WODA

Mobile Devices

Dynamics of escalating engagement and diminishing autonomy

Staying on top of their email communication was critical to the professionals’ individual performance, as well as that of their teams and organizations. Thus, when mobile email devices promised to increase professionals’ capacity and flexibility to manage that communication, they were readily adopted and used.

But herein lay the bind.

Increased use of mobile email devices, although contributing to professionals’ flexibilityand productivity, also contributed to the collective escalation of engagement. And it was this escalation that led professionals to limit their autonomy over time.

Discussion