[shmerl]

Agreed. I don't get it, why are they so popular? Some psychologists came up with this lame idea and now everyone runs to implement it. Crowded open spaces are distracting any time you need to concentrate. They impose a feeling of a factory and monotonous work.

[33W]

My understanding is accounting - furniture is depreciated or amortized at a different rate than offices, and it is beneficial to the bean counters.

[kawsper]

The book Peopleware call these people the `Furniture Police`: http://javatroopers.com/Peopleware.html#Chapter_7

[shmerl]

Reduced productivity will bite it from the other end. Shouldn't accounting worry about that too?

[khuey]

Accounting doesn't worry about what they can't measure.