Work Environment Scale by Moos & Insel

Increase work environment productivity and satisfaction

Rudolf H. Moos & Paul M. Insel

The Work Environment Scale (WES) helps you evaluate productivity, assess employee satisfaction, and clarify employee expectations to ensure a healthy work environment.

Administer the WES to individuals or groups. The Manual provides normative data and information on clinical, consulting, and program evaluation uses. It also has updated and expanded research information. The Interpretive Report Form (included in bulk permission) and Web-based administration assist with your interpretation of results and provide scale assessment information.

The WES is available in three forms:
Form R (Real) measures an employee's perception of the work environment
Form I (Ideal) measures the ideal workplace goals and values your employee holds
Form E (Expected) assesses an employee's work environment expectations

	Paper by mail		Online pdf
WES Manual/Sampler Set		$40.00
WES Bulk Permissions
Bundle of 150 copies ($0.80 each)		$120.00
Bundle of 200 ($0.75 each)		$150.00
Bundle of 300 ($0.70 each)		$210.00
Bundle of 400 ($0.65 each)		$260.00
Bundle of 500 ($0.60 each)		$300.00
About discounts click here. For larger quantities, please contact us

Work Environment Scale--Web Version

Respondents can elect to take the WES on the Web. A Work Environment Scale Profile is then generated by Mind Garden and a link to the pdf report is sent to you via e-mail. The personal profile is a graphic picture of the various subscales and dimension of the respondent's perception of the work environment. The report includes the interpretation of the scale scores, item examples that contributed to each score, next steps to take with the respondent, and a case example for how to interpret the profiel.

See a sample report of the Web-based WES (pdf)

WES Web-Based Administration
Individual report (per leader)		$9.00
Bundle of 10 copies ($8 each)		$80.00
Bundle of 20 ($7 each)		$140.00
Bundle of 50 ($5 each)		$250.00
Bundle of 100 ($4 each)		$400.00
About discounts click here. For larger quantities, please contact us

Translations of this instrument are available. For a complete list of translations, along with more details on our translation policy, please visit our translations index page.

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Work Environment Scale Annotated Bibliographies

Rudolf H. Moos

A compilation the 1st and 2nd editions of the annotated bibliographies of the Work Environment Scale that cover research on the WES from 1973 through 2007.

		Online pdf
WES Bibliography	$20.00

About the WES

The Work Environment Scale (WES) measures the social environment of all types of work settings. It comprises ten subscales or dimensions, which are divided into three sets: the Relationship Dimensions, the Personal Growth or Goal Orientation dimensions, and the System Maintenance and System Change dimensions.

Relationship Dimensions

The first three dimensions measured by the WES are the Relationship Dimensions, which assess how committed employees are to their jobs, how friendly the employees are, and how supportive they are of each other, and how supportive managers are of employees.

Involvement

The Involvement subscale measures the extent to which employees are concerned about and committed to their jobs, for example: how challenging the work is, the pride people have in the organization, and the effort they put into what they do.

Coworker Cohesion

The Coworker cohesion subscale taps the extent of which employees are friendly and supportive of one another, for example: the effort people make to help a new employee feel comfortable, the interest they have in each other, and how frank they are about their feelings

Supervisor Support

The Supervisor Support subscale assesses the extent to which management is supportive of employees and encourages them to be supportive of one another, for example: how often supervisors compliment and employee who does something well, how often they give full credit to the ideas contributed by employees, and whether employees feel free to ask for a raise.

Personal Growth or Goal Orientation Dimensions

The Personal Growth, or Goal Orientation, subscales make up another set of WES dimensions. This set focuses on the emphasis on independence, getting the job done, and job demands. These dimensions include the Autonomy, Task Orientation and Work Pressure subscales. All three subscales contribute to a description of the work setting’s goal orientation; Autonomy and Task Orientation tap personal growth dimensions as well.

Autonomy

The Autonomy subscale measures the extent to which employees are encouraged to be self-sufficient and to make their own decisions, for example: how much freedom employees have to do as they like, how much they are encouraged to make their own decisions, and whether people can use their own initiative to do things.

Task Orientation

The Task Orientation subscale taps the degree of emphasis on good planning, efficiency, and getting the job done, for example: how much attention people pay to getting work done, how often things get “put off until tomorrow,” and how efficient and task-oriented the workplace is.

Work Pressure

The Work Pressure subscale assesses the degree to which the pressure of work and time urgency dominate the job milieu, for example: how much time pressure there is to keep working, how often there seems to be an urgency about everything, and whether people can afford to relax.

System Maintenance and System Change Dimensions

The System Maintenance and System Change Dimensions , the last set of dimensions measured by the WES, assess the work setting’s emphasis on rules and policies and on variety and innovation; it also taps the pleasantness of the physical setting. The four subscales in this domain are Clarity, Control, Innovation, and Physical Comfort.

Clarity

The Clarity subscale taps the extent to which employees know what to expect in their daily routine and how explicitly rules and policies are communicated, for example: how well activities are planned, how clearly the responsibilities of supervisors are defined, and how well the details of assigned jobs are explained to employees.

Control

The Control subscale assesses the extent to which management uses rules and pressures to keep employees under control, for example: how much following policies and regulations is emphasized, whether people are expected to follow set rules in doing their work, and how closely supervisors watch employees.

Innovation

The Innovation subscale measures the degree of emphasis on variety, changes, and new approaches, for example: whether doing things in a different way is valued, whether new and different ideas are tried out, and whether the place is one of the first to try out a new idea.

Physical Comfort

The Physical Comfort subscale measures the extent to which the physical surroundings contribute to a pleasant work environment, for example: how good the lighting is, how stylish and modern the place appears, and whether the colors and decorations make the place warm and cheerful work in.

From the WES Manual

The WES can be used to describe workplace social environments, to contrast managers’ and employees’ views of their work groups, and to compare actual and preferred work environments. Individual employees’ perceptions of a work group can be compared with one another. The scale can also be used to facilitate counseling and career planning and to help formulate clinical case descriptions. In addition, the WES has some important applications for program evaluation. The scale can be used to plan and monitor change in work settings, evaluate the impact of intervention programs, and promote improvement in the workplace.

Here are some examples of appropriate times to conduct an assessment:

Before change. An assessment done before a planned organizational change (such as a merger, restructuring, or technological change) sets a benchmark for measuring the impact of that change.
To promote change. An assessment can contribute to the process of change. Just as biofeedback can alleviate headaches, feedback of information about the work climate is a powerful way to promote change.
After change. An assessment helps in evaluating how an experimental, planned, or unexpected change has affected the work group (provided that data gathered before the change are available.)
To diagnose problems. An assessment helps in analyzing and understanding possible problems in a work group.
To appraise and improve leadership. Managers can obtain information about their effectiveness in shaping the desired wrok climate in their area of the organization.
To build teams. As a group seeks to increase its effectiveness, information about the work climate raises relevant issues for discussion and action.
To identify risks. An assessment identifies work climates that place the work group at risk for individual or organizational problems, such as high absenteeism, high turnover, or poor work quality.

Inventory Booklet Samples:

Test booklets feature three types of forms, with ninety items to measure ten subscales.

Form R

In the Real Form the items are worded asking the respondent to describe the place in which they work.

A. The work is really challenging	T	F
B. People go out of their way to help a new employee feel comfortable.	T	F

Form I, Form E

Ideal (Form I) and Expectations (Form E) forms allow people to describe the work environment as what an ideal work environment would be like or as the work environment they are about to enter will be like.