At lower levels of my organization, there is talk that there will be a slew of job cuts in the next two months because we were recently acquired.I am a middle-level manager and find myself dodging employees whenever anyone mentions anything remotely related to job security.Not only am I not privy to those talks, but I also don't feel like I have the power or authority to make any official statement that can help lower-level employees.I honestly believe that all the chatter is making them desperate for information and because I'm much more accessible than upper-level management, they want to rope me into water-cooler chatter. So I have a number of questions for you: Do you think my reading of the situation is correct?What advice do you have for someone in my position?In my communication with lower-level employees, what should I do/say or not do/say to convey that I don't know any information and that I am not a fan of all the informal chatter? And what about in my communication with upper-level management?When I brief them on how things are going, should I ask them for authority to share information?What might be an unintended consequence of being granted such authority?