Attitude, aptitude, ability and autonomy: the emergence of ‘offroaders’, a special class of nomadic worker

Abstract

Freedom to choose when, where and on what to work might be viewed as mere telework. However, when we mix the adoption of ubiquitous technologies with personalities that take pleasure in problem solving and achievement for its own sake, a strong need for autonomy, the freedom to work wherever and whenever the mood strikes, and add a dash of entrepreneurial spirit, then perhaps we are seeing an emergent class of worker, and even the possibility of new organisational forms. This research draws on adaptive structuration theory to search for evidence of a different way of working, hidden among otherwise familiar patterns. It concludes by considering what implications the employment of such individuals might have for management processes with organisations.

Keywords:

• joy of use
• ICT
• cognitive absorption
• effectiveness
• individualisation
• universal access

Notes

1. We use the term ‘client organisation’ to accommodate the characteristics of the offroader as detailed above – particularly that an offroader may work for multiple organisations. In this sense, we refer to the organisations as client organisations.

2. It should be clear that whereas most offroaders will function as contractors, not all contractors can be classified as offroaders. Often, conventional contractors lack the autonomy, the mobility and the leading edge skills that characterise the offroader. The term ‘contractor’ merely describes the legal and financial mechanism by which a worker is connected to the organisation for which work is done.