ricardo semler on the modern corporation...

almost all businessmen think their employees are involved in the firm and are its greatest asset. almost all employees think they are given too little attention and respect, and cannot say what they really think. how is it possible to reconcile these two positions? the sad truth is employees of modern corporations have little reason to feel satisfied, much less fulfilled. companies do not have the time or the interest to listen to them, and lack the resources or the inclination to train them for advancement. these companies make a series of demands, for which they compensate employees with salaries that are often considered inadequate. moreover, companies tend to be implacable in dismissing workers when they start to age or go through a temporary drop in performance, and send people into retirement earlier than they want, leaving them with the feeling they could have contributed much more had someone just asked. the era of using people as production tools is coming to an end. participation is infinitely more complex to practice than conventional corporate unilateralism, just as democracy is much more cumbersome than dictatorship. but there will be few companies that can afford to ignore either of them// ricardo semler, maverick, p.107