management and governance. Those assumptions were, in large measure consistent
with economics language and assumptions—that is, the managers assumed
that people are self interested (Miller, 1999), may engage in self-interest seeking
with guile (Williamson, 1975), and are effort averse (Lazear, 1999) so that they
require incentives and monitoring to ensure performance. These assumptions are
largely inconsistent with the implementation of high-commitment policies based
on mutual trust. Specifically, companies are less likely to share information with
people who are presumed to be self-interested and to pursue their interests
occasionally using some amount of deceit; are unlikely to allocate substantial
decision rights and participation to individuals who are presumed to be mostly
self-interested and consequently unconcerned about organizational well-being; and
are less likely to invest in the training and development of people who are
presumed to be effort averse and focused only on their own interests and so may
leave at the prospect of a better job offer.