Highlights from the article:
"The freedom they have to do great work is more valuable, and harder to match, than a pay raise—and employee’s spouses, partners and families are among a ROWE’s staunchest advocates."
"The businesses that offered autonomy grew at four times the rate of the control-oriented firms and had one-third the employee turnover."
"Two employees struggled with the freedom and left." (I find this particularly interesting -- we can get so indoctrinated into systems of control that we become uncomfortable without it).
Three basic human needs (according to researchers Edward Deci and Richard Ryan):
- Autonomy
- Competence
- Relatedness
"Management still revolves largely around supervision, 'if-then' rewards and other forms of control. That’s even true of the kinder, gentler Motivations 2.1 approach that whispers sweetly about things like 'empowerment' and 'flexibility.'
"Indeed, just consider the very notion of 'empowerment.' It presumes that the organization has the power and benevolently ladles some of it into the waiting bowls of grateful employees. But that’s not autonomy. That’s just a slightly more civilized form of control. Or take management’s embrace of 'flex time.' Ressler and Thompson call it a 'con game,' and they’re right. Flexibility simply widens the fences and occasionally opens the gates. It, too, is little more than control in sheep’s clothing. The words themselves reflect presumptions that run against both the texture of the times and the nature of the human condition. In short, management isn’t the solution; it’s the problem."
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