Future challenges in knowledge work: The push and pull of creating job autonomy

With an increase in automation and the continuous decrease of manual work, our future workforce will be more and more composed of knowledge workers. But what do these future changes around knowledge work imply for organisations and the management of the future workforce?

In a recent article in the academic journal Group & Organization Management, Claus Langfred and Kevin Rockmann (2016) described how the workforce of the future will increasingly request autonomy at work in order to work effectively.

What is job autonomy?

Job autonomy constitutes one of the core job characteristics and is defined as

“the amount of freedom and independence an individual has in terms of carrying out his or her work assignment”, or “the extent to which a job allows freedom, independence, and discretion to schedule work, make decisions, and choose the methods used to perform tasks” (Morgeson & Humphrey, 2005, p. 1323).

How does autonomy relate to work design?

Autonomy appears as a core construct in the work design models that focus on motivational task characteristics, such as the Job Characteristic Model (Hackman & Oldhman), Job Demands-Control (Karasek, 1979) or the Job Demands-Resource Model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017).

What is so challenging about designing work that is characterised by job autonomy?

The authors reflect on how decades of research on work design theory have demonstrated how job autonomy and job discretion result in workers that are more satisfied, motivated and well-equipped to deal with uncertainty. At the same time, they laid out how organisations, and in particular managers, struggle to give workers autonomy, because "organising" by definition implies exerting control and coordinating workers. That is, organisations are faced with incompatible pressures:

On the one hand, they need to grant workers autonomy and decision latitude when carrying out their activities. On the other hand, the organisation is pressured to “organise” work, to coordinate workers, to formalise, and to standardise tasks. Langfred and Rockmann (2016) described how the bottom-up need for autonomy and the top-down need for control create a paradoxical tension.

An organisational example of the push and pull of autonomy

To illustrate this tension, they provided an example of teleworking in the federal government: In 2010, the Telework Enhancement Act allowed workers in governmental bodies more freedom (hence: autonomy) to carry out work-related activities outside of their work place. In essence, this act was intended to increase workers autonomy and flexibility. However, this “push” towards more autonomy also resulted in a “pull” towards more control. For example, some organisations issued teleworking policies stressing that “telework is work time (hours of duty) and is not to be used for any purposes other than official duties” (GSA, 2011).

Overall, these rule-based policies that focused on control and adherence corroborated the idea of giving workers more flexibility.

I highly enjoyed reading the conceptual article from Langfred and Rockmann (2016) because it seems relevant both from a practical and theoretical point of view. For example, within one of our research streams in the Centre for Transformative Work Design, we are interested how work design can contribute towards designing teams or organisations that can both operate with flexibility (that is, that are adaptive) but also coordination (Research Stream 3). The article describes these tensions and points out how they emerge when taking into account the multiple levels of organisations, that is, not only focusing on individual workers, but also teams, and organisations.

#Autonomy #Control #Teams #KnowledgeWork #FutureofWork

Being Human In the Second Machine Age

This week, Anu Bharadwaj, a PhD student at the CTWD and in the School of Psychology, presented at the Institute of Advanced Studies' "2016 Manning Clark House Day of Ideas: Being Human in the Second Machine Age" conference.

Anu presented on the topic of future work. Her presentation generated a great deal of interest in the Centre's research on this topic. Indeed, the conference organiser stated "we have had some terrific feedback about the day and it is very clear that your talk was appreciated by the audience. It is always marvellous to watch brilliant young scholars deliver thoughtful and well considered presentations... Thank you for the time and effort you put into your talk and for helping to make the day a success".

Minister Announces CTWD funding for research into FIFO work and well being

By UWA's Media Team:

The State Government has granted The University of Western Australia’s (UWA) Centre for Transformative Work Design $498,841 to carry out research into the wellbeing and mental health impact of fly-in fly-out (FIFO) arrangements on workers. The announcement coincides with Mental Health Week.

This research will seek to understand the range of workplace factors that contribute to mental health and wellbeing in FIFO workers and identify positive strategies that can be used by individuals, families and organisations in the FIFO environment.

FIFO workers play an important part in the research and are invited to register their interest to take part in an online survey and get involved in the study by visiting www.crowdresearch.uwa.edu.au/project/mental-health-fly-fly-fifo-workers.

Director of UWA's Centre for Transformative Work Design, Professor Sharon Parker said existing research indicated that work is a powerful influence on people’s wellbeing.

“We also know that FIFO work has some unique challenges so it is very important for us to gain better insights into the aspects of FIFO work and lifestyle that affect a person’s wellbeing and mental health, both positively and negatively,” Professor Parker said.

“The funding will allow us to carry out important research into the role of workplace factors in shaping mental health in FIFO workers. Some of these factors include the attributes of the jobs, rosters, the company culture, leadership, team support and family relationships.”

Mental Health Minister Roger Cook said the funding would enable important research into the role of workplace factors which shape mental health in FIFO workers.

"In Western Australia, we have a large population of FIFO workers. It's important we determine the nature of wellbeing in this sector and the specific factors and strategies that governments, employers and employees can implement to address mental health and wellbeing of FIFO workers.” The project is being guided by a research reference group that includes the Mental Health Commission, family representatives, employee and employer representatives, and mental health and alcohol and other drug peak bodies.