Ths Business Doctor:
Imagine a world without managers - a world of work where the staff lead themselves.

That's the goal of business troubleshooter Dr Paul Thomas. He wants to see workers in all organisations have the freedom to be innovative - and to have fun.

Paul told BBC Radio Wales how he believes managers hold companies back - and says if we don't change the way we work in Wales, we won't survive in a global marketplace.

In Wales@work - The Business Doctor, he sets out to prove to one company in Port Talbot that his theory works.

Presenter Nick Servini follows Paul's journey as he tries to turn manufacturing company Excel Assemblies on its head, bringing managers and staff around to his way of thinking.

"They're very successful - the managing director, Mr John Bosworth, is very much a dynamic leader; he's very much out there with regards to the market place and he's certainly bringing in a lot of successful products and innovations," he says. "But unfortunately I think what they're suffering with is this managerial disease - they're trying to implement creativity and innovation into the workforce by controlling the workforce. I think that's the wrong message and the wrong way of doing things."

Paul is a lecturer at the University of Glamorgan, and seven years ago he founded the think-tank DNA Wales. It aims to challenge traditional views of business, and work towards getting rid of management.

He thinks that if companies scrap their tiers of management, every member of staff will take ownership of the firm, and take on responsibility for finding new business. They'll also become happier, more productive - and so more successful.

But he admits that his message often isn't popular and says he's used to being shouted and sworn at. Sometimes managers - and even workers - walk out as he tells it as it he sees it.

In Port Talbot, though, managing director John Bosworth says he's hoping Paul can help his firm become fitter for the future. He wants to be able to offer more job security, he says.

"Whenever I've ever asked anybody whether they would like to have lots of cash or job security, people normally plump for job security," he tells the programme. "If you're planning your life, if you know you're going to have work and income, then surely that's far better than saying 'I can give you £100 a week but I can't tell you how long it's going to be for'."

So far Paul and his colleagues have worked with 20 companies. He also travels the world spreading his message, and he says Wales has to change.

"We're living in yesterday, managing our organisations with 17th or 18th century techniques," he tells Wales@work. "We still believe that we have to command and control people.

"The global economy is changing at such a fast pace that if we don't change we are not going to be around in ten, 15 years' time."

But will his way work for Excel? Will the management and the staff agree to change the way they operate?