Upward, Downward, Informal & Formal Communication

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a) Downward communication: Downward communication flows from staff in higher levels of an organization to those at lower levels. Managers pass the information down to all employees. This information communicated may include the company’s policies, procedures, and manuals, information needed to conduct work and company publications. According to studies, its indicated that regular downward communication in the form of response given to employees is the most important factor affecting employee’s job satisfaction. Organizations today are trying to encourage more of this type of communication. On the positive side, downward communication that provides regular response will be beneficial if the response or review of performance is productive. A productive review is one where a manager or senior staff member guides or advices an employee on how to improve his/her performance. On the other hand, a destructive review can affect or destroy employee morale and confidence. Regular downward communication discourages information being passed through rumors because information is through official channels. Employees feel confident because in downward communication the management is involved in employee’s progress. However, the problems with this type of communication are destructive reviews, and that of a lot of information being passed. This means that seniors may sometimes burden their juniors with too many instructions, leading to confusion. b) Upward Communication: Upward communication flows from a junior position to a senior position. Employees are given chances to communicate to the management their injustice, approaches, propositions, projects and joint committees. Upward communication includes information about junior staff members’ work performance, performance judgment of their assistants, response of understanding of orders and instructions, new ideas and

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