Employee Engagement and Labor Relations

I wonder why the 7th element of Great Managing doesn't read: "At work, my opinions count"?

If you use these 12 statements to survey a worker's opinion of how management works for him or her, the 7th statement, without the "seem to" phrase, could give different and more meaningful outcome. Why? Someone scoring the altered statement is more likely to look for evidence that his or her opinions really are influential at work.

Opinions may SEEM to count when management shows an interest in workers' opinions when in fact it is merely trying to be politically correct without feeling an need to improve workers' empowerment. Such management may show an interest in workers' opinions while at the same time they try to reduce the effect of these opinions on decisions or on the way things are done.

Surely, making workers' opinions SEEM to count may be as difficult for a manager as MAKING them count. Nevertheless, in organizations both options are brought into practice. Therefore, making the distinction between these two and adapting the 7th statement accordingly could significantly change the outcome of the responses to a survey and thereby add to the usefulness of the outcome.