autonomy

Autonomy is defined as the right to self-govern. It connotes an atmosphere of independence and freedom to create the rules and build a new structure. This process works, but at what cost?

There is a phenomenon in nature similar to this situation. Whenever you fire a gun into a field full of birds, the birds fly wildly out of the field in many different directions. The mass chaos seems to be coordinated because interestingly enough, none of the birds ever run into each other. But do the birds avoid crashing into one another because of their care for each other and the good of the team, or is it out of a desire to protect themselves and do what is best for the individual?

As we study corporate culture, we cannot help but study the behaviors of animals like described above. We often hear employees tell us they wish their companies gave them more autonomy. so we have to study this word and see if it has a positive impact on their culture or a negative one.

Guess what we found - People have to want to be autonomous! Managers have to want their people to be autonomous! We rarely find this to be the case. What we do find is the Executives want autonomy. so they put out the edict and declare their company autonomous. But, as we know from reading this blog, the cycle of culture development will seen eat this edict for lunch and it will be relegated to the hall of "programs of the month."