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A
constant
discussion is going on among the managers in our company as to the effect of wearing
earphones (listening to music) on concentration and mistakes among our engineers. They are
doing design work, and wear them so as to be less distracted by conversations in nearby
cubicles. Have any studies been done to show if it is beneficial or not to improving
concentration?
The question
of piping into workers' ears musical as a distraction is different from employing earplugs to
muffle out noises in adjoining cubicles. A more accurate test of concentration would be
for engineers to wear airplane-like earmuffs to learn if there were less design mistakes.
But the issue in your workplace is partly psychological. It is a question of what makes
your design engineers happy and what they perceive enables them them to concentrate in a
distracting work environment.
The issue also is partly psychological for management, who wants:
There is no clear answer to such a conflicting set of variables.
Research has shown that complex problem solving is best done individually and is individually unique to one's preferred music. Some people find music helps them, others that it distracts. Most find that talk interferes with concentration. White noise in offices tends to disguise the distractions of many voices and other distractions of a work environment.
My advice is also psychological. Engage the engineering team in an experiment which rewards them for performance which is high speed AND high quality. Mistakes cost rework and lowers rewards. So if profits are directly linked to quality and production the group, I predict that the engineers will elect work habits that are conducive to high performance.
Some who work with earphones, and whose work is free from error, will be encouraged by coworkers and management to continue to work that way and the reverse of that will be the case for error-prone workers who listen to ear phoned music. If the work unit is rewarded as a group rather than individually it will find a way to maximize and encourage effective work habits. That is the psychological secret to profit sharing and providing employees a real stake in a company.
I'll keep my research nose directed to your question and will e-mail you again if I learn more that might do more than add fuel to the debate in your work group.
Sincerely,
Bill Gorden