COMMUNICATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Communicating openly about the use of digital technologies is important for building trust in the organisation.

 among employees and external stakeholders alike. 

Rapid digital innovation can put evaluation and accountability processes under pressure. Yet evaluating the use of digital technologies and providing feedback to employees and stakeholders is particularly important. This is important because legitimate objections may arise when using digital technologies. For example, outsourcing certain human decision-making tasks to technical applications may create an unacceptably high risk of incorrect decision-making. It is important that stakeholders can verify whether a decision takes their rights and interests sufficiently into account and aligns with the organisation’s values and norms.

Tips

  1. Communicate the reason for using digital technologies and explain the balancing of interests involved. Identify any dilemmas and risks. This is easier to do if management shares the organisation’s vision on the use of digital technologies with employees.
  2. When using digital technologies in work processes, ensure that clear agreements are made with the relevant stakeholders on evaluation and accountability.
  3. Be transparent about the use of AI applications where possible. Explain which data the digital technology uses and how the AI algorithm makes decisions. You can do this, for example, by including an AI statement on the organisation’s website, similar to a privacy statement.
  4. The explanation of how digital technologies work and why they are used must be meaningful. Ensure that the explanation is clear and takes account of differences in users’ knowledge and skills with respect to digital technologies.
  5. Communicate openly if something goes wrong when using digital technologies. State what has happened, why the technology was used (and whether it is still being used) and what is being done to prevent future errors.