Research Shows Open Offices Undermine Productivity and Collaboration
By
cebert
Baker's choice. Dense with flavour, light on filler.
Summary
The article examines the open-office concept through the lens of personal experience and research evidence. It begins with the author's high school experience with doorless classrooms in the 1970s, drawing parallels to modern open-office designs. The core argument is that open offices, despite being intended to foster collaboration and communication, actually undermine productivity and focus. A growing body of evidence suggests these spaces reduce face-to-face interaction, increase distractions, and decrease overall work quality, making them counterproductive to their stated goals.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledInspired by architectural trends of the preceding decade, the classrooms in one of its wings didn’t have doors.
Distracting at best and frustrating at worst, wide-open classrooms went, for the most part, the way of other ill-considered architectural fads of the time.
A growing body of evidence suggests that the open office undermines the very things that it was designed to achieve.
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