Research: Employees need empowerment to perform better

At least 68% of the respondents--composed of executives in government, education, life sciences and financial services, among others--said they increased centralization of risk control over the past five years but simultaneously increased autonomy to give employees more leg room for customer interaction and amount of work output.

The study also showed that more than half of the respondents frequently bend the rules to be more productive, while 32% did so to close a sale or retain a customer.

The survey was commissioned in the wake of an emerging gridlock between flexibility sought by workers and management control for efficiency and accountability.