I think when I was younger, I wanted to believe in it. But, yes, now that I'm older and I reflect, I don't think I've ever been part of one that wasn't fake.

There are the owners/middle management/laborers. To trick the laborers into thinking that they are part of something is pretty brilliant though.

Oh it absolutely is. Want to see evidence? If a client or someone important comes to visit the office, management asks everyone to wear nicer clothes and "clean up your workspaces." If culture was so great and beneficial, they sure make a point to hide it when it's important.

Total facade.

In your view, is there a difference between micromanaging authorian culture compared to a consensus-driven culture where the employees all trust each other?

I've seen several different companies from the insidr, and each one has had vastly different cultures. Usually it is an implementation of the CEO/upper management's views of what "corporate culture" is. There's still usually a facade, but that facade is not necessarily disingenuous.

The couple of times when I worked for companies that openly talked about employees and corporate culture, it was basically stated as "come build the culture we all want" but put into practice as "come build the culture that we all in management want and do not deviate."