I remember some research quoted by Christopher Alexander (of design patterns fame.) although I cannot find the reference at the moment. I believe it was in the justification section for the "half-open wall" pattern.
The gist of it was that people tend to prefer spaces that are about half closed (I'm quoting from memory, I'm aware this quantification is imprecise) - i.e. somewhere between a lone desk in the middle of a huge room (0% closed) and a cubicle (almost 100% closed). Something striking the balance between the feeling of being shielded (nobody likes open space behind their backs) and being cramped (nobody likes a view-blocking wall in front of their nose.)
Hmm, according to that, it sounds like cubes should work better if the employee is facing outward. Computer on the open side of the cube with the screen facing into the cube, rather than computer on the far side of the cube.
The gist of it was that people tend to prefer spaces that are about half closed (I'm quoting from memory, I'm aware this quantification is imprecise) - i.e. somewhere between a lone desk in the middle of a huge room (0% closed) and a cubicle (almost 100% closed). Something striking the balance between the feeling of being shielded (nobody likes open space behind their backs) and being cramped (nobody likes a view-blocking wall in front of their nose.)