The Government Open Concept Office: A Study of Physical Design on Public Sector Office Communication

Open concept designs have become common in private office environments, but they are a recent adoption in the public sector. Despite an overwhelming number of studies refuting the designs effectiveness, the Government of Canada is adopting this approach for public servants with the implementation of its "Workplace 2.0" initiative. Through the use of semi-structured interviews and surveys with public servants who now occupy a Workplace 2.0 office, the aim of this study is to determine whether a change in the built environment of a public service office space has affected how employees communicate at work. This thesis found that open concept offices do not inherently lead to increased productivity or correspond to desired changes in office structure and communication practices. Instead, these designs may help sustain the pre-existing bureaucratic environment, while ostensibly trying to eradicate it with the production of new office spaces.