Open office spaces have received criticisms due to their limitations or problems and disadvantages. However, in some circumstances, an open-office workspace can have benefits or advantages to both employees and an organization.
The Benefits and Advantages of Open Office Spaces: What is Good About Them?
1. Obviously, one of the advantages of open office spaces is that they are more cost-effective to implement. The lack of partitions and rooms mean that organizations do not need to spend more on constructing or renovating their office. Note that thus advantage benefits small organizations with limited budgets.
2. Another benefit of open office space, particularly to small organizations with a limited number of people, is that maximizes available floor space. Partitions and rooms take up a lot of areas on the office floor. It is also important to remember that opting for larger floor space is costly and thus, impractical for a small organization.
3. Supervisors or employers can better monitor their personnel with open office space. This is critical in certain situations such as factories or production floors composed of a large number of employees performing similar tasks. Note that there are managers who believe that individuals tend to be irresponsible while at work due to the absence of monitoring.
4. There are also specific advantages about relationship building. The absence of partitions or rooms reduces alienation by promoting face-to-face interactions, thus helping build interpersonal relationships within an organization and create a culture of openness needed for teamwork or collaboration.