Worker autonomy and the drama of digital networks in organizations

This essay considers the impact of digital networks in organizations on wor ker autonomy. Worker autonomy, the control that workers have over their own work situation, is claimed in this essay to be a key determinant for the q uality of work, as well as an important moral goal. Digital networks pose s ignificant threats to worker autonomy as well as opportunities for its enha ncement. In this essay, the notion of worker autonomy is analyzed and evalu ated for its importance and moral relevance. It is then considered how digi tal networks both threaten worker autonomy and offer opportunities for its enhancement. Three major opportunities (enhanced communicative powers, incr eased informedness, teleworking) and threats (electronic monitoring, task p restructuring, and dependency creation) are discussed and analyzed. Finally , the dynamics that determine the impact on worker autonomy of the introduc tion of a digital network in organizations are investigated. A particular m odel for analyzing these dynamics and their impacts, Bryan Pfaffenberger's model of a technological drama. It will be illustrated how this model illum inates these dynamics by analyzing them as a dialectic of strategies of tec hnological regularization by design constituencies and technological adjust ment by impact constituencies. It will also be assessed what role network d esign has in this process.