Möglichkeiten und Grenzen bei der Modellierung von Einflussfaktoren auf die menschliche Leistungsfähigkeit

Possibilities and limitations of modeling the influencing factors on human performance.

Increasing globalization and the necessity to reduce costs of economic activities poses a challenge for many companies. To act competitively on a global market, employees should be able to perform at their best, to be highly motivated and, on the other hand, to work in a costeffective manner. Furthermore, it is expected that within the next years people tend to work in offices to an increasing tendency. For this reason, this paper addresses factors that primarily affect the performance of office work. The focus is on the thermal indoor climate as this issue is controversially discussed in the literature. In addition to the definition of the terms performance and productivity and an overview over potential influences, it is not clear how performance can be measured adequately. Evaluation of the relevant literature shows contradictory results. Apparently, the derivation of a relationship between temperature and working performance is not trivial. Furthermore, it is anticipated that the thermal indoor climate is not the only performance indicator that affects working performance. In fact, there are mutual connections between other physical para meters like acoustics or lighting and, as well, with psycho-social factors and aesthetical issues in terms of the interior design.