Merits and Demerits of Horizontal Communication.

  Merits of Horizontal Communication: 

1. It speeds up the flow or work in the organisation.

2. It facilitates problem-solving amongst members at the same level and brings about coordination.

3. It helps in reviewing activities assigned to people working at identical positions.

4. It develops mutual trust and confidence amongst similar position holders of different department.

5. It relieves top managers from the burden of solving problem of the lower levels if they can manage to solve them on their own.

Demerits of Horizontal Communication: 

1. In the modern age functional heads are highly specialized in managing activities of their own departments that they lack knowledge of other functional areas. This hampers communication at the horizontal level.

2. Personal liking and disliking amongst members of different-work groups can obstruct-free flow of information among them.

3. Differences in Perception and attitudes of functional heads can be counter-productive in horizontal communication.