The Push and Pull of Autonomy

Abstract

Organizations characterized by knowledge work will experience pressures from a variety of sources to provide increasing levels of autonomy to employees. Furthermore, as the nature of work has changed, the manifestations of employee autonomy have become more complex and varied. Although a great deal of literature exists on the effects of various types and facets of autonomy, these literatures focus almost exclusively on individual-level effects. On the organizational side however, we suggest that the increasing trend toward various forms of employee autonomy presents a tension for organizations as they struggle to reconcile this relinquishing of control with organizational leaders’ inherent desire for more control. We explore how managers and supervisors of knowledge work manage the inherent conflict between employee demands for autonomy and organizational needs for control, especially as it relates to the management of complexity and fairness issues. Furthermore, we discuss how this tension has important implications for research and practice.