The relationship between the arts, work productivity and organizational culture in the office setting in Bulgaria

Abstract

The visual arts and music have fascinated psychologists for many years because of their various functions and unique abilities to transform people. The visual arts and music have made their way into the work environment all over the world. That is why it is important to understand how visual art and music can affect employees within the workplace in terms of work productivity, stress, mood, emotions, and creativity. The theoretical background in rationalizing this project is presented on the topics of art, visual arts in the workplace, music in the workplace and organizational culture. This dissertation aims to examine these effects of the arts on employees in Bulgaria and relates them to the organizational culture that employees work in based on self-reported data. The four types of organizational culture, namely hierarchy, market, adhocracy and clan, are utilized by organizations in order to increase the effectiveness of a company. The Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) is used in this study to determine the organizational culture that employees in Bulgaria work in. All of the data was collected through questionnaires with closed questions and the OCAI instrument. The data and findings are presented, with data analysis being completed using the IBM SPSS 20 statistical package. Additionally, figures are provided for clarity. The conclusions with specific reference to the Bulgarian office work environment are presented and discussed. The project confirms previous reports that the hierarchy culture dominates the Bulgarian business climate and shows that visual arts can be beneficial in all organizational cultures within the Bulgarian work setting. The effects of music on employees in relation to organizational culture could not be rationalized as there was insufficient data. Recommendations for Bulgarian companies and future research in this area of study are provided in the end of this paper.