Unfortunately, the goals of the company are not for public viewing and that means, often, the goals cannot be shared with anyone below a certain level. Let's say, for instance, my company was interested in merging with another. To do this we might need to restructure the relationship between our current shipping partner and ourselves because the our shipping costs would become too high once the merger takes place if we continue the same contract under the same terms. So we tell the shipping department to re-negotiate the contract and to eliminate some of the fees. We can't tell they why because as a publicly traded company any hint of our intentions undermines our stock price -- and thus our capital position (the money we have to operate, get short term loans for projects, buy stock, etc.) The cash position of a company determines if they can take advantage of market opportunities so any information that gets out can seriously effect the amount of money people have invested in the company. So our shipping department heads cannot be told why we want the changes, but that we do.
No you are on the negotiation team and don't know this. Your job is to negotiate the terms of moving X from A to B each month. If you promise a long term contract at a certain rate you can save 10%. Sweet. But it locks you into a long term contract and since we are going to merge (or hope to) we don't want a long term contract. You, as the one doing the negotiation, are told by you boss to skip the long term contracts at the same time you are told to get a better rate! The boss, at this point, is pressuring you to do the impossible but you don't know that. It appears to you he or she is just being stupid!
Yes, it's a communication problem. But the problem is that what can be communicated and what can not often determines what you are told and what you are not told and thus, makes your job harder and the boss seem to be a bit unhinged. Add to that a whole litany of personal, political, and professional goals on the part of the various levels of management and you have a real soup of secrets and hidden agendas.
Is there an answer to this? Not really. Human nature is to love a good rumor and rumors sometimes do real damage. So the best bet, as most companies find, is to keep ALL information only where it's absolutely needed and safe. Then pressure your subordinates to get the results you need to get you where you want to go. They don't need to know the why, because you are the boss and that's "why" enough.
AJ