Transparency: Social and Digital Technologies for Building Trust

by Verna Allee

Greater accessibility of information to organizational stakeholders regarding matters that affect their interest is fostering unprecedented transparency in the enterprise environment. Thanks to the Internet, information, including business knowledge that previously was closely guarded, is more accessible than ever before. Any savvy researcher can find financial data, employee grievances, product weaknesses, legal proceedings, corporate policies, supplier and customer complaints, etc. -- the list is long and growing. In addition, companies are under pressure to make internal data and business practices more visible to shareholders, suppliers, customers, employees, business partners, and civil society.