Benefits of Open Book Management

Secrecy is one of the enduring factors for family-owned companies, and for privately owned companies in general. Command and control is the norm, giving workers only the information they need to know for their direct job functions. The problems of this approach are described nicely in Ann Meyer's Chicago Tribune article Keeping workers in the know this week. She describes how small business owner Paul Scriba overcame his challenges by employing Open Book Management ("OBM") techniques. And recent studies have confirmed that firms employing OBM realize accelerated top line growth and higher productivity from the workforce.

A definition of OBM could include these factors:

* Give employees training to understand the financial information
* Give employees all relevant financial information
* Give employees responsibility for the numbers under their control.
* Give employees a financial stake in how the company performs.

Point four is optional, but at a minimum the company needs to address the top three issues. Benefits accrue from employees who take the responsibility for results under their control. And "relevant" means pertinent, no they don't need to know your salary, but if you are running a leaky ship with unadvised payments to family members, maybe OBM is not for you, but then again neither is running a vibrant company.