Work Environment: An Organization's Intangible Asset
http://businesscommunication.org/conventions/Proceedings/2004/PDFs/28ABC04.PDF

Hartman, Jackie L. and Ningkun Wang
Association for Business Communication
2004

Abstract:

Researchers have long proposed that work environment can play an important role in business and organizational communication. A properly designed work environment supports positive communication and therefore relationships among a company’s constituencies and contributes to a satisfied work force and customers. Work environment will ultimately affect the bottom line of the company through its impact on the constituencies. Unfortunately, the impact of the work environment and communication on the financial performance of a company is often overlooked by scholars and practitioners. This paper aims to arouse people’s attention to the impact of work environment on a company’s healthy development by proving that work environment is an essential organizational intangible asset. In this paper, we focus on the intangible value of the work environment, i.e. the tone it sets in a company which either fosters or retards communication, productivity, and job satisfaction. It is incumbent upon communication scholars and practitioners to understand this untapped area of research.