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[quote=Anonymous]I work for a midsize nonprofit/ think tank that is experiencing a huge amount of growth. To deal with it, our management has apparently decided to convert us to a more open floor plan. They haven't really bothered to communicate this to staff and I found out from a colleague who is in the know.  We do a significant amount of policy-oriented research as an institution. Mine is a research position that also involves a lot of project implementation with partners overseas. I'm constantly on calls with partners abroad, mostly in Africa where phone and Skype connections are poor and sound quality on calls can be difficult. I've had my own office for the past several years, which lets me handle constant calls as well as shut the door when I need to buckle down to read, research, and write.

Under this new plan, my office will be taken away because I'm not quite senior enough. Of course they are leaving enough real offices with walls and doors so that anyone with actual power in our organization can still have privacy. Perhaps this is a disproportionate reaction, but I am livid!! I worked my way up into a position with an office, I had a cube before that and it was ok. But to have one and then have it taken away is really frustrating me. Not to mention our current cubes, which are a decent size and have barriers on 3 sides, look like they will also be converted into smaller ones that resemble study carrels you see in university libraries.

Anyone dealt with this situation, or successfully made the case to management that it's a terrible idea? Our work runs on people having the time and space to think, read, and write. And yet all we hear from management is how we need to be more collaborative, as if dumping all of us mid-level researchers into an open space is going to magically spark creative thinking rather than just make everyone miserable and unproductive.

End rant. [/quote]

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