In the early 1990s, I was consulting with a large telecommunications company. I was part of a team that developed a partnership between management and the union to improve the quality of work processes. When I asked the management and union representatives to describe the company’s culture, I heard: “It’s like living in the old Soviet Union.” The number of times I heard that analogy made an impact on me. Since I knew none of these people had lived in the Soviet Union, I asked them to elaborate. They gave me this list:

• Autocratic management style
• Dictatorial decision making
• No meaningful input from employees
• Closed access to information (secretive)
• Mistrust among employees
• Resistance to change
• Motivation based only on self-interest
• Favoritism

Now contrast that list with the list of positive components of interdependence given to me by Jack Stack, general manager of Springfield Remanufacturing:

• Embracing change
• Development of trust
• Meaningful contributions to decision making by employees
• Open management style
• Fewer employee problems
• Win-win conflict resolution