Chris Grams

When I was at Red Hat, I once had a very senior executive ask me how "freedom" could be one of Red Hat's four core values. His question was very similar to yours: "If freedom is a core value, couldn't an employee say that s/he was going to exercise this freedom and not ever show up to work?"

My answer? One of the other four values at Red Hat is accountability-- and freedom and accountability balance each other out. Meaning, employees had plenty of freedom... as long as they balanced this freedom with accountability-- to shareholders, to the company, and to other employees. And employees holding each other accountable can be a pretty powerful force.

I expect the situation you've brought up would be pretty common in a culture where employees were not respected as more than "sheeple" and where there wasn't a culture of accountability. Might be a disaster, in fact.

I suspect a no policy policy will only work in cultures where companies respect their employees and pride in doing your best work all of the time is a given...

i think you are right, and some of the best clubs probably do treat their members as volunteers, actively working to more deeply engage them in fulfilling the mission/purpose.

Part of the responsibility falls on the members of course... they probably should ask themselves whether they are contributing because they believe in the purpose of the organization or if they are just there for a line on their resume and the free snacks:)