THE ROLE OF MUSIC AT MANUFACTURING ORGANIZATIONS: AN EXAMPLE FROM TURKISH TEXTILE INDUSTRY

Abstract

We are all living in the soundscape of our environment. We listen to and/or exposed to music in many instances. This particular study focuses on music at work from the perspectives of blue-collar workers and tries to investigate their attitudes towards various functions of music. A quantitative survey was conducted on production workers of a textile firm located in Eskisehir, Turkey. Analysis revealed that music is an important mood regulating aspect of modern factory floors which has important positive benefits on employees’ well-being. Selection of music genre and the choice of broadcasting medium are done randomly. Employees are not allowed to create their own soundscapes which we found to be a limiting factor on realizing the merits of music at work. Context specific scale development and proactive planning of music at work are suggested as theoretical and practical outcomes of the study respectively

Keywords

• Music at work, Blue-collar workers, Well-being

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