Managers and office busybodies might be keen on a clean desk - but it seems that in terms of productivity, they could have it all wrong.
A messy desk can actually lead people towards clearer thinking, say researchers from Germany.
The researchers found in a series of linked studies - using a messy desk and a messy shop front - that people actually thought more clearly when all around was chaos, as they sought to simplify the tasks at hand.
Visual and mental clutter forces human beings to focus and think more clearly.
Famous thinkers and writers such as Albert Einstein and Roald Dahl have been notorious for their untidy desks.
'Messy desks may not be as detrimental as they appear to be, as the problem-solving approaches they seem to cause can boost work efficiency or enhance employees' creativity in problem solving,' say the authors.