The flow of communication has four district directions. They are downward, upward, horizontal, and grapevine.
Downward Communication. Hierarchical systems like large school districts tend to use downward communication, in which people at higher levels transmit information to people at lower levels. The communication can take place among different groups of sender and receivers including superintendents to assistant superintendents, chairs to department heads, department heads to teachers or any other combination of superior to subordinate. Downward communication is necessary to help clarify the school’s goals, provides a sense of mission, assist in indoctrinating new employees into the system, inform employees about educational changes impacting the school, provide subordinates with data concerning their performance, describing procedures and so on. Downward communication occurs easily, but it is frequently deficient. One problem is that subordinates select from among the various directives transmitted from above those most in keeping with their perceptions of their boss’s character, motivation and personality. Another problem is that not enough time and effort are devoted to learning whether messages sent from above have been received and understood. The third problem is that those that at the top of the hierarchy may shut off this channel at times and on certain subjects, that is, withhold information on a need to know basis and finally, downward communication tends to dominate in mechanistic organizations as opposed to organic systems, which are characterized by more open and multidimensional flows of information.
Upward Communication. It also follows the hierarchical chart and transmits information from lower to higher levels in the organization. Upward communication is necessary to provide administrators with feedback on downward communication, monitor decision effectiveness, gauge organizational climate, deal with problem areas quickly, and provide needed information to administrators.
Horizontal Communication. It takes place between employees at the same hierarchical levels. This type of communication is frequently overlooked in the design of most organizations. Integration and coordination between units in an organization are facilitated by horizontal communication. At the upper levels of a school district, the assistant head for instruction will coordinate his efforts in arriving at an integrated strategic plan for the district. This horizontal communication is frequently achieved through cross functional committees or council meetings, groups and others that tie together units horizontally and informal interpersonal communication. Besides providing task coordination, horizontal communication furnishes emotional and social support among peers. In effect, it serves as a socialization process for the organization. The more interdependent the various functions in the organization, the greater the need to formalize horizontal communication (Lunenburg, 2004).
The Grapevine. When the shortcoming and of the three types of organizational communication become apparent, employees build their own channels of communication, grapevine. It exists in all large organizations regardless of communication flow. This type of communication flow does not appear or any organizational chart, but it carries much of the communication in the organization. Grapevine co-exists with the administration’s formal communication system. Therefore, they should learn to integrate grapevine communication with formal communication.