‘Smile' for Transparency in Dave Eggers ‘The Circle’
Every organization oriented towards better performance looks into embracing transparency and accountability. This is a good show to the external environment if at all the organization can prove that its services and undertakings are free from fraud, honest and satisfaction guaranteed. Ideally, various advantages and benefits accrue to a firm that ensures that their transparency is known to the citizens and the government in their day to day operation of their business.
The Circle by Dave Eggers depicts the encounters undergone by the character, Mae. Mae is subject into the transparency depiction process of the Circle Company. The company focuses in ensuring that its employees past life and day to day chores in and outside the organization are known. To capture the scenarios, the organization ensures its employee wear cameras that the record their lives and no data should be deleted. As pinpointed in the novel. It is apparent that anonymous comments and individuals are not welcome at the Circle (Eggers 9). This is advantageous because the essence of having individuals being anonymous would encourage corruption in the organization. Therefore they concentrate in equipping the employees with the culture of being open and honest. Transparency is critical in any field since integrity will be the prime call as indicated in the ‘Circle’. Ideally, the author emphasized on the need to openly disclose important information that would otherwise promote higher productivity.
The potential dystopia sounds familiar in the manner of its approaches. Mae as a fresh recruit to the company agrees to the terms as being in line to her work. The voracious information that is collected from the employees of the Circle is utilized effectively in ensuring that transparency in all things encountered at the Circle is on record and cannot be erased. The Circle, according to Mae, is a powerful internet company offering her incredible experience in the process of being transparent. It becomes a rewarding experience for her at every step as she gets deeper and deeper towards the inner circle. However, with time things started falling apart.
Additionally, transparency is advantageous in the current world considering that the world is shunning corruption in a manner that if one is caught being dishonest in the organization, one is either fired, sued, or both. The customer experience was an exciting experience according to Mae; this is because Mae had been trained to answer the client's questions in a particular manner. The performance of the company becomes imperatively increased upon the entry of a new trainee (Atwood 11).
Transparency promotes good co-worker relations. We are told in the novel that Mae despite being her first day at the Circle is dramatically involved with a co-worker, Francis. Francis technically becomes her love interest through the novel. However, in some scenes she becomes romantically involved with Kalden, who remains strange to her since she was not even able to recall his last name not know his status in the organization.
Dissemination of information is in itself power. Such incidence of ownership ideally has some nature of the western democracy. It is apparent that what is withheld from the public and other vest parties would otherwise be destructive (Scott 12). This is however determined by the gatekeepers. As a matter of fact, the Circle borrows this idea of subjecting its employees to a form of test in which their transparency is tested. This is determined by the gatekeepers who are known as the wise men.
Similarly, the characters display a sense of secrecy as one cannot discover one as being transparent. Egger raises his concerns about the measure of transparency, democracy and the bad side of the internet. As argued by Kalden in his manifesto that the rights of humans in a digital age cannot measure human activity. Indeed transparency test is critical and a complex process. Every human being is prone to being erroneous; no one can be 100 % perfect. Intruding on people’s privacy is an extra mile that the Circle took to test for transparency. ‘Smile' in itself indicates the company's forceful process of pushing its employees to share information. The desire for perfection is the company’s core target, however, human perfection cannot be achieved easily, simply because of the nature human being are born. People see this form of organization techniques as being utopian, brainwashing and monopolizing. This is because of the manipulation that follows as one cannot have persona or private time. Everything that one does is subject to public scrutiny. Typically, the concerns of various individuals point at the concentration on their personality. However, they tend to present since they are aware of the cameras that captures their actions. It is indeed advantageous as the company brings in a newer tool that would enhance the eradication of lack of transparency and accountability in various organizations. The employees of the firm have emulated the need to focus on the desired qualities that the firm considers one competent.
Furthermore, it is advantageous to the whole world in ensuring transparency in every sector. The book introduces the world to a newer scope of thinking. The feedback received from the various characters, and their actions suggested the readiness for the world to embrace change. Mae's parents were willing to carrying the camera just proves to the world that they are transparent (Sims 21). Every action and move are vital in the external world in order to make sound decisions that would otherwise impact the organization performances positively.
Conclusively, it is paramount to be transparent. Transparency enhances good relations and helps in sharing of information and knowledge. In this case the knowledge gathered can be utilized in improving the external and internal image of the company. The world could be a better place if everyone and organization we work for act in a transparent manner. Flaws and frauds would be a thing of the past. The Circle becomes the learning source for many employees as one is vested with skills and teachings that would otherwise transform one to becoming resourceful and influential human being.
Work cited
Atwood, M. The Circle, When Privacy Is Theft, New York, November 21, 2013
Eggers, Dave. The Circle: A Novel. , 2013. Print.
Scott, Craig R. Anonymous Agencies, Backstreet Businesses, and Covert Collectives: Rethinking Organizations in the 21st Century. , 2013. Print.
Sims, Ronald R. Change (transformation) in Government Organizations. Charlotte, N.C: Information Age Pub, 2010.
