Work autonomy and the community mental health professional: guidelines for management

Work autonomy is an important characteristic of professional positions in community mental health programs. Yet this concept of work autonomy is so ambiguous that managers are often uncertain about the most effective job redesign strategies. Considering (1) formalization of organization rules, procedures, and job descriptions, (2) the routineness of the work technology, and (3) the degree of decision-making centralization as the essential components of work autonomy, the researchers found that job satisfied employees prefer certainty in job expectations even though this may reduce their overall autonomy. At times of economic uncertainty, special attention must be given to managing turbulence in the external environment so that professionals can effectively exercise autonomy in their service delivery functions.