Updated:

Open Plan Office Design, Its Benefits & Drawbacks Essay

Exclusively available on Available only on IvyPanda® Made by Human No AI

Reasons to Choose Open Plan Working

There are many reasons why employers may choose to create open-plan offices for their workers. First, an open-plan office design is advantageous for employees due to the absence of walls, so people can interact better, share ideas, and act upon them. For example, according to Waber, Magnolfi, and Lindsay’s (2014) article from the October Issue of Harvard Business Review, Facebook was planning to put several thousand of its staff into one large room, which was a mile long.

Frequent interactions among employees create a sense of friendship and teamwork and improve the process of information sharing. Furthermore, interactions in an open-plan office environment are usually more frequent, friendly, and informal compared to closed spaces where employees have separate rooms. The second reason for creating open-plan offices is the correlation between enhanced teamwork and business advancements. Since employees are prone to communicate in an open-plan environment, it is far more likely that new ideas concerning improvement and innovation will come quickly. Third, open-plan office spaces require fewer materials and less time. Even reducing heating or cooling costs can improve the company’s budget and let employees focus on more important things. Overall, open-plan offices can be correlated with activity-based working, a process tailored to collaborative working through meetings and constant brainstorming (Ditchburn, 2014).

Reasons not to Choose Open Plan Working

Despite the advantages, open plan office environments may create some concerns, particularly for employers. For example, such a restructuring of a workplace environment has been called “glorified hot desking” rather than a genuine response to the needs of the staff (Koziol, 2014). Another reason for employers to stay away from open-plan offices is the fact that frequent interactions among employees may potentially lead to the creation of noise and distractions that prevent workers from completing their assignments (Tickle & Gorrilla, 2016). As mentioned by Tickle (2016), everything is possible in an open space environment: one employee doing exercises while another is working away at the desk. To some, such a space organisation may seem chaotic and counterproductive, especially when there is a set deadline for task completion. Moreover, the lack of privacy in the workplace may be of concern for employees because someone may see a private email on their computer or overhear a telephone conversation.

The third reason for not opting for open-plan offices is associated with the overall productivity of the business. With distractions comes the decrease in productivity and efficiency that may cost a business a lot. Furthermore, an open-plan office setting is an obvious environment for disease spreading; for example, it is much easier for employees to catch a cold in such a setting where another worker got a cold first. Lastly, the lack of privacy can cause some ethical and legal problems arising from the compromised confidentiality regarding colleagues and clients.

References

Ditchburn, G. (2014). Web.

Koziol, M. (2014). Web.

Tickle, M. (Producer), & Williams, M. (Presenter). (2016). [Audio podcast]. Web.

Tickle, M., & Gorrilla, B. (2016).Web.

Waber, B., Magnolfi, J., & Lindsay, G. (2014).Web.

More related papers Related Essay Examples
Cite This paper
You're welcome to use this sample in your assignment. Be sure to cite it correctly

Reference

IvyPanda. (2020, August 13). Open Plan Office Design, Its Benefits & Drawbacks. https://ivypanda.com/essays/open-plan-office-design-its-benefits-amp-drawbacks/

Work Cited

"Open Plan Office Design, Its Benefits & Drawbacks." IvyPanda, 13 Aug. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/open-plan-office-design-its-benefits-amp-drawbacks/.

References

IvyPanda. (2020) 'Open Plan Office Design, Its Benefits & Drawbacks'. 13 August.

References

IvyPanda. 2020. "Open Plan Office Design, Its Benefits & Drawbacks." August 13, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/open-plan-office-design-its-benefits-amp-drawbacks/.

1. IvyPanda. "Open Plan Office Design, Its Benefits & Drawbacks." August 13, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/open-plan-office-design-its-benefits-amp-drawbacks/.


Bibliography


IvyPanda. "Open Plan Office Design, Its Benefits & Drawbacks." August 13, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/open-plan-office-design-its-benefits-amp-drawbacks/.

If, for any reason, you believe that this content should not be published on our website, please request its removal.
Updated:
This academic paper example has been carefully picked, checked and refined by our editorial team.
No AI was involved: only quilified experts contributed.
You are free to use it for the following purposes:
  • To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
  • As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
  • As a template for you assignment
1 / 1