ate a situation where it’s clearly in the company’s interest to have
this information shared and action taken. But too often, it’s not
clear why it’s in the individual’s interest. What are the incentives
to share?
Sometimes an organizational change can cause a shift in information sharing, either one way or the other. A new executive may
have a more open view that more information shared can cause
better decisions, while another might have the opposite view. No
Force Collaboration 155156 tough management
matter the view, the approach to the amount and type of information sharing—and whether it ever turns the corner from information to communication and action—starts from the top.
“Information sharing here changed when a major change at the
executive level occurred. Up until that time it was nonexistent,
irrelevant, and mostly inaccurate,” says a senior executive at a
medium-sized company.
“Because of top managers jockeying for position, information is
a commodity used to attain advancement,” says a manager at a
small company. “Unfortunately, information is rarely provided
unless the informer has something to gain.”
Corporate culture and the attitudes of people who work in organizations play a great role in how much information is made available. Personalities also are a key. “We have one person who needs
to know everything but is very selective in what is shared back,”
says a senior executive at a small company. “He probably failed
kindergarten.” Says a manager at a large company, “The amount
of information I have from upper management is barely enough.
This holding of information is deliberate. Upper management is
engaged in turf warfare, and it seems that they consider information as weapons.”