In Sweden we prize consensus very highly. To the extent that's possible, we try to debate things and do what everyone in the organization agrees to do rather th

In Sweden we prize consensus very highly. To the extent that's possible, we try to debate things and do what everyone in the organization agrees to do rather than having a manager decide by him or herself and then execute. Our ministers don't even have executive power, their powers are very limited and they must seek approval from our parliament for everything they want to do, they can not really order anyone to do anything. This has resulted in a culture where we have mind boggling amounts of meetings to offer plenty of time for debate and really make an effort to form consensus. If we can't form consensus, a decision is made anyway by the manager of course, but we want to make absolutely sure it was not because of lack of trying. Some places are worse than others. I had a colleague who worked as a developer at a government agency and by his account 4 hours a day to code was a good day, the rest of the time he was stuck in meetings and checking his emails. And, for some reason, I sort of like it. I believe in the power of the crowd to make good decisions. The price is the fact that we spend staggering amounts of time discussing and debating things before we make a decision. Introducing something like this system would probably be met with huge protests by management and the workforce.