Written by, May 13 -- Akshita Pandey, Moitrayee Das

Step inside any modern office space, or browse a corporate career website, and you will see a common message in different guises: flexibility, ownership, autonomy. Workers are encouraged to take control of their time and activities, to act independently, and to be themselves. The concept of autonomy, previously a privilege, has become a characteristic of modern progressive organizations. However, there lurks a rather unsettling question beneath all of this: is autonomy just a facade of control?

Self-Determination Theory forms the basis of this debate. This theory was put forth by psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, and it holds that autonomy, competence, and relatedness are fun...