People actually thought more clearly when all around was chaos, as they sought to simplify the tasks at hand(dailymail.co.uk)
Managers and office busybodiesmight be keen on a clean desk - but it seems that in terms of productivity, they could have it all wrong.
A messy desk can actually lead people towards clearer thinking, say researchers from Germany.
The researchers found in a series of linked studies - using a messy desk and a messy shop front- that people actually thought more clearly when all around was chaos, as they sought to simplify the tasks at hand.
Visual and mental clutter forces human beings to focus and think more clearly.
Famous thinkers and writers such as Albert Einstein and Roald Dahl have been notorious for their untidy desks.
'Messy desks may not be as detrimental as they appear to be, as the problem-solving approaches they seem to cause can boost work efficiency or enhance employees' creativity in problem solving,' say the authors.
Oddly, the effect seems to work most on conservatives - political liberals are less liable to be worried about mess in the first place, say the researchers.
'Business and government managers often promote 'clean desk' policies to avoid disorganized offices and messy desks, for the purpose of boosting work efficiency and productivity,' write lead researcher Jia Liu of the University of Groningen in a paper published in the Journal of Consumer Research.
'This practice is based on the conventional wisdom that a disorganized and messy environment can clutter one's mind and complicate one's judgments.'
'However, not all evidence supports this conventional link between a messy environment and a messy mind.'
The scientists tested people's response in various 'messy' environments - including a messy shop front, a disorganized desk, and even a work environment where a language task 'reminded' people of messiness.
The authors found in the series of six studies tended towards simplicity in their thinking.
'They categorized products in a simpler manner, were willing to pay more for a t-shirt that depicts a simple-looking picture, and sought less variety in their choices,' said the researchers.
高管和辦公室的好事之人也許對辦公桌幹不乾淨很上心，但如果從工作效率來看，似乎他們都錯了。
德國的研究人員日前表示，淩亂的辦公桌其實可以讓員工思維更清晰。
研究人員通過一系列的相關研究發現，員工在身處淩亂的環境中時，在試圖簡化手頭的任務時，其實思維更清晰。研究人員使用淩亂的辦公桌或者店面進行了調查。
視覺和心理的雜亂會迫使人們集中精力，而且更能厘清思路。
阿爾伯特 愛因斯坦和羅爾德 達爾等著名思想家和作家都以桌子的淩亂而“著稱”。
研究報告的作者說：“淩亂的辦公桌也許並沒有看起來的那麼不利，它們所激發起的解決問題的方式可以提高工作效率，或者增強員工處理問題時的創造力。”
研究人員稱，奇怪的是，這種效果對保守派人士最為有效，政治自由主義者更不容易首先擔心臟亂問題。
研究負責人、格羅寧根大學的劉佳（音）在發表在《消費者調查》期刊上的文章中指出，“商業和政府領導經常推廣‘乾淨的辦公桌’政策，避免雜亂的辦公室和淩亂的辦公桌，想以此提高工作效率和生產力。”
“這種行為基於一種傳統觀點，也就是無組織的和淩亂的環境會擾亂人們的思維，使人們更難做出判斷。”
“但並非所有的證據都支援傳統上人們所認為的淩亂的環境和混亂的思維之間的聯繫。”
科學家在多種“淩亂”的環境中測試了人們的反映，包括混亂的店面，雜亂的辦公桌，甚至是有語言任務總讓人們想起“雜亂”的辦公環境。
研究報告作者發現，在一系列的六項研究中，被調查者的思維都趨向於簡單。
研究人員說：“他們會按照更簡單的方式給產品分類，願意花更多錢購買印有簡單圖案的T恤衫，並且簡化選擇的種類。”