Cubicle Heaven
In the 90's, Dilbert cartoons were the ones most likely to be found on the office doors and the overhead projectors of my faculty advisors and on the cubicles of my fellow graduate students at Duke's Fuqua School of Business. And while I more often than not took issue with Dilbert creator Scott Adam's cynical view of the management profession, I readily admit that his cartoons were and still are quite funny. I am also willing to concede that his wry observations about working in and around cubicles have had an influence far beyond the funny pages. After all, who did I think of first when I saw this story in today's Akron Beacon about the end of the cubicle as we know it:
The cubicle is undergoing a makeover.And even some cubicle manufacturers concede it's about time.
The ubiquitous workstation has served companies for more than four decades. Despite its blandness, businesses embraced the cube's simple functionality and relative cost savings. No need to blow out walls and remodel when you could plant a cubicle farm.
But knowledge- and service-based industries that put a premium on collaboration increasingly view the cubicle as a barrier to interaction and productivity. And a new breed of workers, weaned on peer-to-peer computer file sharing, always-on wireless hot spots and instant access to information, has pushed companies to rethink cubicles, design consultants and others say.
For many, the conventional cubicle is a quaint, even contradictory anachronism. How can you think outside the box when you're working inside one?
We should carefully note the proffered reasons for the new cubicle designs- the old ones were a limitation to productivity. As the percentage of knowledge workers rises and firm's investments in collaboration-facilitating information and communication technology increase, then so too must change come to the physical space in which works gets done. As one cubicle redesigner puts it, the open architecture ``allows for impromptu meetings... and a better exchange of ideas". Another claims that ``The idea is to move people, not walls". Another claims that the conventional cubicle's home is in the Smithsonian. True enough, I am sure. But all of this extra communication and collaboration does not come cheap. Openess is not to be confused with freeness:
High-end cubicles can cost $5,000 each, still far cheaper than buying enough space to build, wire and equip individual offices. Despite their Dilbertlike statement to conformity, cubicles often are the most cost-effective and convenient option for partitioning work space.
Indeed its is the case that "Dilbert-like" conformity is cost effective and convenient. And it is also the case that there is is ample room for product differentiation, for some enterprising soul to offer custom-designed or high-end or brand-name cubicles. And if the offering is sufficiently compelling, such products could form the basis of a new company and possibly even revolutionize the otherwise moribund office-furniture and industrial design industry. So imagine my surprise, then, that none other than Scott Adams, in partnership with design lab IDEO has undertaken just such an initiative to design the ultimate cubicle:
Scott Adams has partnered with IDEO, the company that designed the Palm V, the first Apple computer mouse, the original laptop computer and Crest's Neat Squeeze stand-up toothpaste tube, to create the ultimate cubicle. The "kit of parts" allows employees to customize their workspaces according to their needs.Along with practical solutions for common work necessities like storage, counter space, etc. the design includes a hammock, an aquarium, a floor cooler, rotating floor modules, a Wall Flower fold-down chair, a coat hanger and locker, and a motorized shoe polisher.
Have a look for yourself and know that, like Scott, somewhere out there Dilbert is smiling, all the way to the bank.