“The ego-driven, command and control business model is officially dead” says WorldBlu’s Traci Fenton, who recently compiled a list of “The Most Democractic Workplaces”. Interesting, although it does have a slight U.S bias, so I’ve hardly heard of any of them. Does this mean that democratic organisations are not that successful, or are this lot about to take over?
Apr 30th, jez said:
looking at those companies; perhaps it is their horrible logos that stop them from becoming better known-yuk!
from the experiences of many of my friends who work in larger, well known companies-the ethical stance they take, both internally and externally is just a facade. when it comes to the crunch, they want their to staff to work longer and harder and their profits to keep rising.
Apr 30th, Ivo said:
What about all this “20% time” stuff, my friend at Sony has started getting this and thinks its great. Good for him and Sony.
I can’t really speak for any of the companies on the list, but I think it does go beyond lip service- innovation comes from giving people more creative autonomy so I think it is good for everyone if you can get it right.
Is this over optimistic Jez?
I agree about the logos.
Apr 30th, jez said:
with any luck, much in the same way that companies are going hell for leather with the environmental angle on things, the responsibility for the well being of staff will become a ‘must have’ requirement.
as more companies do it it will hopefully snowball. you will still get imitators and i imagine it will be just as difficult to spot them.
with any luck, staff will vote with their feet.
sitting here, cringing at ‘the apprentice’ i do wonder what the future may hold!?
May 1st, Traci Fenton said:
Hi Ivo,
Thanks so much for the mention about the WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces 2008. Perhaps you have not heard of the companies before, but several are very well-known here in the US. We also had the first Fortune 500 company to make the list, which is fun to see.
We are trying to make the list as global as possible, so perhaps you and your readers can help us out there. It’s a very high standard and it’s a tough list to make, but we hope it will grow!
Also, US News & World Report wrote four articles about this year’s list, which your readers might enjoy checking out on their site. Just search for the article entitled, “Why Workplace Democracy Can Be Good Business” and the other articles will come up as well.
Thanks again!
Warmly,
Traci
May 1st, Ivo said:
I think the apprentice probably represents the old school of employment; being told what to do and getting shouted at by an old white man- not supportive, not innovative.
But I agree. I think people (probably the better qualified or more motivated employees to start with) will start demanding that more freedom at work because they know they can get it in other places.
May 1st, Ivo said:
Hi Traci,
thanks for getting in touch. Yes, I’m very interested in this subject and hope that some of our friends would be able to contribute some ideas for next year’s list to make it a bit more global.
Do you think that there is a limit to the scale at which a company can be democratic? What’s your take on Google?