No business adopts open floor office plans because they help you cooperate. They only do it to save money. The same for cubicles over real offices. I often wonder about the open floor plans that are always shown in movies and TV for (1) police precincts, and (2) newspaper offices. Both of which are noisy as hell, with lots of telephoning. Wouldn't they be better with offices, if not for the cost? In addition, being disrespectful of the employees seems to be a feature, not a bug. One thing I remember from working at Intel 40 years ago is that Gordon Moore and Andy Grove had cubicles, just like everyone else. I had to admire that. They were large, corner cubicles with windows, though!