07/11/2009

Since last three decades human resource and development of human resource emerged as a key success

indicator for firm’s success. Many research dedicated to the improvement of human resource are

evident from past decades. While most of them are in the areas of physical development of human

resources via training and development of human resource management, there are also a number of

research undertaken to find ways of developing human nature in workplace by using neurology.

Neurology is important in employee motivation since specific office layout, lights, music, colors and

furniture design are found to impact positive or negatively on human psychology at work place as the

use of such materials can stimulate human behavior. An example could be Office chair. By

differentiating the type of office chairs from managers to general employees might give two important

signals to the organization-

chair is perceived as a symbol of success of the organization or,

the management has very little or no concern about general employees.

Similar example could be use of people movers to transport general employees to and from work place

to home where as using BMW for managers.

Like a piece of tool like chair it is evident from research that color plays vital role in employee behavior.

If we look at the television advertisement, logo and color of premise of successful fast food shops, we

will see some special preference of colors – red, yellow and white. If we go to a restaurant or office, we

will see in most of the cases that the top of the table is lighter color while the bottom is in darker color

(black or deep chocolate). Have you noticed office walls and carpet of successful companies are painted

with brighter color than black or gray? Or why heavy machineries such as bull dozers, fork lifts or cranes

are always painted in orange or yellow color? Or why army commando uniforms are black?????

I will discuss some of the research findings that shows color and its impact on human behavior.

Color and emotion:

Before going further let me give an overview of color and its association as listed by K. Nielson and D.

Taylor (p. 74), J. Pile (p. 142-151), and F. Mahnke (p. 60-66):

Red: arousing, passion, love, blood, life, warmth, intensity; danger, enemy, war,

stop; prostitution

Orange: bright – exciting, light – cheery, lively, energetic; fire, sunsets; caution;

brown (darker shade of orange) – earth, coffee, chocolate

Yellow: cheerful, happiest, optimistic; mental and spiritual enlightenment; lifegiving

sun, sunshine, spring; expresses activity; intense hue – egocentric, overbearing

Green: light – retiring, pure hue – relaxing, tranquil, natural, life, growth, fertility,

hope; go; envy, tiresome, guilty, poison, illness; toward blue – colder; toward yellow – lighter,

stimulating, fresh, youthful

Blue: relaxing, calmness, comfort, security, yearning; spirituality, wisdom,

nobility, dignity, honesty; cold, drunk, melancholy, depressing; wet, clean, sea, sky

Purple: combines elements of red and blue (physiologically opposing colors)

which are present depending upon surroundings; regal, defined; wealth, pompous; mysticism, magic,

dramatic, imaginative; lonely, mournful; under certain shades – morbid and unsettling; toward red –

seductive, sensual, secretive, sweet and intimate

White: spiritual, hope, chastity, purity, innocence, good; “yes”; white flag –

surrender/submission; white lies are not as harmful; clean, clinical, unemotional, empty, blank

Black: darkness, ominous, fear, evil; negative, “no”; hatred, defiance; gloomy

emptiness, heavy, death; status, elegance, richness, dignity; erotic, mysterious; makes colors appear

more luminous

Gray: conservative, quiet, calm; dreary, tedious, passive, lifeless, no clarity,

neutral, lacks energy; concrete man-made structures

Color has some direct impact on emotion which is evident from research by Michael Hemphill (1995).

Michael Hemphill (1995) from the Department of Sociology at the University of New South Wales in

Sydney, Australia, stated that “Birren and Sharp (1974, 1978, cited in Boyatzis & Varghese, 1994)

showed that colors do appear to elicit certain emotional responses” (p. 275).

To show this, he developed an experiment to determine how people associate color with emotion and

how certain colors make the subjects feel. He took 40 undergraduate students for his experiment.

Hemphill’s study showed that “49% of the students expressed positive responses to colors, 36%

expressed negative responses, and 15% expressed no emotion” (p. 276). Over half of each group

(women and men) cited blue as their favorite color. Black, brown, green and red were other favorites

for men while orange, yellow, purple, green and red were other favorites for women. In regards to

emotional response, 61% stated that “brighter colors elicited more positive responses than darker

colors” where only 21% of positive responses were received (p. 277). In comparison “25% of the

responses to bright colors were negative, whereas 63% of the responses were negative for dark colors”

(p.277). “Blue elicited the highest number of positive responses, closely followed by green and red.

Blue also elicited the lowest number of negative and no-emotion responses” (p. 278). Gray was seen as

more negative than black and received the lowest positive response. Both men and women were more

negative toward pink than brown.

Hemphill learned from the experiment, the associations with some of the more prominent

popular colors. For example: Blue, being the favorite of both sexes, was associated with the ocean and

sky. “Both were seen to be limitless, calm, or serene” (p. 278).

Yellow was considered a positive color because it is bright, like the sun.

Red was seen as positive because it was a “strong positive color” and a “warm color” (p. 280).

Being the most negative color, gray was associated with “rainy days and elicited sad or bored emotional

responses” (p. 280).

Color and health:

L. Cheskin compared four rooms decorated entirely in one color (furniture and typewriters included):

red, blue, yellow or green (Mahnke, 1996, p. 40). And increase in pulse and blood pressure and difficulty

working due to overstimulation was noted in the red room. In the blue room the exact opposite was

observed – blood pressure and pulse declined and participants worked slower. There were no effects

on blood pressure or pulse in the yellow room, but eyestrain made it nearly impossible to work. The

green room had no effects except that participants claimed it was “monotonous.”

Similarly F. Birren (1978) experiment showed that red light did increase blood pressure, pulse

and respiration. Skin responses were higher and more brain activity was noted. Participants were often

distracted by the outside environment. Green and blue lights tended to have the same effects. The rate

of body functions was lower than seen in the red light and participants were able to direct their

attention toward the light rather than being distracted by their surroundings.

In general, all studies have found overstimulation with bright colors and patterns to be

distracting and fatiguing thus slowing down the work process. It causes inconstant blood pressure and

tension, which can lead to serious illnesses.

On the other hand, under stimulation can cause similar problems. The senses are not

stimulated and the worker gets bored and easily distracted.

Also, worker in an office painted its walls, floors and furniture with dark color might suffer

regularly from headache. Because each time the worker look in the computer screen, her eye needs to

re adjust from darkness to brightness.

Color and electricity bill:

Our eyes, with some help from the brain, can determine color, size, visible texture, and even assume the

temperature or weight of the objects. This is where color plays a massive role in the perception of the

senses. Various colors create different perceptions and when used incorrectly, your senses can be

thrown off.

J. Itten performed experiments to show that “color has the power to suggest warmth or coolness”

(Mahnke, 1996, p. 73). Itten painted two workrooms, one blue-green and the other red-orange, and

maintained the temperature at 59 degrees Fahrenheit. “Occupants of the blue-green room felt that 59

degrees Fahrenheit was cold, whereas the temperature had to fall to 52 degree in the red-orange room

before the subjects felt cold” (Mahnke, 1996, p. 73).

So if you are in a country where most of the time the temperature is high and if you paint your

office with warm color, it is likely that you will only increase your electricity bill for the year as more air

cooler in use will be required.

Color and space:

We have seen already that gray and black colors are negatively perceived by human. Painting offices

with dark and or gray color not only demoralize your employee but also you will always feel less space in

the room if you pain dark. Because dark colors are more intrusive and dramatically decrease the

apparent room size. Warm colors and large protrusive patterns also diminish room size. On the other

hand light color causes the walls to visually recede. Cool colors and small patterns do the same for the

space. You always feel more space in a same size room as dark colored but painted in light color.

Color and weight:

Volume, for example, is influenced by light and dark colors. Lighter colors and hues seem less dense. If

the colors are the same hues, then the cooler of the colors will seem less heavy. Conversely, darker

colors or highly saturated colors will appear heavy.

Color of heavy metal (iron) is dark. So dark color always perceived as heavier than light color. If given

two boxes that are about the same size, one painted white and the other black; you will most likely

choose to lift the white box, assuming it is not as heavy as the black box. It is important if you are in

business where workers are required to lift boxes all time. You can reduce psychological stress of your

worker by designing your box with lighter color.

CONCLUSION:

We have already seen color can impact on health and psychology. A cool light color can increase

happiness, bright color can stimulate and make employees more productive while appropriate color

combination in office /work place helps achieve a sound environment. Dark colors may have cost affect

in some climate and may have cost effect in other climate. By adopting a perfect color scheme for our

office we can improve mental health of our employees which in turn definitely increase our competitive

advantage.

Syed Uddin

07/11/2009

References

Birren, F. (1978). Color & Human Response. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company.

Coon, D. (2001). Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior (9th ed.).

California: Wadsworth.

Hemphill, M. (1995). A Note on Adults’ Color-Emotion Associations. The Journal of Genetic

Psychology, 157(3), 275-280.

Mahnke, F. (1996). Color, Environment, and Human Response. New York: John Wiley &

Sons, Inc.

Pile, J. (1997). Color in Interior Design. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Terwogt, M. M., & Hoeksma, J. B. (1994). Colors and Emotions: Preferences and

Combinations. The Journal of General Psychology, 122(1), 5-17.

Webster. (1968). Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language (College ed.).

 New York: The World Publishing Company.