Grapevine Communication (Informal Business Communication)

While we are leading our so-called "White Collar" life, we are surrounded by people. Day-to-day
activities are going through with hundreds of emails exchanged hours of meetings occurring with
literally millions of words relayed altogether for sharing information.

Though during our professional life, we maintain formal communications through different media,
a large part of the communication takes place rather informally.

That is where the term "Grapevine" comes in.

Grapevine is an informal channel of business communication.

1. It is called so because it stretches throughout the organization in all directions

irrespective of the authority levels.

2. To hear something through the grapevine is to learn of something informally and unofficially
by means of gossip or rumor.

3. The usual implication is that the information was passed from person to person by word of
mouth, perhaps in a confidential manner among friends or colleagues.

4. Despite the existence of formal channels in an organization, informal channels tend to

develop when she/he interacts with other people in the organization.

5. It exists more at lower levels of organization.

Why Grapevine Communication Exists in Organization

Communication through the grapevine is a matter of spontaneous feelings. Some personal matters
and other situations may cause these feelings. The grapevine is more a product of the situation
than it is of the person.

Probable causes:

1. Emotion of Employees

Some organizational issues like the insecurity of service, the uncertainty of promotion, undermining
the role of subordinates by superiors, etc. are likely to create emotions in the minds of employees
and make them excited.

The grapevine allows feelings to be expressed instead of bottled up.

People need to talk about what is affecting them, and the grapevine allows this kind of expression.
Employees and staff can communicate important topics using their own language, instead of the
technical jargon used in formal communication channels.

2. Existence of Informal and Peer Groups

Grapevine is a symbol that reveals the existence of informal and peer groups in the organization .

For exchanging most personal and some organizational matters, they start channeling
information through the grapevine to these groups.

3. Exceptional Information

Exceptional events or information like the innovation of new products, investment in a new field,
providing special facilities to a particular employee, etc. should be disseminated throughout the
organization.

If these are not disclosed to the employees, someone may activate the grapevine channel.
4. Organizational Climate

Nowadays, many organizations permit their employees to communicate with each other
frequently.

To create an open culture, the organization itself creates a climate where grapevines are
automatically created.

Other reasons:

1. One of them is that when an organization is facing a recession, the employees sense
uncertainty.

2. Also, at times employees do not have self-confidence due to which they form unions.
3. Sometimes the managers show preferential treatment and favor some employees
giving a segregated feeling to other employees. Thus, when employees sense a need to
exchange their views, they go for grapevine network as they cannot use the formal
channel of communication in that case.

4. Generally during breaks in the cafeteria, the subordinates talk about their superior’s
attitude and behavior and exchange views with their peers. They discuss rumors about the
promotion and transfer of other employees. Thus, grapevine spreads like fire and it is not
easy to trace the cause of such communication at times.
Examples of Grapevine Network of Communication

1. Suppose the profit amount of a company is known. Rumor spreads that this much profit is
there, and on that basis, a bonus is declared.

2. The CEO may be in relation to the Production Manager. They may have friendly relations
with each other

3. Typical examples of situations prompting grapevines include layoffs, takeovers,

promotions, organizational restructuring, the introduction of new technology, etc.

Patterns or Types of Grapevine

The grapevine does not have any definite pattern or direction, though it is largely horizontal in
nature. It can be effective horizontally, vertically, and even diagonally.

Prof. Keith Davis, who has done some research work on the nature of grapevine, has classified it
into four basic types.

1. Single Strand Chain:

The single-strand chain involves the passing of information through a line of persons to the ultimate
recipient.

In the figure, person A tells B, who tells C, who tells D, and so on, till the information has reached
most of the persons involved or concerned.

2. Gossip Chain:

In the gossip chain, one person seeks and tells the information to everyone.

This chain is just like the wheel where one person stays at the center and the information passes
along the spokes of the wheel to others stationed on the rim.

In the figure, A is at the center and passes the information to others staying on the rim of the
wheel.
3. Probability Chain:

The probability chain is a random process in which someone transmits the information to others in
accordance with the laws of probability and then these others tell still others in a similar way.

This chain may also be called a random process.

4. Cluster Chain:

In the cluster chain, a person tells the information to the selected persons who may in turn relay
(pass) the information to other selected persons.

Most of the information communication follows this chain.

Advantage of grapevine or informal communication

1. Present grievance: Under the informal system the employees disclose their needs,
sentiment, and their emotions to other authorities without any hesitation.

2. Alternate system: The management in some cases is not able to reach all information by
the formal system.

The informal system covers the gap or familiarity of the formal system.

3. Increase efficiency: Under the informal system, the employees discuss their problems
openly and they can solve them.

For this, the work is done properly and it develops the efficiency of the employee.

4. Providing recommendations: In this system, the employees inform their superiors about
their demands, problems, and the way to develop the implementation system of the work.

As a result, it creates an opportunity to send the recommendation to their management.

5. Rapid communication: Informal communication transmits very fast.

Especially misinformation or rumors spread rapidly to others in the organization.

 Grapevine channels carry information rapidly.

As soon as an employee gets to know some confidential information, he becomes
inquisitive and passes the details then to his closest friend who in turn passes it to
others. Thus, it spreads hastily.

 The managers get to know the reactions of their subordinates to their policies:
Thus, the feedback obtained is quick compared to formal channels of communication.
 6. The grapevine creates a sense of unity among the employees who share and discuss
their views with each other.
Thus, the grapevine helps develop group cohesiveness.

7. The grapevine serves as an emotional supportive value.

8. The grapevine is a supplement in those cases where formal communication does not
work.

Disadvantages of grapevine or informal communication

1. Distort meaning: In most cases, the meaning and the subject matter of the information are
distorted in this system.

2. Spread rumor: In this system, misinformation or rumors spread rapidly. The original
information may be transformed into wrong information.

3. Misunderstanding: Under this system, generally, the employees do not obey the formal
authorization system. So, it creates the opportunity to develop misunderstandings.

4. Maintaining secrecy is impossible: In an informal communication system, maximum

communication is made by open discussion. So, it is impossible to maintain the secrecy of
the information.

5. Difficulty in controlling: Under an informal communication system there are no ground

rules. So, it is very difficult to control the information disseminated.

6. Non-cooperation: An informal communication system sometimes develops an adversary

culture among the employees as open communication can sometimes hurt each other’s
emotions. So, they are not to be cooperative with each other and their efficiency may be
reduced.

7. The grapevine carries partial information at times as it is more based on rumors.

a. Thus, it does not clearly depict the complete state of affairs.

8. The grapevine is not always trustworthy as it does not follow the official path of
communication and is spread more by gossip and unconfirmed reports.

9. The productivity of employees may be hampered as they spend more time talking rather
than working.

10. The grapevine leads to making hostility against the executives.

11. The grapevine may hamper the goodwill of the organization as it may carry false negative
information about the high-level people of the organization.

 A smart manager should take care of all the disadvantages of the grapevine and try to
minimize them.

 At the same time, she/he should make the best possible use of the advantages of
grapevine.