about music have been used in workplaces to boost the morale of workers for the achievement of better results (Korczynski 2003). With the inclusion of computers in today's work environment, many workers seem to enjoy the idea of music incorporation to optimize the tedious nature of work. The workers play background music on their computers as they go on with their work. The background music plays a significant role in improving the productivity level of the workers and the entire job output. It is not always about the type of music that is playing, but it is about controlling the type of music being played and the period it is being played.
Literature review
My hypothesis is an attribute to the fact that music plays a vital role in boosting employees' morale and general performance in various fields of work thus improving productivity in the workplace. I also believe that music comes in with numerous benefits and importance to both the employee and the organization as a whole. The benefits of workers are mainly in the form of relaxation whereas the benefits to the organization include achievement of set goals and meeting of targets and aims (Korczynski 2003).
There have been some prior researches conducted to support this hypothesis as explained below:
The first research was carried out in a factory in attempts of trying to find out whether playing music at work has a positive impact on the employees and whether it helps to yield positive feedback/results.
The factory depends on casual/manual laborers, and it adapted the music to retrieve its employees from the healthy environment which at most times is considered boring and awful. The inclusion of music in this type of situation painted a different picture away from the typically dull and hard one. The absence of music in this kind of environment highly affected the speed of work by reducing it (Robertson, Korczynski & Pickering, 2007). The research found out that playing music in this environment enabled workers to come up with ways of expressing their frustrations in a relaxed manner and reducing the hardship of the workplace environment. Some of them would let go of their hard feelings through singing lyrics alongside their favorite tunes as they worked. If calm music were played; workers would work peacefully whereas if a celebratory kind of music filled the workplace, workers would work more energetically.
The second research focused on corporate offices as work environments. With the provision of freedom to conduct some tasks, corporate workers tend to break the monotonous environment by playing music to facilitate enough encouragement and morale to work better. This proves the fact that music is indeed one of the beneficiaries of an already simulated work environment. This meant that music influenced office workers in different ways (Peffers, Tuunanen, Rothenberger, & Chatterjee, 2007).
The research found out that music played a significant role in boosting the creativity and inspires workers to work together with their colleagues. Another finding was based on the fact that music lifts up moods by helping them escape psychologically torturing activities associated with work environments. Playing music in the computer background is more efficient with significant economic benefits to the workplace and propelling of workers to the achievement of increased productivity.
Other Findings
The following were the findings from the two types of research conducted:
· There was a difference in work performance with some employees feeling that music acted as a destructor and not a motivator while they were working.
· Some of the workers seemed to enjoy the music but focused more on avoiding portraying traits that would ruin their personal image to their bosses and even colleagues.
· Other employees, on the other hand, displayed caring traits by taking into consideration the difficulties of their colleagues in working under an environment with music in the background.
· Different workers also preferred different kinds of music as compared to their colleagues, and this resulted in various reactions when a different type of music was being played.
Methods section
Participants
The numbers of participants in this study were twenty, and they were above twenty-one years, with ten from each gender type with well-mannered traits and no exclusion characteristics. All of them will be subjected to different conditions of working and at long last, their productivity assessed at different levels.
Instruments
This section mainly focused on the sampling bit of the type of population. The research employed the use of random sampling to ensure that a unit sample is chosen by chance. This will help to reduce the possibility of biases in the sampling. By doing so, I will have avoided the common possibility of selecting a sample that is most likely supposed to represent the general population.
Procedure
Variables which include age, sex and education among others will be measured by taking success counts among workers that have worked in different areas with and without music being played to them. The results, on the other hand, will be collected and confirmed using observational techniques, critical method and also using questionnaires and carrying out a series of interviews (Peffers, Tuunanen, Rothenberger, & Chatterjee, 2007).
Ethical issues
Workplace ethics is a crucial part as far as employment is concerned since it assists the company in its efforts to be profitable. This means that one has to uphold the ethics of a workplace environment to facilitate the success of the organization or company. It builds high morale and teamwork. Ethical issues constitute of laws and rules that employees should follow. The moral questions to be avoided here is the releasing of information to participants to make them aware that they are being used for research to avoid litigation.
These issues can be addressed by making it very clear to the people conducting the research that it is illegal for them to let the people being used for the research know that they are being used to do research. There should also be a set of rules that dictates a disciplinary action for those who will not follow established rules.
Conclusion
The paper focuses on the important parts of the entire topic and gives relevant information accompanied with reasonable facts that enable one to understand the relevance of music in the work environment. Through its given examples, the paper unanimously agrees that indeed music plays a significant role in boosting the morale of workers in different fields in a workplace environment.
References
Neuman, W. L. (2005). Social research methods: Quantitative and qualitative approaches (Vol. 13, pp. 26-28). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Peffers, K., Tuunanen, T., Rothenberger, M. A., & Chatterjee, S. (2007). A design science research methodology for information systems research.Journal of management information systems, 24(3), 45-77.
Korczynski M. (2003). Music at Work: Towards a Historical Overview. Retrieved on 26th February 2016, from
Robertson E., Korczynski M. & Pickering M. (2007). Harmonious relations? Music at Work in the Rowntree and Cadbury factories. Retrieved on 26th February 2016, from
