Both the organization and the individual benefit from distributed work. A networked workforce is a happier and less stressed workforce. By greatly reducing the pressures for relocation, the costs in dollars, family stability, and community support are enormously relieved. That historical truth must be incorporated into the new realities of people interacting through global technology networks. People are happier because distributed work requires personal commitment to a project, and thus some alignment of team goals with individual goals.
Networks promote consensus.
This enables members to then effectively act locally to accomplish the group's global purposes. People have increased potential for broad exposure, visibility, and responsibility. It is also about how we can collectively address the really big issues of our time. Only by learning how to do networked work can all parties effected by a complex problem come together to solve it. And only by creating effective networks to solve our collective problems can humanity avoid the inevitable alternative of authoritarian control.