It's good to talk...

Communication is the key to a successful company.

Is the communication within the company good?

The higher company grades always sing the praises of the lines of communication, yet the lower grades slate it as being extremely ineffective.

Who is right?

Perhaps both extremes of the company scale are correct.

At the most senior levels, when figures or reports are requested, they appear. The same cannot be said lower down the scale. When questions are asked down there, the answers can be a long time coming.

The structures that are imposed are generally driven from the top down. This ensures that the senior managers have a clear picture of what is happening down the ranks. There are clearly defined business rules concerning the number of reporting lines that can be successfully managed before additional levels are required.

When a company becomes too reliant on the reporting structures, each level of management only has a clear picture of the level below them. This is especially true when reporting technical information through layers of non-technical personnel.

A good exercise is to use the reporting structure to describe a painting. Each level must summaries the description that is passed to them. The resulting final report is often interesting, to say the least.