Abstract
Autonomy is seen as a core aspect with work. High autonomy can be used in work design for alleviating negative consequences of work, as well as being a design principle for handling interdependencies. However, high autonomy is also suggested to be a burden and not necessarily beneficial. The aim of this study is therefore to explore how high autonomy may be a cause for long-term sick leave among knowledge workers. The study is designed as an explorative case study, with 5 highly educated female workers (age range 28–52) with a present or former long-term work–related sick leave (burnout, fatigue, stress, depression, MSD). The interviews followed an interview guide with open questions, where freedom was used as a proxy for autonomy. The analysis was performed by using Balance-theory. The results showed that although appreciating their autonomy in the task performance allowing for individual planning, independency, skills discretion and creativity, autonomy was an ambiguous term. One challenge was how to handle tasks with high autonomy at the individual level. Stress and health complaints arose also when high autonomy was not balanced by structures in the organizational domain. Findings are in line with contemporary studies questioning the ultimate positive associations of autonomy and high autonomy as a leverage. The results indicate that for specific groups of workers, high autonomy should be balanced with predictable organizational structures, not being a leverage in itself.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Wu CH, Luksyte A, Parker SK (2015) Overqualification and subjective well-being at work: the moderating role of job autonomy and culture. Soc Indic Res 121(3):917–937
Karasek R, Theorell T (1990) Healthy work: stress, productivity, and the reconstruction of working life. Basic Books, New York
Theorell T, Karasek R (1996) Current issues relating to psychosocial job strain and cardiovascular disease research. J Occup Health Psychol 1(1):9–26
Grant AM, Parker SK (2009) 7 redesigning work design theories: the rise of relational and proactive perspectives. Acad Manag Ann 3(1):317–375
Kalleberg AL, Nesheim T, Olsen KM (2009) Is participation good or bad for workers?: effects of autonomy, consultation and teamwork on stress among workers in Norway. Acta Sociol 52(2):99–116
Hvid H, Lund H, Pejtersen J (2008) Control, flexibility and rhythms. Scand J Work Environ Health 83–90
Holte K, et al (manuscript) Structures and premises for perceived individual autonomy in knowledge organisations, a sociotechnical approach
Ekman S (2012) Authority and autonomy: paradoxes in modern knowledge work. Springer, New York
Carayon P (2009) The balance theory and the work system model … twenty years later. Int J Human-Comput Interact 25(5):313–327
Smith MJ, Sainfort PC (1989) A balance theory of job design for stress reduction. Int J Ind Ergon 4(1):67–79
Carayon P et al (2015) Advancing a sociotechnical systems approach to workplace safety - developing the conceptual framework. Ergonomics 58(4):548–564
Löve J, Hagberg M, Dellve L (2011) Balancing extensive ambition and a context overflowing with opportunities and demands: a grounded theory on stress and recovery among highly educated working young women entering male-dominated occupational areas. Int J Qual Stud Health Well-Being 6(3)
Mumford E (2006) The story of socio-technical design: reflections on its successes, failures and potential. Inf Syst J 16(4):317–342
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Holte, K.A., Hansen, K., Lyby, L., Solberg, A. (2019). Autonomy at Work, Can (Too) High Autonomy Cause Health Complaints and Sick Leave?. In: Bagnara, S., Tartaglia, R., Albolino, S., Alexander, T., Fujita, Y. (eds) Proceedings of the 20th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2018). IEA 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 821. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96080-7_38
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96080-7_38
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-96079-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-96080-7
eBook Packages: Intelligent Technologies and RoboticsIntelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)