The optimal office: applying a little creative thinking about office design can do wonders for staff productivity and morale.

For a place where most of us spend more hours of the waking day than we do in our own homes, the office can be a less-than-inspiring setting. Whether you've got four walls and a door or no walls at all, the reality for many people is small space and lack of privacy. The office is home away from home--more than 85 percent of American office workers personalize their workspace, according to a study by office product designer and manufacturer Steelcase, Inc., Grand Rapids, Michigan-but often lacks many of the elements that contribute to a productive, comfortable environment.

When considering what type of office design will best meet the needs of your staff, it's best to evaluate the entire culture of the organization, as one thing typically plays off another, suggests Pam Brenner, manager of workplace issues at Steelcase. "You might have a fantastic workspace, but if the office culture doesn't support the intent, it won't be as effective as it could be," she points out. "Space plays a major role in efficiency."

Privacy is another big issue--and lack of it can inhibit your staff from accomplishing their work effectively. A 2001 benchmarking study by the International Facility Management Association, Houston, indicates that the amount of space per person in facilities managed by IFMA members has decreased by an average of 13 percent across most industry categories. So if staff are complaining about cramped quarters and perhaps feeling privy to too much information about their coworkers, it could be because space per person has dropped approximately 31 percent in the past seven years, according to the study.

Consider, though, the popularity of the open office design. Many organizations have quite literally knocked down walls in the name of better communication among staff. But 2001 figures from office furniture provider Herman Miller, Inc., Zeeland, Michigan, revealed a decline in sales of 46-inch dividers while sales of 62-inch panels were up 80 percent, not to mention increased sales of white noise machines, which help drown out noisy neighbors.

So where is the middle ground? Learn about the innovative and sometimes unusual approaches that some association executives have taken to provide greater comfort and fewer distractions, offering each employee space of his or her own while fostering a collaborative environment.

Thinking outside the cube

With staff growing at a healthy rate, necessitating five office expansions in the past 15 years, Nelson Fabian, CEO of the National Environmental Health Association, Denver, recognized that these expansions gave him an opportunity to reconsider and reconfigure the office layout. "What drove me were two factors: efficiency and staff morale," Fabian explains. "Both are extremely important considerations in the fabric of how any office should be laid out." After conferring with space planners and seeking input from his 22 Denver-based staff members, Fabian began the process of restructuring their workspace.

To create greater efficiency, Fabian organized staff by programs so that the people who needed to talk to each other the most were closest together. Another major, fundamental change: Every staff member got a private office. "From an efficiency standpoint, each person has the ability to block out the distractions of the world and have a quiet workspace in which he or she can …