Information Asymmetry in Communication

Information Asymmetry in Communication

During my four years working at Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (SEMC), I felt that information asymmetry was a big challenge in daily communication. Information asymmetry really did influence the outcome badly if both sides in communication did not pay attention to it. Information asymmetry here means that both sides in communication do not know each other very well. Each side does not spend enough time to do the research to find out the current situation that the other side is in, but just imagines the whole story in his way. Even more, each side only focuses on his target, but does not acknowledge that he is lacking the objective judgment for the capacity of the receiver in communication. This scenario is very likely to occur between the leader and the subordinate. In SEMC, when a leader is trying to communicate to his subordinates, a new task or a request usually will be committed. At this moment, the leader is only focusing on how to persuade his inferiors to follow his commands, but has no interest in listening to the comments and feedback from his subordinates who really know the actual situation. All the subordinates know the current situations very well but they do not have the right to express their information. Sometimes, even subordinates inform the leaders, the leaders do not believe. Each time, the leaders believe that all the subordinates should understand and should follow their commands; the subordinates think the leaders should know the situation and consider the commands very carefully.
The root of this misunderstanding is information asymmetry. Information asymmetry is a situation in which one side has more or superior information compared to another. When this side is trying to do the decision, he is more likely to believe that he is correct. As a result, the other side’s current condition is ignored inevitably.
As a coordinator, when I got involved in a software verification