Yahoo's reported decision to bar employees from working from home has led to the predictable backlash: "Crusty old Yahoo just doesn't get it!" And the predictable backlash to the backlash: "Today's workers are so spoiled and entitled!"

But let's step back from the barricades for a minute. As much as people love to hate on Yahoo for its many missteps, it's hard to believe one of the planet's most intensely scrutinized CEOs would enact such a policy just because she wants to lord over a campus full of cubicle drones.

"I think Marissa Mayer is way too smart for this to be the ultimate resolution of whatever challenge they're facing," says Tony Schwartz, the founder and CEO of The Energy Project, a consultancy to Fortune 100 companies that advocates for a more flexible workplace culture.

Schwartz calls the centuries-old practice of companies trading money for workers' time outdated, since time spent working doesn't accurately reflect the real value that worker is or isn't generating. He argues instead for a system based on autonomy and accountability, in which companies set clear goals for employees, who then have wide leeway to reach those goals in whatever way works best for them.

Under such a goal-oriented approach, an all-or-nothing policy on working from home doesn't really make sense. The issue isn't so much the effect working from home versus the office has on performance and productivity. It's the irrationality of trying to enforce uniformity when different goals might require different ways of working. Schwartz isn't alone in that assessment.

"Requiring everyone to be in fixed places at fixed times can promote rigidity and still not guarantee that teams work well together or produce high levels of innovation," Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a Harvard Business School Professor who specializes in corporate culture and innovation, told Wired in an email.

But Mayer may already know that. Coming from Google, hardly known as a stuffy workplace, she obviously has seen how unorthodox approaches to life at the office can support huge successes—and huge profits. Some current and former Yahoo employees have reportedly said that the new policy will separate out the truly productive workers from stay-at-home slackers who abuse the system. Perhaps Mayer sees the policy as a test of commitment, which, once passed, will help generate a roster of who can truly be trusted with flexibility in where and how they work. Once honed, maybe that leaner organization will lead to a better company.

At the same time, Google's cocoon-like campus, with its free food and services such laundry and shoe repair, blurs the line between work and home life in a way that seems designed to keep people at the office for as many hours as possible. After all, if the company is taking care of all your needs, why would you ever need to go home? Perhaps Mayer truly does believe in the superiority of office togetherness.

"To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side," the internal memo from Yahoo human resources head Jackie Reses reads. "That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices."

Yahoo declined to comment for this story.

Much has been written about the power of serendipitous encounters to fuel innovation, a serendipity encouraged by physical proximity and density. Yoav Schwartz (no relation to Tony) has been outspoken online in support of the new Yahoo policy and believes that's the kind of environment Mayer wants to create. Schwartz is the founder and CEO of Uberflip, a 20-person startup in Toronto with a strict no-work-from-home policy. Schwartz says prospective employees learn about the policy up front, which means they know what to expect. Mayer didn't have the chance to set that tone from the start, he says, which means having to make tough calls to reboot the workplace culture she inherited.

"It's about being part of an ecosystem. I think that's what Mayer was trying to convey," Schwartz says. "If you're building a culture, a huge part of that culture is being present within it."

Update (February 26, 2013, 5:15 p.m. EST): Yahoo sent out a new statement on the work-from-home fracas: "We don't discuss internal matters. This isn't a broad industry view on working from home—this is about what is right for Yahoo!, right now."