ABSTRACT
Offices are the most common workplace for the majority of employed people. The chapter considers their development through the influence of Classical and Humanistic theories of work on office design and employee experience. Classical theories brought the subjugating design and philosophy of factories to office environments. A series of experiments, the Hawthorn Studies, conducted to understand the relationship between the environment and productivity suggested the environment was of little importance. They were, however, groundbreaking in demonstrating the importance of social factors in work, eventually leading to humanistic theories and an emphasis on informal social relationships in organizations. The approach was translated into open plan offices, which represented a revolution in office designs, and which remains the dominant office type. It was claimed that the new design improved interaction, communication, and collaboration. On the other hand people working in the offices report experiencing a lack of privacy, distractions from work, difficulty concentrating and feelings of stress. The chapter examines the empirical evidence for both claims, concluding that the benefits have probably been exaggerated. The chapter discusses how the management of environments also impacts their functioning and employee’s experience and evaluation of them.
