Excursion 19

Information sharing and value design

Most organizations have relatively explicit goals and expectations for stakeholder value in the form of profit-taking or dividends. Yet these too are commonly hidden from the majority of employees and corporate partners. Sometimes there are good reasons for secrecy. At the same time, you might want to ask yourself-- what is the real reason that owners do not share information with employees, suppliers, or customers? Is it really because they “don’t need to know?” Or is it because they fear that the information would create problems? Why should that kind of information create problems? Perhaps it is because the owners suspect, or know, that they are capturing organizational value to how it is created?

Imagine a for-profit organization in which every employee, right down to the lowest-paid part-time workers, knew how much profit the firm generated and how it would be distributed among employees. Certainly, some employees might find that to be intrusive or simply more information than they wanted. Presumably those employees would find their way out of the organization one way or another. What kinds of employees would choose to stay in that type of organization? What would it mean about their perception of value creation and capture?