Vertical and Horizontal Communication in Formal

Organizations
Introduction:
Traditional theory holds that communication in organizations should, and does, move
vertically throughout the hierarchy, rather than cutting across the lines of authority. In
order to test this assumption, interviews were carried out among supervisors in a
textile mill.

Research setting
Interviews were conducted with supervisors in the spinning department of a
synthetic textile mill. Spinning was one of three production departments in the
mill: chemical, spinning, and textile.
The supervisors who were studied are listed below, with a description of their
responsibilities. Each position is designated by a letter corresponding to its level in
the hierarchy.

Research Procedure:
Each supervisor was asked how many work related contacts he had with every other
supervisor. The question was: "About how often do you talk with on business? Don't
include times when you just say hello or pass the time of day; just the contacts needed to
get your work done....What kinds of things do you talk about with him?" Shift workers
were told that the question referred only to times of a day; just the contacts needed to get
your work done.

Findings and interpretation

The number of vertical and horizontal work related contacts of each supervisor, the proportion of
these contacts which were vertical, and the "expected" proportion which would have been
vertical if each man had distributed his contacts equally among the other men.

Understanding the connections between relationship conict

and performance
Organizational conict has commanded theoretical and research attention for over 50 years. More
recent work has focused on two predominate types: task and relationship conict. Task conict
focuses on issues related to the job itself: what needs to be done and how to do it. Relationship
conict focuses on interpersonal conicts unrelated to the job.

Relationship conflict
More recent work has generally addressed three different types: task, process, and
relationship conict (Jehn, 1997; Jehn & Bendersky, 2003). Task conict arises when
there are disagreements about such task issues as goals, priorities, and key decision
areas. Process conict refers to disagreements about the resources and procedures
used to complete such tasks. Relationship conict refers to interpersonal clashes
unrelated to task issues such as differences over personality, values and norms, and
attitudes.

Conclusion
The association between relationship conict and performance has long been understood
as detrimental. In this paper, we sought to add to the existing literature by using theory
and research in the areas of trust and exchange to understand this association. Our model
offers both researchers and practitioners with insights about the exchange relationship
between two coworkers experiencing relationship conict. It also sheds light on how to
manage this destructive type of conict with appropriate managerial tools such as
superordinate goals.