Old top-down management, the type that's entrenched in China, just doesn't work anymore. Plus, increasing globalization and access to media gives more workers in China a look at what life is like in other places. This, no doubt, creates a dangerous gap between their world and what they see is happening outside of their country.

What employees really want is reflected in the 12 survey items that Gallup developed from decades of research studying companies and organizations around the world. This is a global standard, one that cuts across all cultures. China's national workforce will be transformed - becoming highly productive and engaged - when its organizations hire and develop managers who inspire employees to score highly on these.

1. I know what is expected of me at work.

2. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.

3. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.

4. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.

5. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.

6. There is someone at work who encourages my development.

7. At work, my opinions seem to count.

8. The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.

9. My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.

10. I have a best friend at work.

11. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.

12. In the last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

These are the 12 most important, and most predictive, workplace elements Gallup has uncovered. China's societal advancement - or collapse - lies within these metrics, as employee engagement boosts productivity, quality, customer engagement, retention, safety, and profitability.

It would be wise for all Chinese executives and managers to consider how they can deliver these simple, yet transformational, demands of the workplace.

If Chinese leaders were to move their current spectacularly bad nationwide score of barely 6 percent engaged workers to just 20 percent engaged, the country would be a completely different place - one with a much brighter, more stable future.

My prediction: As China's nationwide employee engagement goes, so goes the country's rise to world leadership. But it's going to be awfully tough for the country to raise its percentage of engaged workers from 6 percent to 20 percent in the next 10 years if organizations keep choosing the wrong people to manage and lead.

The good news is that, while the lack of engagement of its workforce is China's biggest problem - bigger, I'd argue, than pollution, the effects of the family planning policy, rising labor costs, etc - it's actually the easiest to fix.

The author is chairman and CEO of Gallup Inc.