In the cubicle building blocks of American industry, April of 2009 brought workers little more than meeting requests to pull them away from barely hidden job searches and online gambling losses on their 401Ks. Product Wave, Ltd., a global software company headquartered in Massachusetts, was just as rife with frustration, dotted among endless rows of cubes, as any company withering in the recession. The difference was that the workers were still engaged hoping for a turn-around. In fact, their efforts were so outstanding it earned them an indefinite salary and bonus freeze. Most employees were...