What is autonomy at work?
Autonomy at work means the freedom that an employee has at
work and the employees are allowed to design their own jobs and work upon it (Robertson, n.d.). And it allows the
employees to participate as a team in their own ways to achieve a common a goal
(Chignell, 2017).
Advantages of Autonomy at Work
- Job satisfaction is a great advantage of autonomy at work, it make the employees feel satisfied and happy about their job, this will increase the productivity as well. (Robertson, n.d.)
- Employees will feel more accountable (Chignell,
2017)
because they are the ones who decide how they should work to complete the work.
- Employees will be motivated to update themselves with new skills (Chignell, 2017), when they face an issue they will try to find the solution by searching ways, this will increase their knowledge and skills.
- Employees will adopt leadership qualities (Chignell, 2017) because when they are free to take certain decisions, they tend to act as leaders.
- Work life balance will be enhanced (Chignell, 2017), when the employees are satisfied with their job, they will create ways to balance their work and the life.
Disadvantages of Autonomy at Work
- If the employees are lack of experience there is a risk of
increased mistakes could bring adverse effects for the organization. (Ayres, 2016)
- When the employees make their own decisions, sometimes there will be lack of uniformity in the decisions, this will lead to a decrease in efficiency. Not only that some employees would work more productively while others are slow and lazy without any increase in the rewards, this will reduce the efficiency as well. (Williams, n.d.)
- There can be issues related to the professional relationship in the organization, employees who are desiring more power, they would try to break the boundaries of authority. And there will be lack of accountability if the employees started to blame each other. (Williams, n.d.)
Based on above arguments, it is clearly suggesting that the Autonomous Working Culture is not suitable for everyone, it can be applied for a group of people who are highly professional and moral.
References
Ayres, C., 2016. 6
Advantages and Disadvantages of Employee Empowerment. [Online]
Available at: https://connectusfund.org/6-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-employee-empowerment
[Accessed 15 April 2019].
Available at: https://connectusfund.org/6-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-employee-empowerment
[Accessed 15 April 2019].
Chignell, B., 2017. Why encouraging autonomy
improves employee experience. [Online]
Available at: https://www.ciphr.com/advice/employee-autonomy/
[Accessed 15 April 2019].
Available at: https://www.ciphr.com/advice/employee-autonomy/
[Accessed 15 April 2019].
Robertson, T., n.d. The Effects of Autonomy on Job
Satisfaction. [Online]
Available at: https://work.chron.com/effects-autonomy-job-satisfaction-14677.html
[Accessed 15 April 2019].
Available at: https://work.chron.com/effects-autonomy-job-satisfaction-14677.html
[Accessed 15 April 2019].
Williams, B., n.d. The Pros and Cons of Employee
Empowerment. [Online]
Available at: https://www.forwardfocusinc.com/inspire-leaders/the-pros-and-cons-of-employee-empowerment/
[Accessed 15 April 2019].
Available at: https://www.forwardfocusinc.com/inspire-leaders/the-pros-and-cons-of-employee-empowerment/
[Accessed 15 April 2019].
Autonomic work cultures generally lead to empowered workers. This is also in favor of creating a learning environment culture. When employees are enabled with autonomy, they are given much freedom and accountability for their own work. This as you discussed, will yield in higher levels of satisfaction and motivation
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