Cameron is also critical of stack ranking, a process in which managers grade employees on a bell curve. He said it demotivates workers, does not promote honesty in appraisals and breeds a culture of prima donnas and back stabbing.

Larry Johnson, the Arizona-based co-author of the book Absolute Honesty: Building a Corporate Culture that Values Straight Talk and Rewards Integrity, is also not a fan of stack ranking.

"To have them (employees) fight it out like gladiators in the arena with a few every year being slaughtered, I think is detrimental to corporate health and culture," he said.

Johnson likens corporations with negative cultures to going through a military boot camp.

"A lot of people go there to get the training. They spend a year or two and they go on to do their own thing," he said. "There is a better way to run a company with a culture that is benevolent and celebrates their people."