Reminded of a discussion where I had to call out that the company culture of "transparency" was really only openness - everyone was willing to offer valuable help and information, but nobody was willing to publish it, even internally. During a rash of clumsily handled (and opaque) M&As that were making people feel redundant and competing for roles they already held, it became useful to act oppositionally against co-workers, especially new ones being hired in the middle of this infighting. The lack of deeply rooted internal transparency made this possible.

Everyone trusted each other _individually_ and could easily ask questions that they knew to ask, when they already knew who to ask. But to understand the shape of the company, or even who the internal stakeholders were in projects, or access to basics like repositories and documents, people faced a lack of trust coming from the organization itself.