Can It Hurt an Organization

ansparency is often defined as the condition of being transparent. Transparent is defined as clear, understood, and free from pretense or deceit. Agencies can foster transparency by revealing the internal controls used to govern the organization and ensuring all parties have access to organizational information.

The importance of employing transparency surfaced as a result of increased competition between multinational corporations. The increased competition eventually ushered in increased corruption and led to demands for transparent actions. The Federal Government, following the Great Depression, saw a need for transparency after discovering several administrative agencies had applied regulations without close legislative review. The Government eventually passed laws such as the U.S. Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 and the Freedom of Information Act of 1966 to give more access to department and agency information. Although laws have been enacted to foster the sharing of information, U.S. organizations continue to find it difficult to increase the use of transparency. A growing number of inadequately transparent U.S. organizations are viewed as corrupt.

The U.S., in 2010, ranked 22nd in a list of 178 countries assessed for corruption. The assessment results, documented in an annual index and known as the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), were shared by Transparency International revealing corruption perceptions in the public sector. Transparency International is a global network of organizations working to defeat corruption. Although the U.S. ranked 22nd in 2010, that assessment has worsened slightly from the ranking of 19th in 2009. The lower ranking could foretell a continued increase in the number of people in the world who perceive U.S. organizations as corrupt. Increased transparency in organizations might combat those growing negative perceptions and foster a better CPI ranking in future years. The worsening CPI ranking might exist because some U.S. organizations block the use of transparency.

The use of transparency is often preve