This paper reports on a study of reactions by different levels of staff within an
organization to the information provided to them by their company. The levels
of staff assessed were middle managers, supervisors, and non-supervising staff.
The research took into account the information with which staff are provided,
and the information they would like to receive. The literature on downward
communication suggests a model of progressive loss of information as it filters
down hierarchical layers. The present study, however, provided little support
for this view. Instead, it was found that supervisors perceived deficiencies in
information supply to a greater extent than did any other ranking, including
non-supervising staff. Staff of various organizational rankings reported sig
nificantly different amounts of information currently received. However, there
was considerable commonality of preference for information, regardless of
organizational ranking.
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