There are many types of office space available for businesses with different needs. Sometimes a company may only need a certain type of office design, but the hierarchical nature of most companies requires a variety of office construction in the same building. In the end, it is really the assigned tasks of certain workers which determine how their office spaces will look.
Only a few employees at the top of a business hierarchy really require enclosed office space. Managers and presidents of corporations need areas sealed off from the rest of the business environment for a couple reasons. They must have quiet and privacy in order to conduct meetings, in person or via some technological media, with representatives of other businesses, clients and members of government. They also have to have secluded areas in which to plan and think about the future of their business.
As often depicted in film and television, much office space is actually designed as a large room filed with sub-units known as cubicles. These smaller spaces, which combine privacy with access to other workers and with management, are the product of a long evolution in offices. During the industrial revolution, clerical workers enjoyed an accidental privacy due to the storage bins, stacked on their desks, which held paperwork. When the twentieth century began, many businesses tried to improve efficiency by lowering these containers to the area beneath the desk so that managers could observe that their workers were staying on task. Eventually, this gave way to the modern cubicle, which returned a modicum of necessary privacy to the worker while still enabling managers to keep tabs on productivity.
Still, many clerical employees utilize open office space. Data entry clerks and many temporary positions are left in the open to ensure that they work efficiently. The privacy of the cubicle is really a step up for workers, granting them some privacy as a show of trust in their ability to complete their work.