On Wednesday 14 Jan 2009 11:01:32 pm Deepa Mohan wrote: > I have thought about it, and I feel that it is the feeling of "having > private space yet not having it" that is the problem with cubes. In > government offices, everyone works in a large hall without issues; but it > is in a cube, where there is a semblance of privacy without really having > it, that stresses seem to result. > > The advent of mobile phones, which enable completely private conversations > in an office without going through a switchboard, has added to "cube > stress" as a private conversation is feasible but not really possible.
Interesting observations Deepa. Tens of thousands of human establishments work with many people visible to or interacting with others. Apart from the government ofices you speak of, banks, post officies and even hospital emergency departments work this way. The "Influenza spread" statement is a bogey and can be discarded. So why should people actually get upset at all? Is it possible at all that the stresses of a particular type of work are being blamed on the work environemnt? From my viewpoint, I would like to ask if Dr Oommen conducted a double blind study with adequate relevant controls. Has he studied say 50 offices of a different type - like banks, post offices and certain hospital environemnts to see if the clinching factor in stress is "semi-openness" versus privacy. Till then the conclusions of the study would be a hypothesis, to be proved of disproved by further study. shiv
