The need for control over your life

In today's New York Times an article discussed the growing trend among younger people to diagnose and use drugs for their own purposes. They have more faith in their own ability to do so than in Doctors'. They grew up with direct to consumer advertising of prescription drugs and are knowledgeable about symptoms and medications. At the same time, we know that the less control over your own life you have, the more stress you feel. When your actions at work are watched - cubicles and monitoring of email being examples - you feel stress. The more day to day supervision you are under, the less effectively you may perform. Yet management continues to believe that more control is helpful. Much as spanking children has been shown to be counterproductive, yet people continue to belive in it. Our sense of what is obvious or intuitive is not always correct. We need to recognize the need for objectivity, and give control back to employees, until they give reason to distrust them.