Work Autonomy and the Community Mental Health Professional:

Abstract

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.

Service Systems Research

“…Studies of job satisfaction among mental health professionals document factors that affect the satisfaction of providers, including nurses (Melick 1985;Power and Sharp 1988;Wooff and Goldberg 1988), employees of residential facilities (Holburn and Forrester 1984), and professionals in community mental health (Buffum and Ritro 1984;Peen et al 1988). The results of these studies vary, but clearly defined roles and performance expectations are consistently associated with job satisfaction.…”

Effectiveness in Voluntary Organizations: An Empirical Assessment

“…Anderson and Martin (1982) found that job discretion (autonomy) was the most highly valued work attribute for social workers in both public and private settings. Autonomy has been found to be related to workers' job satisfaction, absenteeism, and turnover rates (Nicholson, Wall, and Lischeron 1977;Buffum and Ritvo 1984;Markham, Bonjean, and Corder-Bolz 1980) but has seldom been studied in relation to organiza tional effectiveness with the noted exception of Whiddon and Martin (1989).…”