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1. self-disclosures and advice requests to gain favor,
2. attitude similarity and sincerity.
Upward communication is unlikely to occur if there are psychological barriers between
superior and subordinate.
Examples of upward communication are as follows:
1. Complaint
2. Feedback
3. Recommended solutions
4. Requests for assistance
5. Status reports

Formal Horizontal Channels
Conboy (1976) defines horizontal communication as the exchanges between and among
agencies and personnel on the same level of the organization chart. Coordination or integration
is required to keep the organization running efficiently. It is sometimes not unusual to find two
or more departments developing similar plans without knowing it because of a lack of
coordination between units. This phenomenon is known as a differentiation-integration
problem.
Horizontal channels connect people of similar rank and status with customers and
suppliers inside and outside an organization. Through horizontal channels, workers provide
feedback, keep people informed, coordinate activities, seek assistance, and stay close to the
customers. Staying close to customers can mean literally staying close.
Toll-free long-distance telephone lines for customers are horizontal channels that connect
consumers with those in the company, no matter what level, who can best answer their
questions or meet their needs. World Perfect Corporation is renowed in the PC world for the
rapid and exhaustive telephone support it supplies for consumers of many of its soft products.
Horizontal communication channels are used to set goals; define roles; create, examine,
and improve methods; improve working relationships; define, investigate, and solve problems;
and gather, process, and distribute information. Communicating with peers can be summarized
as identifying four functions:
1. to coordinate activities,
2. to solve problems,
3. to share information,
4. to resolve conflicts,
5. to provide assistance,
6. to get to know them as individuals.
Examples of horizontal communication are as follows:
1. Coordination efforts
2. Efforts to seek assistance
3. Feedback
4. Information about customers
5. Information about supplier

Formal Communication Networks
Formal communication networks are electronic links between people and their equipment
and between people and databases that store information. Organizations have linked their
desktop computers for years.