Srilekha Das Gupta The Open Organisation, by Fritz Steele; Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, 1975; pp XIV + 204, BEHAVIOURAL Sciences have stressed the need for more openness in organisations because, .openness encourages greater sharing of information among organisational members and leads to more effective functioning. Much has been written on the importance of open communications and the consequences of inadequate communication. The book under review discusses the impact of secrecy and disclosure (which the author equates with 'openness') on people and organisations. By "disclosure'' the author means "the sharing with another person or persons, information which we have and which at present is hidden from others" (p 7). He classifies 'disclosure', into 'high' and low', depending on the extent of information contained in a communication. He aso discusses the impact of high and low disclosures on the effective functioning of an organisation, Steele is an eminent consultant and is the author of "Physical Settings and Organisation Development" (1973), and "Consulting for Organisational Change" (1974) and co-author of "interpersonal Dynamics'' (1973), In this book, he draws from his vast experiences as an organisational consultant to put forward these ideas about disclosure. Therefore, he can speak with authority on the effective functioning of an organisation and how modifying the disclosure patterns of an organisation can make it more adaptive to change.
