Sadly, I think a factor of why smaller orgs do this is simply because larger orgs do. I was working at a smallish company that had a wonderful layout. The custo

Sadly, I think a factor of why smaller orgs do this is simply because larger orgs do. I was working at a smallish company that had a wonderful layout. The customer support team had an open layout of mini cubes (walls between desks but not extending past desk), which worked great for them, and the engineers had a closed off room that was basically off limits to anyone who wasn't an engineer. It was wonderful and productive. Then, the owners decided to change everything to intermingled open for everyone. No more walls, just flat desks everywhere. Why? All because they visited a couple other companies such as Facebook, etc. And that is how they saw it done there. If it works for them it must work for us, right?