One in Four Americans Compare Their Workplace to a Dictatorship

Posted by Meg White, BuzzFlash at 8:23 AM on July 23, 2008.

According to a Workplace Democracy Association/Zogby Interactive survey, 25 percent of Americans compares their workplace to a dictatorship. In the most comprehensive study of the phenomenon to date, the poll also found that adopting more egalitarian processes might be the solution.

"Companies that want to boost employee engagement levels must adopt democratic and innovative practices in the way the entire company is managed," said Workplace Democracy Association President Asher Adelman. "Executives should be sharing information with all employees about the company's ongoing performance and goals, and employees should be empowered with greater discretion and decision-making abilities."

According to Zogby, "The survey also found that less than half of working Americans -- 46% -- said their workplace promotes creative or inventive ideas, while barely half -- 51% -- said their co-workers often feel motivated or are mostly motivated at work."

Interestingly, according to a study released earlier this year by the Bertelsmann Foundation, almost 40 percent of the world's population lives under a dictatorship.

The German non-profit group found that "52 of the 75 democracies investigated show considerable defects in the rule of law and political integration. In many cases, there is no moderate and stable representative party system, balanced representation of interests or a strong civil society."

As Zimbabwean opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai would no doubt agree, just because you have elections doesn't mean you're a democracy.

Dictatorships aren't productive for nations or for businesses.

There's a lesson to be learned there.

Tagged as: workplace, dictatorships, bad work environments, bertelsmann foundation, workplace democracy assoc, zogby interactive