Abstract

Positive interaction with others and employee themselves in the workplace can increase work engagement and satisfaction. However, the staff does not have enough flexibility to control their schedule or enough belongings to their coworkers and companies, which make them commit their time, talent, skills, and ambition to their team and companies hard. As a new modern workplace layout type, activity-based workplace (ABW) shows the trend of employee office interaction development. It allows employees to choose the most suitable workstation based on their activities, offering more flexibility to set up their own work life. However, there are some worries preventing people to recognize those potential benefits, such as easily slacking off in the concentration room and lack of icebreakers to meet with more people in the breakout area. Thus, finding a solution to keep the balance between social connection and independence is significant to enhance work engagement for both employees and their companies.

Coffee culture describes a social atmosphere or a series of related social behaviors that take coffee as a social lubricant. In modern office spaces, no matter in what kind of workplace and activities, coffee is the most must-have daily thing for the office people. Having a cup of coffee at work can bring a refreshed and clear mind and help down social barriers allowing employees to have chances to interact with each other at work. This paper describes the trend of work engagement and the positive connection within the popular coffee culture, modern workplace social connection and independence. Hope it can bring some inspiration for readers to pay more attention to the poor work engagement and create a more harmonious and efficient work environment.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Work environment--Design; Work environment--Social aspects; Coffee--Social aspects; Employee motivation

Publication Date

4-14-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Industrial Design (MFA)

Department, Program, or Center

School of Design (CAD)

Advisor

Alex Lobos

Advisor/Committee Member

Mindy Magyar

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

Plan Codes

IDDE-MFA

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