Can a corporation perform well with just the workers pulling together in a democratic manner and no top managers around to call the shots? One school of thought says yes.
At a recent Tokyo business seminar some 150 Japanese business executives watched a rehearsal of a renowned U.S. chamber orchestra that prides itself on not having a dictatorial conductor and instead takes a democratic approach to music.
Cohosted by Morgan Stanley Japan Ltd. and Hitotsubashi University's graduate school of international corporate strategy, the seminar -- entitled "Learning from the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra -- Organization Management in the New Era" -- was aimed at giving participants an opportunity to learn from the way the orchestra, based at Carnegie Hall in New York, rehearsed using what it calls a "flat" organizational style.