> > maybe we should expect open-plan offices to struggle in comparison for > some time, moving down in fitness before they can move back up to a new > local optima that might be much "fitter" overall. I wonder how much this is > a standard issue with cultural change from some long-standing tradition.
I agree strongly with this, assuming I fully grok your assessment. :) A lot of the "rehabilitation" that needs doing requires careful over-compensation, even if only for a period of time for experimentation. I think about this in terms of a pendulum swing. On the biggest scale, we've swung (and arguably over-swung) in the direction of optimization for a certain set of local maxima like efficiency and scale and we're starting to swing in the other direction for local maxima like effectiveness and happiness. *Neither set of local maxima on their own is correct, or sustainable. *A happy workforce that can't turn a profit isn't any more unsustainable than the corporate horrors of profitable unhappiness that our industry is supposedly a reaction to. Based on some of the strong anti-open workspace opinions that showed up on my blog comments<http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2013/11/open-plan-offices-were-devised-by-satan-in-the-deepest-caverns-of-hell-and-other-similar-nonsense-you-might-read-about-trends-in-the-workplace/>after turning my previous reply into a post, I'm starting to lean back towards a thesis that I've been chewing on for a while about the difference between people who love open floor plans and hate open floor plans. *Here's a sneak preview of the outline:* The reason that *open floor plans* DO work in Coworking is because people choose it. The reason *private offices* DO work in Coworking spaces is because people choose it. The reason that *private offices* DON'T work in Coworking spaces is because people choose it. The reason that *open floor* plans DON'T work in corporations is because people don't choose it. The reason that *private offices* DON'T work in corporations is because people don't choose it. -Alex -- /ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia On Mon, Nov 25, 2013 at 10:19 AM, Will Bennis, Locus Workspace < [email protected]> wrote: > Such wonderful responses! I particular like the emphasis on the importance > of *how* open plan offices are implemented. > > I like to think about evolutionary processes. One common model in > evolutionary theory is the fitness landscape, sort of a distribution of > peaks and valleys, with some peaks much higher than others, the height > corresponding to *fitness *according to some criterion (in standard > evolutionary accounts differential reproductive success, but it could be > anything including *work productivity *or *work satisfaction*). Each peak > is a "local optima", the peak of fitness before the system needs to descend > to some less fit state before it can ascend to an even more fit local > optima somewhere else on the landscape/distribution. For evolutionary > processes there is a big challenge to get from one peak to another. > Presumably we've had a lot of time to co-evolve work styles and > architectural systems to suit one another using closed-plan offices, > leading to a kind of closed-plan office fitness peak. The ideal open-plan > office / work style combo might have a much higher peak, but given the time > we've had for the cultural evolution of closed-plan offices, maybe we > should expect open-plan offices to struggle in comparison for some time, > moving down in fitness before they can move back up to a new local optima > that might be much "fitter" overall. I wonder how much this is a standard > issue with cultural change from some long-standing tradition. > > Maybe I shouldn't have shared that out loud :), but a couple of the posts > here got me thinking about this. > > > On Thursday, November 21, 2013 10:56:29 AM UTC+1, Will Bennis, Locus > Workspace wrote: >> >> http://www.theguardian.com/news/2013/nov/18/open-plan- >> offices-bad-harvard-business-review<http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fnews%2F2013%2Fnov%2F18%2Fopen-plan-offices-bad-harvard-business-review&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEKtU8vR-omH_T_hqzXQqQ-dHpVbw> >> >> Putting this out there because I suspect what gets posted is generally >> filtered toward the "coworking positive". >> >> While cubicles are the worst, this article is about shortcomings of >> open-plan offices more generally. >> >> Putting aside the obvious fact that even if open-plan offices aren't for >> everyone, they're certainly preferred by many of us, my existing bias has >> been that most independent workers would do better (in terms of >> psychological health as well as productivity and work quality) over the >> long run in a social work environment than in a private/enclosed office. >> But articles like this make me wonder if that really is just my own bias. >> >> Most of the findings suggested are contrary to what I would expect for >> independent workers, and I wonder how much the results here may be >> contingent on working in an organization (where being in an open plan >> office also corresponds to being lower in the work hierarchy and where many >> of the people you're working alongside are implicit competitors). >> >> Thoughts? Where does this article go wrong (other than suggesting one >> size fits all)? Does it suggest that ideal coworking space design would >> work include ample opportunities for more private work and more isolated >> collaboration? >> >> Will >> > -- > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
