The Panopticon was a model for a prison designed by Jeremy Bentham. The idea is that there's a guard post in the centre with a ring of cells around it. The guard can be looking at any of the prisoners at any time, but they don't know when, so even though they aren't technically under constant surveillance, the effect was the same (and at a much lower cost). Foucault, in Discipline and Punish, argued that modern society was much the same.

With an open-concept office, the oft-mocked (but protective) cubicle is missing, so while you may not feel like you're being factory-farmed, your work, or lack thereof, is potentially viewable to anyone and everyone at any given moment. It's a brilliant way to keep people under control and well-behaved.