Judul Types of Upward Communication and Organizational

Characteristics in Japanese Firms

Jurnal Hitotsubashi Journal of Commerce and Management
Volume & Halaman 47 (1)/1-16
Tahun 2013
Penulis Toshihiko Kato, Tsuyoshi Numagami, Masaru Karube and Masato
Sasaki

Research Issues This research raises the issue of the important role of upward
communication in organizational management. Good communication
between each member of the organization is a major factor for
organizational management effectiveness.

Problem his study focuses on the type of upward communication where this
type of communication has its own unique character and plays an
important role in the organization. Even so, not a few managers pay
less attention to upward communication (Glauser, 1984). In addition,
there are personal and organizational obstacles in realizing upward
communication.
A manager generally does not want to hear negative information
from his subordinates (Morrison & Milliken, 2000; Tourish, 2005;
Grant, Parker & Collins, 2009). Likewise with subordinates, they are
reluctant to give ideas and opinions to superiors at the expense of
their reputation and career (Roberts & O'Reilly, 1974; Eisenberg &
Witten, 1987; Kassing, 2002; Milliken, Morrison & Hewlin, 2003).
So, even though this issue is important in organizational
management, it is difficult to solve

Deduction theory Upward communication in organizations began to be widely

discussed by experts in the 1950s, for example Kelley (1951) and
Cohen (1958). Upward communication itself is closely related to new
perspectives in the strategic process, namely in the process of
forming strategies, not only the top management who plays a role,
but also the middle managers. This idea was initially put forward by
Bower (1970) who said that managers at various levels, including
middle managers, should contribute to strategic planning and
investment decisions. This was confirmed later by Burgelman (1983)
and Nonaka (1988).

Researchers then associate one of the phenomena associated with

upward communication which was mentioned by previous
researchers as "organizational silence" ((Morison & Milliken, 2000;
Milliken et al., 2003; Bowen & Blackmon, 2003; Park & Keil, 2009)
Organizational silence itself is a situation where employees tend to
store their opinions and concerns about organizational problems
(Morrison & Milliken, 2000).
The researcher then explains the phenomenon that is contradictory to
Organizational silence, namely the concept of "issue selling".
Contrary to Organizational silence, issue selling is a proactive
behavior of subordinates to send signals to superiors regarding
matters related to organizational performance (Dutton & Ashford,
1993; Dutton, Ashford, OeNeil & Wierba, 1997; Dutton et al., 2001 ;
2002; Ling, Floyd & Baldridge, 2005; Howard-Grenville, 2007).
Grand Theory In explaining the phenomenon of upward communication,
researchers use organizational communication theory proposed by
Bacharach and Aiken (1977) where the configuration of
communication lines and channels can be associated with levels of
upward communication. The basic formal aspects of the
configuration are described as two dimensions of organizational
form, namely the height and breadth of the organizational structure.
This variable is known as vertical difference and span of control, and
represents the complexity of a structure that can affect
communication within an organization.

Vertical differences are formal structures that represent the

hierarchical division of employees in an organization and can be
considered as a link in the upward communication system. The
higher the organizational structure, the more liaison that information
must pass through to get to the top. This can have a negative impact
on the quantity and quality of upward communication.

How wide is the formal line of communication also influences

upward communication. Brewer (1971) said that the wide span of
control increases the quality and quantity of upward communication
given that superiors interact with subordinates more frequently and
continuously, even though this is not always proven in previous
studies (eg Jablin, 1982).

Research methods To test the hypothesis, the authors analyzed data collected from
Japanese business companies. Questionnaire surveys are conducted
every two years since 2005 and for this study, the authors analyzed
data from the third survey in 2009.
Overall, there were 874 respondents from 137 business units in 21
Japanese companies. The data is then processed using descriptive
statistics.

Research result This research shows that the organizational characteristic pattern that
supports upward communication can differ depending on the type of
information flow.

Two structural factors (vertical differentiation and participation

making decision) have an impact on the flow of information over
strategic ideas but have no effect on the flow of information that is
operational.

Supportive behavior from the Head of BU has a positive impact only

on the strategic information flow, while the upward influence of the
Head of BU has a significant association with both strategic
information and operational matters.

This study also revealed that the more information channels between
superiors and subordinates actually interfere with upward
communication.
Contribution to theory Based on the authors' understanding, this research does not provide
and development many important contributions to communication theory in
management.

First is because this study only analyzes some of the independent

variables that have been tested by previous researchers so that the
results cannot be directly compared to the results of previous studies.

Second, this research was conducted in Japan so that it cannot be

generalized considering that business companies in Japan have
characteristics that are very different from business companies in
other parts of the world.
Therefore, comprehensive research is needed to be able to confirm
and validate the results of this study.
MANAJEMEN SUMBER DAYA MANUSIA
Tentang

“CRITICAL REVIEW OF JURNAL”

OLEH:

ANDI SRI HERMAWAN

A012181001

UNIVERSITAS HASANUDDIN
FAKULTAS EKONOMI DAN BISNIS
MAGISTER MANAJEMEN
2018