My preaward staff (proposal review, approval, submission) sit in an open
office. My pros & cons, based on our history (over 8 years) of sitting
this way are:

The Pros:

-Training and coaching on questions and problems can be handled quickly
because we can hear or see that someone is having a problem
-The group can quickly strategize on heavy proposal deadlines to assess
workload, reassign reviews, etc to make sure we have coverage
-They learn so much from one another by hearing what their neighbors are
working on
-They can stop the ³phone tag² game where someone calls everyone in the
group looking for the answer they want to hear ;)

The Cons:

-Gets noisy, so this isn¹t for every kind of employee
-They sometimes need more space to meet with a PI or dept admin, which
adds some inconvenience in room scheduling
-Interpersonal problems are amplified when people don¹t get along

I hope this helps, and good luck.

Lori Ann M. Schultz
Assistant Director, Sponsored Projects Services |The University of Arizona
(520) 626-6308 / (520) 626-4137 fax
Skype: lori.ann.schultz | http://www.sps.arizona.edu | http://www.kuali.org

On 1/17/14, 10:01 AM, "Natasha Stark" <xxxxxx@GSU.EDU> wrote:

>Georgia State University is in the process of moving its central OSPA
>office into new office space with a new floor plan and office
>configuration.  Currently each of us has a private office with a door.
>The new space that is being proposed would simulate the now infamous
>Google open environment where there will be 4 people to a cube/space and
>the entire area would be open with little to no privacy.
>
>Does anyone currently work in this type of environment?  If so what are
>your experiences?  For those who do not work in this type of environment
>what would you perceive as being the pros and cons to being in this type
>of work arrangement?
>
>Thanks in advance for your thoughts and opinions!
>
>
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