Saturday, July 21, 2012
Chapter 8
The concept of "upward communication" really stood out to me -being a flow of information/messages from the bottom to the top, organizationally. I think this stood out to me mainly because it doesn't seem to be a very commonly utilized means for interpersonal communication. For example, I've often found myself in an awkward position at work, where my boss has assigned a certain work slot that I'm unable to fill, based on prior commitments. The situation is made difficult for me, though I find myself reluctant to communicate this with my boss, for fear of being replaced with another worker. While this particular scenario may not be relevant to everyone, it certainly represents a communicative problem in relation to the upward flow of communication. Subordinates find themselves wary of negative messages in upward communication, for fear of disturbance (being fired, etc). It is due to this type of scenario that I found the concept particularly interesting and applicable to my own life.
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Hey Tyrone I enjoyed reading your post about "upward communication" and I can relate to it just like a lot of people, I'm sure. I think in a business it would be smart to have both lines open for communication top to bottom. I have been both an employee as well as an owner and establishing the relationships with every employee is important. As an owner or employee I would always want there to be an open line of communication. Some of the best ideas come from the employees directly involved with running a business day to day. I'm glad you shared your story, thank you!
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This is a cool concept because so often we hear about the top down approach in organizations where the managers send messages down the chain of employees. I know what you mean about the fear factor of relaying a negative message to someone above you. It can be really scary having to face upper management. I often find that I expect a bad reaction but then after I communicate with my boss it's not so bad, like if she schedules me at the wrong time she realizes she made a mistake and is totally happy to help me fix the issue. Sometimes the messages can be good ones too which is much easier to communicate like communicating to pour boss how good the sales were or how great them employees worked together. That's always fun!
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