ABSTRACT
Some form of control is necessary for effective organisational functioning because stakeholders have disparate priorities. Control systems help managers to achieve consistency in actions and activities across employee groups. This is important so that the behaviours and activities of the organisation’s members match the organisation’s plans and goals. The organisation can identify deviations and make corrections. This issue of control is complicated when workers and supervisors do not work in the same location. Technology, changing attitudes to coordinating work and non-work obligations, the restructuring of work activities (i.e. organisations seeking to reallocate the costs of rent and utilities; commuting, etc.), and the structure of some jobs, are but some of the instigators of a metamorphosis of the traditional ways of managing. For some managers, the strain caused by the relocation of employees is intensified when the nature of the work demands that employees have almost perfect autonomy to achieve their tasks. Lawyers, architects, sales representatives and accountants are a few of the many and varied occupations that can be structured such that the employee works from a decentralised location.
