Tag Archives: smell at the workplace

Headwind: Ambient scenting for new worlds of work

HEADWIND brings a breath of fresh air into the world of work. This reviving ambient scent was developed at the Bern University of Applied Sciences Business School in the summer of 2019 in a student project.

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The factory as an attractive multisensory workspace

“The results of this study cast serious doubt on the ideology of the machine-haters. Even in the American automobile industry, where technology is allegedly most dehumanizing, workers expected satisfaction in their work. The situation differed little in the less industrial countries; autoworkers preferred working to leisure, not out of a sense of duty or a need for sociability, but because they thought that work ordered their lives. They did not see the factory as a restrictive and unattractive environment; on the contrary, most preferred its noise and smell to the antiseptic atmosphere of the office. Even rural migrants were not nostalgic about the farm and the urban-born rarely mused about the joys of farm life.”

Factory work is not the nemesis pictured by the postindustrial romanticists. The noise and the smell of the factory are much preferred to the dainty but dull routines of the office.

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References:

Form, W. H. (1976). Blue-Collar Stratification: Autoworkers in Four Countries. Princeton  N.J.: Princeton University Press, p. 135f.

Form, W. H. (1973). Auto Workers and Their Machines: A Study of Work, Factory, and Job Satisfaction in Four Countries. Social Forces, 52(1), 1–15, p. 13.

 

The science and magic of olfaction

A recent event of the series “Arte in Azienda” offered an exploration of the sense of smell at the Università della Svizzera italiana in Lugano. The aim was to get the community and students involved in a sensory experience that calls into question the meanings of smell in consumer culture, communication, and everyday life.
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Smelling digital culture

Digital culture seems to epitomize a scentfree world. Information technologies are clean. The sense of smell seems to be the outsider of a digital world. Isn’t this part of the story we tell about progress and a postindustrial society?

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Body odor impacting on other’s work performance

Human body odors can transfer anxiety-related signals. This is a well documented fact. Yet, it is an open question how these signals impact in real-life situations. Continue reading Body odor impacting on other’s work performance

“Mindblowing” Workshop on Smelling & Organizing at Tallinn #offegos2018

The 4th Space, Creativity & Organizing Workshop was devoted to the senses – in particular to the sense of smell.  Continue reading “Mindblowing” Workshop on Smelling & Organizing at Tallinn #offegos2018

“I sense therefore I am”

Cogito ergo sum is often regarded as the fundamental element of Western thought that laid the grounds for rationalism, scientific progress and modern dichotomies: I think, therefore I am. The title of this post is less well known: I sense therefore I am.

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Exploring New Odors of Tobacco Consumption

The smell of cigarette smoke including the breath odor of smokers has often been described as a pressing issue in today’s world of work. In fact, it is the smell of smoking that marginalizes smokers at the workplace.  Continue reading Exploring New Odors of Tobacco Consumption

Beyond De-Odorant & Scent-Marketing: The Sense of Smell at the Workplace

It is apparent that the sense of smell can hardly be switched off at the workplace. Yet, business and management research has only recently started to explore its relevance. Continue reading Beyond De-Odorant & Scent-Marketing: The Sense of Smell at the Workplace