Asked By: delina_m - 4/1/2010

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

The author's assessment is right in parts of Europe but not the whole. The European system evolved in the aftermath of the second world war and the devastation that it unleashed. Therefore one of it's key aspects is interdependence, the population had to rely on each-other for survival. The Europeans are more active in the pursuit of their rights than the citizens of either the US or the UK for that matter. And they will all demonstrate in support of those rights.

European culture encourages the consideration of the effects ones actions will have on ones neighbour, this promotes a more cohesive society with great benefits. I remember calling on friends in Austria to find the doors wide open with no one at home, there was no crime so there was no need to lock the doors. Their neighbour came over to inform me that my friends would be back shortly and that I should make myself at home and wait for them. The contrast between that and my experiences in the US could not be greater.

So if you prefer to call this a "freedom from" type of democracy then so be it, I think that most of my American friends would welcome a society free from crime.
On the worker participation in company decisions topic I shall give you to examples one that I have experienced in the US and the other in the UK.
While I was visiting a factory in the US to discuss the efficiency and benefits of their new equipment bought from the UK, I was asked by the vice president of engineering to try and shed some light on the huge discrepancy that they experienced between the day and night shifts. After observing the operation for some time I discovered that the 8?ifference between the shifts was down to this hire and fire at will mentality of the US management. During the day when the bosses were around the maintenance engineers would frequently stop the equipment to make unnecessary adjustments so that they did not appear to be redundant and their employment was necessary to the operation.
In contrast during the night shift the engineers would be reading, watching television, or sleeping, and they would only attend to problems as and when they arose. Production carried on uninterrupted most of the time as the equipment were quite reliable. So the fear of loosing ones job rather than benefiting was detrimental to that operation.

In the UK while I was visiting a factory manufacturing diesel engine parts, I noticed that the girls operating the filter making machines would be having a 10 minute break every hour, and still take the full lunch break. I was curious so the production director explained, that after consultations with efficiency experts they found that the concentration span of the average worker was 45-50 minutes, and after this period mistakes were very likely. So they limited their production period to 50 minutes in every hour. The production rates did not rise but the number of rejects dropped down to almost zero, and everybody was happy.

There are many differences between the American and European way of doing things, but I find the latter is more people friendly.

I think it was president Clinton who commended that German workers were under-worked and over-payed. Hey they were at the time the most efficient in Europe and they deserved all they earned. Simplistic views like that should have been kept for the home audience and not for Europeans.

Answered By: Oldman - 4/1/2010