The majority of Germans would like to see companies managed more democratically, with employees electing their own bosses and having a say in corporate strategy.
However, corporate day-to-day life often looks quite different, and employees offer have only a scope for development.
In a recent study by Technische Universität München (TUM) and ISF München, it emerged that two-thirds of Germans would like to see companies managed more democratically.
The results of the study confirm that employee expectations, company strategies and effects of new forms of organisation are often incompatible.
The majority of respondents found the idea of choosing their own managers attractive, and even more so the thought of participating in determining corporate strategies. On average, however, they nonetheless viewed the possibility of their wishes coming true as fairly unrealistic.
This belief is reflected in the opinions of 45 managers surveyed by the economists in a second study: senior executives consider most characteristics of democratic work organizations difficult to implement – topping the list was giving employees the option of accessing business data, such as salaries.
It emerged that smaller companies – at least in their view of themselves – went about things in a more democratic way than larger ones.
A third TUM study showed that this approach can be an important factor in the competition for personnel and funding: the features of a democratic organisation structure make a positive impression, both in terms of employer attractiveness and in the decision to invest in a company.
“Wherever people’s perspectives differ, and where it’s important to bring knowledge together that is shared by numerous individuals – that’s where the democratic approach works well,” comments Professor Isabell Welpe, head of the TUM chair for strategy and organisation.
“Technical change alone, unsupported by social and organisational change, cannot work.”
