Talk:Action Office

Merge with Cubicle Desk?
As I start this I wonder if it needs to be merged with Cubicle desk, but lets see if it grows on its own - it's got a couple of incomming links?? Richard Taylor 01:13, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Cubicles Not Invented By Probst
After few hours of browsing the internet, I just have to try to head off a wave of misinformation. Evey one now "knows" that the cubicle wwas invented by Bob Probst in 1968. Why do they know this? Because the Internet says so! And every site seems to just echo every other site. SO here's the problem: ITS NOT TRUE. When I was young, i.e., well before 1968, the offices my aunts worked in had cubicles, with partitions of wood and conventional desks and file cabinets. When I joined the Army in 1968, all of the offices had old, beat-up cubicle partitions that I would say were bought during World War II, and certainly were not brand-new. I think that Bob Probst just invented the hook-together steel combination partition, desktop, light and drawer units, not the concept of individual cubicles, which I believe was introduced in the mid-1930's to improve productivity over the old, wide-open offices. Saying that the Action Office is the ancestor of the cubicle is like saying that the Model T Ford is the ancestor of the automobile: confusing the first example of an object with a later example that was the first huge commercial success. I suggest that those too young to remember before 1968 try looking at old movies for offices with cubicles, paricularly in banks. Weseld1 2030 GMT 21JUN06

Missing Information
I was an engineering student in the 1960's. You missed a discovery by Herman Miller Inc. Robert Propst denied he invented the cubicle in a magazine article. His floor plan was an open office, the "Action Office". When the "Action Office 1" was introduced, 1964, workers using it began to have mental breaks. The problem was the vision startle reflex. The cubicle was an outgrowth of that discovery. Today's cubicle blocks peripheral vision so that a concentrating worker cannot subliminally detect threat-movement. Repeating failed attempts to trigger the startle reflex will eventually color thought and reason. The "Action Office System" was introduced in 1968.

You are correct that there were other room divider schemes going back in history. But those were not cubicles. Cubicles are designed so that they can be put together only one way to provide Cubicle Level Protection They are manufactured as "systems furniture."

The 'cubicle desk' entry is a nonsense post. The author of that page has been told by several people that the entry is false. Each time someone edits it he reverts to his text without penalty. You will find links to the articles and other information on the Modern Cubicle page at VisionAndPsychosis.Net. The problem that caused mental breaks is named for the normal feature of human physiology that allows it to happen, "Subliminal Distraction." The full explanation is longer. L K Tucker, VisionAndPsychosis.Net69.1.46.218 (talk) 02:15, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

External links modified
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