Member-only story
The Promise — and Curse — of Open Offices
The metaphor of breaking down walls between workers may be more than a metaphor. Maybe.
The idea of open offices — generally called open plan office space or bürolandschaft (literally, office landscape) — has been around for a long time. Indeed, in the early 1900s many businesses had long rows of desks where clerks, secretaries, or engineers performed their tasks out in the open, under the watchful eyes of their managers. But there was a steady shift toward more privacy in offices, leading to the 1950s model of traditional single occupant offices for many or most knowledge workers. However, in the 1970s we reached peak office, and cubicles colonized the business world, allowing for much denser configurations of space. And now, in the 21st century, in the quest for even greater density — and even lower costs — the open plan office is back, but the cubicles are gone.
What’s old is new again.
The Promise
The metaphor of breaking down walls between workers may be more than a metaphor. Maybe.
A meta-analysis of research in this field by Matthew C. Davis, Desmond J. Leach, and Chris W. Clegg, summarized some of the work of researchers on the plus side of open plan offices (references omitted):
