Transparency in management

The objectives of all organizations are success and achievement of their targets. For companies/corporations, it is increasing profits and growing resources. For non-profit associations, it is the delivery of the desired services, survival and longevity. Most medium-sized organizations are staffed by hundreds of employees, and the big ones by the thousands, that have to know and be informed to be effective and efficient in their work. The advent and fast development of information technology have facilitated the depth and width of information dispersal, and yet there is clamor for the correct and right information to reach the concerned recipients for productive work. This is a transparency and accessibility of information issue.

I use to work for a top management consulting company, and we had an engagement for designing and implementing the management information system for a large company. It was in the early days of the huge IBM computers, and there were still no desktops, laptops, or smart phones. The computer could produce most of the information and some reports, but some had to be printed in multiple copies. One of the issues was what reports had to get the right people so it will be useful for their work, without overprinting useless copies. We designed a matrix that had the reports in the vertical axis, and the recipients in the horizontal axis, which eventually limited the number of recipients, and reduced the number of copies, but accessible to all who wanted to know.

Nowadays, with the laptops, tablets, and smart phones that can transmit and receive data and information faster and cheaper, it is still important that the right information gets to the right people in an organization. There are, however, a lot of wrong or false information and fake news coming from multiple sources that are counterproductive to the company and to the employees. This is where and when accessibility/transparency will help management filter the wrong information and get the correct information to the employees.

Transparency is part of good governance, together with accountability and conflict of interest avoidance. It has a bigger role because without the correct information, we cannot demand accountability and propriety. While organizational information usually flows from top to bottom, it is also necessary that it also flows from bottom to the top, and to the breadth and width of the company, to show transparency.

In the most successful organizations, corporate or otherwise, the awareness of all the employees of all vital company information are defining factors. It generates the needed interactions between departments, sections, informal groups, and employees. It enhances cooperation and harvest suggestions on process, systems and product improvements. The huge conglomerates especially the tech companies like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Nvidia, and the like, have flatter organizational structures to enhance communication and transparency. All information about these companies is communicated to their employees before they are released to the banks, the stock exchanges, the rating agencies, and to the public.

I recently got appointed as chairman of MCWD, and I requested for a full-year 2025 operations and financial report, to be used as the baseline data for the rehabilitation program of the company. These were particularly necessary as MCWD had operational problems and incurred significant losses. While management had a five-year recovery plan, the board and senior management’s inputs and revisions needed ideas and suggestions from mid- and lower-level managers, supervisors, and employees. So, it was decided to cascade the reports and the plans down the line. This is transparency in action.