1 Open space = open minds? The ambiguities of pro-creative office design Dr Torkild Thanem 1 , Dr Sara Värlander 2 & Professor Stephen Cummings 3 The final version of this paper is published in International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion (2011) vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 78-98. Abstract During the past couple of decades an expanding body of organizational research has explored how open office design may affect organizational and employee behaviour. More recently, open office design has witnessed a shift from formalized design models towards the promotion of fun, spontaneity and creativity through design. Using qualitative data from two case studies – a Swedish occupational pensions specialist and a UK call centre – we investigate how this “new spirit” of open and pro-creative office design may afford a broader range of behaviours than originally intended. We argue that it may actually undermine the kind of creativity that it is intended to foster, producing unforeseen forms of employee creativity that normalize rather than disrupt structures and boundaries. Finally, we discuss what implications this may have for the understanding of organizational politics. Keywords: affordances, creativity, open office design, resistance, surveillance, tactics. 1 Stockholm University School of Business, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden. E-mail: tt@fek.su.se 2 Stockholm University School of Business, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden. E-mail: sv@fek.su.se 3 Victoria Management School, PO Box 600, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New Zealand. E-mail: stephen.cummings@vuw.ac.nz