Upward Communication is the process of

information flow In discourse-based grammatical theory, information flow is any tracking of referential information by speakers. Information may be ''new,'' just introduced into the conversation; ''given,'' already active in the speakers' consciousness; or ''old ...

ing from the lower levels of a

hierarchy A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an important ...

to the upper levels. This type of

communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inqu ...

is becoming more popular in organizations as traditional forms of communication are becoming less popular. The more traditional organization types such as a hierarchy, places people into separate ranks. Upward

helps

employees Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any ot ...

to express their

requirements In product development and process optimization, a requirement is a singular documented physical or functional need that a particular design, product or process aims to satisfy. It is commonly used in a formal sense in engineering design, inclu ...

, ideas, and feelings. For the top management, upward communication is an important source of informations for business decisions. It helps in alerting top management about the requirement of changes in an organisations. Upward contribution is the core contributor of

business process reengineering Business process re-engineering (BPR) is a business management strategy originally pioneered in the early 1990s, focusing on the analysis and design of workflows and business processes within an organization. BPR aims to help organizations fund ...

in many organisations. Upward communication is widely used as part of

whistleblowing A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

policy in many large organisations. Under whistle blowing policy, each employee is permitted to directly communicate with top management about matters requiring examination on vigilance angle. Hence it is used as a

fraud prevention In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compen ...

tool as well. Upward communication keeps managers aware of how employees feel about their jobs, policies and procedures, and the business in general. It consists of methods like Feedback from employees, helps in bringing Mutual Trust and helps the organization to determine, implement or decide upon new policies. It keeps the organization updated or prone to upcoming challenges. Upward communication is not free from disadvantages too. It suffers from problems like information can be changed during transmission, unwillingness to participate, fear of inefficiency, bypassing and flattery too. Sometimes top level executives discourage the upward flow of information and neglect the constructive suggestions and opinions about the work related issues of the organization. It is a time taking process and is comparatively slow too.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Upward Communication Communication Human resource management