Transparency is the New Control System

Abstract: Most organizations work on the assumption that information can be dictated and directed from the corporate centre – that people only need to see ‘what they need to know’. This is a command and control assumption that must be tossed aside if leaders really want to move to an adaptive and decentralized organization. This paper looks at how adaptive organizations work on different assumptions about the openness and transparency of information and how it improves governance and control.