Need for Information is as basic to mankind as need for food or water. Frustrated information needs in an organisation leads to gossips, misinformation, politics, low morale and stretched further leads to lack of Mindfulness, Wellness and thus happiness deficiency.
Information need has reference to an individual or group's desire to locate and obtain information to satisfy a conscious or unconscious need. It is not necessary that the information needed is only task or job based. It could just be information about anything that the conscious or unconscious mind fancies or yearns for.
Rarely mentioned in general literature about needs, it is a common term in Information Science. According to Hjorland (1997) it is closely related to the concept of relevance : If something is relevant for a person in relation to a given task, we might say that the person needs the information for that task. But the human mind desires more information than only that. And therein lies the secret of fulfilling human needs for information in absence of which wholesomeness of human character becomes a challenge.
So next time as a leader you are called in to scotch some corporate gossip or rumors, go deeper. Don't search for answer in that specific gossip. Analyze the unfulfilled information needs and you will find your answers.