Transmission of specific items of information

In another study Davis illustrated one of the ways in which communication flow may be studied. He traced the transmission of specific items of information throughout the organization of a manufacturing fInn with attention to their point of origin, their chains and networks of transmission, the speed of communication in different chains and networks, and points of blockage of communication. Among other things in this particular fInn, he found:

(1) At every level of the organization except the very top there were some groups of members who were generally isolated from the flow of information and who got information very late or not at all.

(2) The formal mechanisms for communication were slower and more often resulted ih incomplete transmission.

(3) Communication via personal, informal-, face-to-face verbal exchanges occurred more frequently and faster than communication via more formal mechanisms.

(4) In this organization there was a severe blockage between the fourth and fifth levels such the only a fraction of information items passed this barrier:

(5) More than half of the information' items traced reached their destinations by crossing over organizational .line rather than flowing through the intended formal lines. .

(6) A unit of information was much more likely to flow downward than upward from any isn’t of origin that allowed two-directional flow.

Davis concludes from this, study that the grape-vine misbehavior is often patterned by the model provided by others. It is, for example, most noticeable how groups of managers at the same level tend to smoke the same brand of cigarettes. When one manager moves up a level his 'favorite' brand may change quite unconsciously. With this in mind some of the basic research into group pressures is highly relevant to the more important areas of executive meetings, department disagreements, etc.

American psychologists Kelley and Woodruff have shown how an individual' beliefs can be modified if he feels that his' group' holds different beliefs. Two groups of young teachers listened to. a recorded speech loudly applauded by a fictitious audience. The speech rejected most of the modern teaching methods in famous:" of tried and tested old-fashioned ones-a philosophy at odds with that of the young teachers. The group who were told that the applauding' audience' were student teachers adjusted their beliefs more than the twin group who were. told the audience consisted of a variety of young graduates. In general we find that the more a. person feels that his beliefs go against those of his group', the more he changes his opinions in the direction of those of his group.

What holds members of such groups together is their social cohesion or, more accurately, their ability to transmit relevant messages more accurately to each other than to anyone else.

Even in the clinical atmosphere of psychological laboratories, similar patterns emerge. In one such study,groups of strangers were given tasks to perform; although all the groups were randomly selected, cerate ones were informed that they had been specially brought together because of some similarities in their backgrounds, and these groups were termed the more cohesive groups.