Page 154 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

Autonomy or not Autonomy? that Is the Question � 133

need to be there. In a hospital, a surgeon needs to be in the operat-
ing room to perform a procedure. In a zoo, employees need to be
physically present at certain times to feed the animals. In a retail
store, customers need to be served. In these cases, if people aren’t
in the right place at the right time, that’s a performance issue.
Interestingly enough, the default “management system”
should be one where there isn’t an assumption that just because
people are physically in one place, there’s work getting done.

Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) occur when
people go above and beyond the call of duty to support the
organization, help other workers, and do things for which
they are not directly accountable. Employees don’t have
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to do this—rather they take the initiative to do them. We
wanted to know if ROWE, in which the only requirement is
“as long as the work gets done,” discourages OCBs in the
workplace. Cali and Jody assured us that ROWE and OCBs
are totally congruent, telling us:
ROWE absolutely encourages OCBs in the following ways:
1. ROWE liberates people. Employees go from feeling
“owned” from 8:00 to 5:00 Monday through Friday to
feeling like they are in control of every second of their
lives. They view ROWE as a gift and a chance to live life
to the fullest. In return, they’ll do much more to support
the organization, their coworkers, and do things they’re
not directly accountable for.
2. No Sludge. In a traditional work environment, people judge
others for how they spend their time. “10:00, and you’re
just getting in? Wish I had your job!” “There goes Kim at
3:30 to get her sick kid from daycare again—wish I had a
kid!” “Banker’s hours again?” In a ROWE, this language is
called “Sludge,” and it’s not tolerated. Through the ROWE
migration process, teams learn an Environmental Sludge
Eradication Strategy, and they work together as a “smart