Unfortunately, in a hierarchical structure, power relationships tend to determine the content; there is always the danger that a "rank-based" logic will prevail. Managers, intent on advancement, tend to supply the information they know their superiors want to hear, rather than the information they ought to hear. Large organizations tend, therefore, to become systematically stupid.Anonymous
About This Quote
The quote above was written by John Kenneth Galbraith, an American economist and professor of economics at Harvard University. He wrote the book "The Great Crash" in 1949. In this book he explained that the rich are richer, the poor are poorer, and that there is no real equality in America. The truth is that there are strong rules of hierarchy in every organization.
The people who are at the top have great influence over what is being done in an organization. They have authority over the people below them, so they tend to have more knowledge about what is happening in an organization than anyone else. These people tend to not want to give up their power so they don't share information with others because they know that someone else would take their job if they did.
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