The impact of aesthetics on employee satisfaction and motivation

Purpose – This paper sets out to explore the impact of aesthetics on employee satisfaction and motivation.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on organisational aesthetics and organisational culture theory and interviews with employees at Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor – a significant investor in art, design and architecture.Findings – There are potential connections between artifacts (as an expression of organisational culture) and employee satisfaction, identity, mood, creativity and motivation. Aesthetics seems to be particularly important to employees working with the business segment because of the face‐to‐face interaction between employees and customers. It appears that the “visual Telenor” influences employees' identification with the organisation.Practical implications – When organisations invest in art, design and architecture, they need to be active in engaging employees with its meaning and relevance. If employees are not engaged, the aesthetic environment will not sti...

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