The Issues Of Transparency In This Digital Era

The digital era has thrown in many challenges for companies seeking transparency across the board in the form of leaks, breaches of sensitive data about their employees, customers and clients. Besides, there is also evidence of racial and gender disparities wondering if there is a need for greater transparency needed across the board.

The status of transparency across corporations

For some organizations, greater transparency means telling customers/citizens how and when their data (personal information) is being used. For others, it means expanding access and attention to employment data, business records and other ongoing activities. People expressing distrust in corporations has risen higher than it has ever been as such; companies and regulatory bodies around the world are moving quickly to set new guidelines about transparency in front of their shareholders and users.

The European Union has taken seven steps in recent months to nail down what technology giants are permitted to collect from users. Some business leaders have even expressed concerns over company practices that may discourage or inhibit competition. Over the years, governments and business entities have sought to achieve the right balance of transparency versus privacy and security with mixed results.

Discloser Rights

Due to the emergence of new technologies, big questions are being faced by companies such as what information should be shared, with whom and how much? In some areas, regulators have already defined which kinds or types of information that needs to be reported by governments and companies such as hiring practices, expenditures, environmental impact among others.

For instance, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) allows for the full or partial disclosure of documents that have not been previously released even though it can take years and multiple requests for specific information to become known. In the United States of America, employees have some legally defined rights and limitations around information they can disclose as well.

The tension between security and transparency

Technology is allowing people to disclose information themselves with new social platforms offering transparency and oversight by providing forums for anonymous feedback. Apps like Blind have invited workers of many large companies to give anonymous feedback on their employees especially when they are faced with discrimination, harassment and poor work culture.

However, some critics have noted that anonymous feedback can be challenging to put into action, even backfire and effectively undermine the goal of transparency itself. In addition, making personal information of people widely available may result in identity theft, discrimination, violence and other serious threats.

Transparency as a group effort

Globally, transparency has been regarded as a group effort through worker cooperatives, and other systems that challenge the traditional business hierarchy. In this approach, managing a company transparently typically means relying on dividing responsibility for the company’s action and sharing its success among a larger pool of employees. This approach is not always easy to follow as it sometimes results in strained relationships between employees and the company.

Building transparency from the ground up

This approach of building transparency where every decision is made by a team without any roles that act as a “manager” who can influence a big group of people Companies adopting this approach may put information that is not client facing or legally protected on their website for public view.

The necessity of a more transparent future

Irrespective of the form of transparency, organizations need to become more transparent as withholding or cleverly reshaping information is no longer a viable option in this era of vibrant consumers. The information has incredible and tangible value for both organizations and individuals that will continue to be more precious than ever especially as the technology to compile and draw insights from it grows more sophisticated.

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