reading through this post - i see and think of the days spent in a cube city struggling to understand why my boss is still here staring at me!
Workplaces and workteams barley ever truly encourage dissention and the ability to tell your boss that you feel that his or her choice is incorrect that can make him feel (especially if he is incompontant) scared and threatended. The real concern is that the baby boomers are frightened of conflict in the workplace. I have found that Gen Y and X (stereotype) handle conflict situations greater. not that gen x y yells and fights we just understand that conflict is love and growth - growing up in a divorced generation.