Managers communicate downward to subordinates more frequently than they communicate upward to superiors. This is because the type of communication that exist between the managers and their employees or subordinates include transmission of cogent information, giving directives on how to achieve organizational goals, declaring the decision(s) made by the Board of directors or the CEO of the organization and giving instructions as to what to do in certain situations. It is the duty of the manager to execute the wish of the board or CEO, therefore, whenever the organizational goal is set, the ball lies in the court of the manager. The manager is the first person to get information in the organization and thus disseminates and monitors the process of executing the goal that is set by the board. Once the manager has gotten the information, the manager communicates upwards to the Board/CEO is only when there is need to brief them about the progress of the project/task that is under his management.
From the research I made, I discovered that the type of communication that managers do have when communicating downward include; how to do a job, the validation of doing the job, organizational guidelines, employee performance and the organizational aims, objectives and goals (Katz & Kahn 1966). Apart from this, I also discovered that communicating downwards tends to be faster than communicating upwards (Scribd, 2008). In addition to this, I discovered in my research that downward communication might take both formal or informal form ( Scribd, 2008).
In conclusion, I believe that whether a communication is downward or upward, the most important thing is that the information is delivered effectively. This is because communication entails two parties – the giver and the receiver. Therefore, managers should not only be concerned with dissemination of information but they must also request a feedback from their subordinates. In this way, organizational goals will be met and productivity will be ensured.
Reference:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2203585/Communication. Retrieved on October 30, 2008
http://www.marcbowles.com/sample_courses/frontline_v5/fmb7/fmb7b.htm. Retrieved on October 30, 2008
Golen, S. (1989) Effective Business Communication. U.S. Small Business Administration,
