Information Loss Revisited: How Different Levels of Staff Perceive Their Access to Work-related Knowledge

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.