[mikeash]

A lot of different aspects of companies remind me of this. Usually dictatorial control, rigid hierarchies, policies made with no input from those who will follow them, etc. It's wonderfully ironic that the iconic capitalist organization is often so communist internally.

[unimpressive]

> It's wonderfully ironic that the iconic capitalist organization is often so communist internally.

I'm not an advocate of communism by any means, but I think the word you're looking for is "authoritarian"; maybe "dictatorial".

[mikeash]

I don't think so. That certainly forms a part of it, but there are also the aspects of e.g. senseless policies, large sub-organizations doing nothing useful for no good reason, people engaged in turf wars instead of doing something productive, etc. Authoritarian or dictatorial regimes can be quite efficient if the dictator is good, and I don't really associate those features with authoritarianism, but they are definitely stereotypical (if not necessarily real) communism.

[jfb]

The workers don't own the means of production in a firm. It's not communist; it's Soviet. Show trials; pointless dig-and-fill exercises; five year plans; Potemkin villages; lunatic dictates from unaccountable leaders; and shadow economies.

Wonderful read: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/why-valve-or-what-d...

[mikeash]

Precisely. I'm using "communism" in the American stereotype of communism sense.

[cma]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nature_of_the_Firm