Musings on Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Sunday, March 06, 2005Business: Democracy's New Frontier
Charles Handy, the management theorist, believes that it is time for the corporate constitution. In The Economist magazine's annual publication, The World in 2005 (subscription required) Handy observes:
It is a paradox that in our democratic societies it is only the corporations that are resolutely undemocratic. In 2005 this will become more blatant as the front-line workers find their voice - a voice that organizations will ignore at their peril.
The world of work is now increasingly dominated by the service sector, where the lowest-paid workers are not hidden away in the factory or warehouse but are often the first representatives of the organization whom the customer meets...These front-line individuals have thus become the unintended guardians of the brand, the true core workers...Expect, therefore, increased demands for a better work-life balance and for more personal discretion in 2005. If these demands are not met there will be threats of strikes, more staff turnover and growing absenteeism - all indicators of a lack of recognition...
In this new world people want to be regarded as belonging to something, not just used by it, as members not employees, citizens not human resources. They want a voice in what concerns them, the chance and the right to make a difference.
This democractic revolution isn't going to wait for enlightened entrepreneurs and CEOs to relinquish their grip on power. George Gendron, who served as Editor-in-Chief of Inc. magazine for 20 years, has documented how the most knowledgeable, mobile, and willing to accept the responsibility that comes with freedom are voting with their feet. Over the last 40 years, start-up rates in the U.S. have increased by a factor of 20. Furthermore, George points out that men and women between the ages of 18 and 26 are starting businesses at twice the rate of the adult population at large. Quite simply, a growing number of people perceive a choice, and they are choosing business freedom.
Over 200 years ago, business and intellectual elites in France, England, and the United States ushered in the modern era of representative democracy and federalism. The equivalent business transformation is not likely to take nearly as long.
Are you prepared?
Related: The Democratization of Entrepreneurship
