Information Transparency: is there a Wrong Time?

This is Part 1 of a multi-part series on transparency of information. There are probably two strong camps that would argue for or against it. I am squarely in the middle as I have found from experience there is both a right time and a wrong time for it. The first part explores the reasons why transparency can hinder productivity.

What might be some of the wrong times for transparency?

1. when first developing a process and working out the kinks
2. when the information is a poor measure of performance
3. when one doesn’t fully comprehend the implications of having the information freely available
4. when trying to “motivate” (i.e. bully) a team or person to do their job better by exposing information
5. when information can be misinterpreted

Depending on the process, you may be trying to discover which measures are good metrics to use to understand a cause and effect relationship. Many practitioners like myself will have seen occasions where the management and front-line employees alike have criticized the repeated changes in metrics as poor leadership – the “they don’t know what they are doing” syndrome. In reality, it is often best not to stick with metrics just because they were included in the original project plan or specification. If you take on an outcome based approach instead of a metric based approach, you will likely experience a more successful project or initiative overall.

Exposing information to the broadest audience too early can lead to the cancellation of a good project for political reasons or simply because the wrong data was used in the justification analysis.

Depending on the organizational culture early transparency of an evolving process can also cause a dramatic increase in resistance to change and project participation because of negative press. Or worse, if the management realizes the problem is worse than they expected, they may intervene in an unproductive way squashing a working PDCA process driven approach with a more command and control method.

Coke Meets ‘The Jetsons’ with new Robodispenser

The Jetsons Season 2 Volume 1- Rosie Flipped - watch more funny videos

Coca-Cola recently announced a revolutionary new soda dispenser they will soon pilot in selected areas. See a great comprehensive article in the June 8, 2009 issue of Information Week magazine. It is a significant announcement for many reasons.

• The Freestyle “Fountain” dispenses over 100 different beverages (sodas, juices, teas, and flavored waters) using thirty highly concentrated flavor cartridges.
• The system uses RFID tags on the flavor cartridges to track inventory
• The dispenser communicates with a central Corporate point-of-sale system and data warehouse via a dedicated wireless network recording quantity, types, time, and location of drinks sold

Customer Value

• More choices
• Special offers

Retailer Value

• Inventory optimization
• 100 choices in the same footprint as an eight to 12 drink dispenser
• Information about sales patterns that can be used to provide special offers to the customers
• Easier ordering process with recommendations based on ten day moving average of sales, cartridge inventory, and dispenser inventory.
• Access to a portal with visibility to the consumption data and statistics that can be sliced and diced by cartridge, drink, dispenser, hour, day, week, etc.

Value to Coca-Cola

• Faster, lower cost new product Research & Development, Market Research, product piloting and production rollout
• Remotely adjust beverage formulas
• Better understanding of regional customer preferences
• First to market; four years in development
• Better data to align supply with demand for Sales and Operations planning
• Competitive advantage with offer of high retailer and customer value

When Information Technology is applied effectively in close cooperation with Business Operations, improvement initiatives offer opportunities for significant gains for all parties involved from the supply chain to the customer.