Non-territorial office with various zoning increases privacy

Abstract

: Allen and Gerstberger (1973) reported that non-territorial offices improve privacy. In actuality, however, a view of the office layout after an experiment showed that the office used in the experiment was not just simply made into a non-territorial office, but had various zoning done such that zones could be selected according to circumstance. With that idea in mind, this study analyzes the impact of non-territorial offices on privacy as well as the effect of various zoning, based on data of 6,592 individuals obtained through internet surveys. Results of the analysis showed that 1) non-territorial offices themselves do not have a major impact on privacy (they neither improve nor worsen privacy); 2) rather, various zoning is what improves privacy; and 3) further, of note is that privacy dramatically worsens in non-territorial offices without any various zoning, and vastly improves where various zoning has been thoroughly implemented. These results give one solution for the disputes over non-territorial offices and privacy, and provide suggestions for a new type of office (activity-based working, or an activity-based office).