Handbook of Corporate Communication and Public ... - Blogs Unpad

Figure 19.3
Cisco found itself subject to very public satire
after displaying posters asking employees to drink
less water as a cost saving exercise – a more
than usual example of corporate porosity
short time this site was quoted across the
internet. It was light hearted but nevertheless
embarrassing for Cisco, if amusing to the rest
of the world.
In examining such motives, an organization
will heed the report of the joint findings by
the US Computer Sciences and Telecommunications
Board, the National Research Council
and the National Academies in the United
States. 6 This group identified that there was
little distinction between the vulnerabilities of
classified and unclassified data and systems.
They found they were both subject to motivations
as diverse as coercion to personal conviction
prompting unhelpful or dangerous
responses by malcontent employees.
In addition, the committee identified that
as organizations became more transparent
(it cited the US Department of Defense, with
over 200 gigabytes of publicly accessible
data) much can be inferred and conclusions
drawn of an unhelpful nature by employees
and external activists. There are many advantages
for organizations when making up-todate
information available on websites but
equally there is the opportunity for it to provide
raw material for close external analysis
and conclusions to be drawn.
Once again, it is the senior PR manager
who has to balance the needs of website users
and the advantages of transparency against the
occasion of unwarranted or misleading conclusions
being drawn to damage an organization.
As many websites are large, it is usual to discover
out-of-date information juxtaposed with
apparently conflicting modern website con-
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors