Imagine being able to pick your own manager - and avoid the usual personality clashes and differences in working styles.

Apparently it's not such an outlandish idea - in fact, staff at Brazillian company Semco, which manfuctures telecoms technology, already benefit from a number of measures designed to 'empower' them. As well as being able to choose their own bosses, Semco employees operate in self-managed teams and are given information about the comany's financial performance. 30 per cent of employees also decide their own salaries. Semco also encourage their CEO's to use 'positive emotions.'

At the CIPD conference in Harrogate this Friday, Ricardo Semler, author of 'Maverick' and Semco S/A's President, will explain how giving people this sort of freedom benefits the business.