World Monitor Magazine #1 WM march 2018 (1) | Page 52

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WORKING IN THE OPEN
Organisational
openness could
help to drive
Europe’s digital
transformation
and, more
importantly,
improve
employees’
working lives
50
world monitor
A company’s value was once a simple
product of its tangible assets – its offices
and factories, its people and its intellectual
property. Yet in the digital age, company
culture has become a much more important
competitive force. The figures are stark:
in the 1970s physical capital and wages
amounted to about 80% of the value of S&P
500 firms, while 20% could be regarded as
intangibles. However, today the figures are
the reverse, with more than 80% of the value
of firms a sum of know-how, tacit knowledge
and how a company works – so called social
capital. 1
In this environment, employee engagement
and how a company manages its internal
operations – its values and capabilities
– are critical to its success. The best
performing organisations, from government
departments and corporations to civic and
cultural institutions, are those that provide
the right culture and operational structure.
The key determinants of this include strong
internal collaboration and communication,
inclusive work environments, transparency
around decision-making, and a free, efficient
flow of information: qualities of so-called
organisational openness.
Such openness is the final dimension for
investigation in this series. Throughout this
research, we have seen how promoting open
trade could boost Europe’s digital economy;
how opening social challenges to greater
scrutiny and participation can accelerate
their resolution, and how promoting the open
exchange of knowledge aids innovation. But
the principles and best practices of openness
– whether open source software or open