I don't think "upwards" or "downwards" is meaningful here. If I were CEO I would be surprised if a manager at my company didn't even know who was working under

I don't think "upwards" or "downwards" is meaningful here. If I were CEO I would be surprised if a manager at my company didn't even know who was working under him. If I were a math professor I would be surprised if the TA I just hired didn't know two quarters is the same as one half. If I were the president of the United States I would be surprised if my vice president thought he was president. etc. Why? Because all of these cases involve someone's lack of knowledge almost certainly resulting in someone else getting completely screwed over. It doesn't matter what the ranks of the people involved are, it just matters if there are serious potential damages at stake.