Nearly a quarter of British workers plug in their MP3 players to listen to music while on the job -- sparking lively debate over whether they should be banned, a study said.

Over 30 percent of companies have outlawed using devices like the ubiquitous iPod in the workplace, according to Woods Bagot, an international design practice.

"By wearing the highly-visible, white headphones, they re ... sending a signal to colleagues that they don t want to be bothered," said Simon Pole, head of the company s head of corporate interiors.

According to the study, 22 percent of workers spend an average of three hours per day listening to MP3 players.

But some argue that the trend is only natural: previously workers were physically separated by walls, whereas offices are increasingly open-plan nowadays, pushing them to erect new barriers.

"The MP3 player is the simplest way to create your own office," said the company.

And Cary Cooper, professor of organization psychology at Lancaster University, and author of "Shut up and Listen: The Truth About How to Communicate at Work," said bans were counter-productive.

"Employers are wrong to ban MP3 players from the workplace. It s crucial to give workers autonomy, and bans of any sort can alienate workers," he said.

"Bosses shouldn t care about how employees accomplish their objectives or if they want to engross themselves in MP3 players -- as long as the job gets done," he added.

(Agencies)

一项最新调查显示，近四分之一的英国职员上班时听MP3，这引起人们对是否应禁止这一行为展开激烈的讨论。

据伍兹·贝格特国际设计公司介绍，30％以上的公司禁止员工上班时使用诸如iPod之类的随身播放器。

室内设计部经理西门·波尔说：“耳朵里塞着清楚可见的白色耳机，这分明是在告诉其他同事别来打扰他。”

调查发现，22%的员工每天听MP3的时间平均为3个小时。

但有的人则认为，上班时听MP3很正常。以前员工们都有自己独立的办公空间，而如今办公室的格局设计越来越开放，所以员工们不得不采用新的方式来“开拓”个人空间。

伍兹·贝格特公司说：“听MP3是‘开拓’个人空间最为简单的办法。”

兰开斯特大学组织心理学教授、《闭嘴！倾听：工作中的沟通法则》一书的作者卡里·库伯说，“禁令”往往会适得其反。

他说：“老板们不应该禁止员工上班时听MP3，因为让员工得到充分的自主权很重要，‘禁令’会使员工对公司产生敌对情绪。”

“只要员工们完成任务，老板们不必在意他们是如何完成的，也不用在意他们上班时是否听了MP3。”

Vocabulary:

outlaw : to place under a ban; prohibit（禁止；如：to outlaw smoking in the house 室内禁止吸烟）

counter-productive : 达不到预期效果的；起反作用的