Comstock's magazine 0919 - September 2019 | Page 26

n LEADERSHIP
OUT IN THE OPEN
The good, bad and ugly of open-space offices
BY Jessica Kriegel
THE IDEA OF OPEN-SPACE OFFICES HAS
BEEN WITH US SINCE THE START OF
THE TECH REVOLUTION. It seems we
are under the mistaken belief that the
early technology companies — such as
Google, Wikipedia, eBay — were onto
something when they tore down office
walls, removed cubicles and allowed
workers to float in a sea of open access.
Teamwork became the goal. But as work-
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comstocksmag.com | September 2019
ers gained access to everyone and every-
thing, what did they lose?
Art Markman, a psychology profes-
sor at the University of Texas and author
of the book “Bring Your Brain to Work,”
says the modern open-office environ-
ment is kind of a disaster. He maintains
that it is very hard to concentrate in an
open office area. “What the modern of-
fice has done in an attempt to promote
collaboration has really been to promote
distraction,” Markman says in "The Why
Factor" podcast for BBC.
Unavoidable distractions — such
as listening to a neighbor’s “half-a-
logue” (half of a phone conversation,
which is harder for many to ignore
than a full dialogue) or the sudden
distraction when a neighbor pops
up and looks over the cubicle wall