Generally speaking, the consensus is that autonomy is highly motivational. Indeed, Dan Pink pinpointed it as one of the key factors in his best-selling book Drive. Nicholai Foss and Peter Klein suggest that complete autonomy isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be, however, and that managers can actually be incredibly useful.

Flatter organizations with minimal hierarchy are fashionable at the moment, with an emphasis on empowering workers and not placing managers at the center of things. They argue that the common narrative is that quiet quitting is a revolt against a lack of autonomy, when the reality is that it may instead be a revolt against the continuous calls on our time, energy, and attention by excessive autonomy.

Striking the balance

They cite research showing that modern employees want to strike a good work-life balance, and aren’t so concerned by things like empowerment. This coincides with research showing that a good manager can have a strong impact on the well-being of workers, both in terms of performance and engagement levels.

This is especially so when managers are able to communicate expectations clearly and consistently, with robust follow-through. This, the authors argue, is what helps to provide a secure and relatively predictable work environment, which gives people the confidence to thrive.

They highlight how famous exemplars of decentralized leadership, such as Zappos and Oticon, have generally failed to deliver results and employees have requested a return to some form of hierarchy again with managers providing invaluable support.

They believe that management plays a crucial role, and while excessive micromanagement is not the answer, neither is a completely autonomous structure. This is especially so in a period in which disruption and uncertainty prevail.

Authority in the twenty-first century is about designing systems and processes, solving disputes, and helping people coordinate and cooperate. Management and its accompanying hierarchy still have an essential role to play. Making every worker a manager is usually the wrong move.