Lack of worker participation in business decision-making

Although psychologists have advised against it, owners and managers of enterprises and bureaucrats in government have continued to restrict workers' participation in decisions that affect them directly. The typical result is demotivation or alienation of the worker, decreased productivity and increased costs.

A number of recent decentralization programmes to distribute decision making downwards have been made in Socialist countries, particularly in the agricultural sectors. However, decisions require both information and the skill to use it, and the educational infrastructures have proven too weak to support the initial reforms.