Team 3: Status and Posture

Christine Chen, Julia Nishizaki, Stefano Didonato, Cindy Zhang, Sophia Kim

Process:

Our mission during this first observation assignment was to focus on the status and posture of the individuals at Construction Junction, and to discreetly document and take note of whether people’s behaviors were “space-minimizing” versus “space-eating.”

To achieve this goal, our group initially spread out inside of Construction Junction, and we each picked a place to discreetly observe the workers and shoppers, helping us to get a general overview of how people moved around the space. For example, the employees were very engaged in what they were doing, whether moving furniture, fixing a table, or organizing electrical cords, and seemed to have specific tasks and goals that they were working on, while many of the shoppers didn’t act with that level of deliberation, and seemed to move around Construction Junction slowly, and with the attitude of a window shopper, or someone who wants to just take note of what was there.

Findings:

After our initial observations, we also took photos and videos of some of the individuals in Construction Junction at the time, and analyzed their behaviors once we got back to campus. We kept track of our observations and analysis in our data collection sheet (link here).

Building off of our initial observations on how the employees moved around Construction Junction compared to the shoppers, we noticed that all of the employees’ posture and behavior helped to make them more “space-minimizing.”

For example, while giving us the tour around the space, Terry kept his hands in his pockets, and his elbows close to his body, helping to limit both the amount of space that his arms would normally take up, as well as the possibility of sustaining an injury caused by taking up more space than needed, especially in areas that are full of furniture and tools. In addition, the employees in the back area fixing furniture and a chandelier were also very “space-minimizing” by working close to their projects, and seemed aware of their posture, as they were sitting very upright.

In contrast, the shoppers adopted more “space-eating” behaviors.

For example, the customers tended to walk slower and in the middle of the aisles, sometimes with their elbows or a bag sticking out. In addition, we also observed that the customers would stop frequently, but briefly when something caught their eye, and that some of the customers would stop moving and look at their phones, without being fully aware of their surroundings.

Reflection:

Through the observation results, we found out that there is a trend of posture between the shoppers and the workers. This raised more questions within our minds for further research. What is the reason behind this trend? Is it related to the limited amount of space on the floor due to the large amount of furniture and objects that the Construction Junction takes in? Or is it because that the workers are simply keeping out of the shoppers’ ways? It might even be related to the workers’ working habits. These may all be possible and we cannot come to conclusion to any of these without further research. As we wrapped up our observation process, our group was also wondering whether this trend applies to other environments, and even the larger society. This again calls for further research. From this, we learned that it is observation is not only important for solving problems, but also helps raises more questions that moves the project to another level.