The Social and Physical Context of Work:

The physical and social environment plays an important role to an individual at the workplace. The
physical workspace involves the material around us whereas the social aspect involves the
communication levels in a company. Since both factors are internally linked to the company. This is
because they are very hard working, and therefore rely more on their employees for maximum
output and efficiency.
The physical environment could be defined as individuals and their physical surroundings that would
include equipment, office layout, uniforms, lighting and so on. Usually if the physical environment is
not equivalent this would cause some kind of discomfort towards employees. The physical
environment is also negatively affected by the different risky features around such as misplaced
equipment, malfunctioning machinery and crowded. If these factors are not analyzed, researched
and fixed, employees could be negatively affected.
The social environment would be defined as the interaction between all employees at a corporation.
This would also include the characteristics of individuals and the positions of the employees. If more
teamwork is practiced and the company has a corporate culture that works for them. It is likely that
employees will be more satisfied and this is very important. Therefore it is increasingly important to
examine the physical and social factors of a company’s workplace.
The job characteristics model shows most employees are more motivated and satisfied. However,
having the most interesting workplace characteristics in the world may not always lead to
satisfaction if you feel isolated from your co-workers and having good social relationships can make
even the most boring and onerous tasks more fulfilling.