It seems like all non par 3 tees can be made small as people usually peg it up and aren't taking divots....and the grass can be kept longer on these tees as well.
Actually, the wear of just four guys walking up and on a tee is quite hard on the tee. Small tees are never a good idea--I've paid the price of thinking a small back tee will be fine since only 5-10% of my golfers would ever use it 
I've come to realize it's almost impossible to ahve a tee too big and the cost of fixing that mistake is way more than the cst of a few more passes every few days with a mower!
I'm not remotely qualified to give a Superintendent any substantive advice but I would like to make an observation about this. I wonder whether the health/lack thereof of a small tee box depends more on the presence of non-tee-box turf where people usually stand. Which is to say, if it's a small back tee box and it's natural to stand within the short-grass confines, it makes perfect sense that that tee box will get chewed up quickly.
I think the fact that the vast majority of tee boxes are elevated a few inches to a couple feet above their surroundings contributes to this phenomenon/problem. Consciously and subconsciously, it doesn't make spatial sense to be standing below your groupmates while they're teeing off.
Which brings me to a course whose tee boxes are simultaneously some of the narrowest/smallest I've seen anywhere and the best: Secession GC in SC. One of the things that sticks out a lot about the course is how many of the tee boxes are flush with the surroundings - i.e. not elevated at all. So, when someone else is teeing off, you're often standing in rough, but at the same elevation as the tee box. Not only is this cleaner from an earthworks standpoint, it strikes me as easier to maintain, because the short grass gets less foot traffic because it's so small.
Otherwise, maybe architects should try and build "batter's box" areas into tee pads.