Jitin

Kollamkudy

Grapevine Communication1

Grapevine Communication???

Unstructured and Informal network.

Formed on social relationship rather than

organizational charts or job descriptions.

Informal vehicle through which message flow

throughout the organization.

Called so because it stretches throughout the

organization in all directions.

Term originated in 1860’s during the American

Civil War.

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Factors leading to Grapevine

Feeling of uncertainty when the organization is

passing through a difficult period

Lack of self-confidence on the part of the employee

Formation of favored group by the manager

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Grapevine Formula

Gordon Allport describes two conditions as

controlling of the grapevine; importance of the

subject to the speaker and listener, and the

ambiguousness of the facts.

R=IAWhere

R= Intensity of the rumor.

I= Importance of the rumor to the persons

communicating.

A= Ambiguity of the facts associated.

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Types of Grapevine Chains

Single Strand Chain

Gossip Chain

Probability Chain

Cluster Chain

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Single Strand Chain

It flows like a chain,

i.e. ‘A’ tells something to ‘B’

who tells it to ‘C’ and so on.

The longer the strand the

more distortion and filtering

affects.

Most inaccuracies occur in

this chain.

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Gossip Chain

One person tells to other people.

This chain passes a message regarding a

‘not-on-job’ nature.

Generally considered to be slow in passing

the information.

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Probability Chain

Information may move from anybody to anybody.

This chain is found when the information is

somewhat interesting but not really significant.

Only some people in the organization will get to

know the information.

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Cluster Chain

Individual communicates with only those

individuals he/she trust.

Cluster chain is the dominant grapevine pattern in

an organization.

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Most informal communication flows

through this chain.

‘A’ tells something to a few selected

individuals and then some of these

individuals inform a few other selected

individuals.

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Advantages of Grapevine

Spreads Rapidly

Feedback is Quick

Group Cohesiveness & psychological

satisfaction

Emotional Supportive

Signals that Problems/Good news

exist

Substitute for formal channel of

communication

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Disadvantages of Grapevine

Hostility against executives

Untruth information most of the time

Partial information only spreads

(rumours)

Hampers the goodwill of the

organization or the people

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Effective uses of Grapevine

Keep the employees well informed

Organize fruitful group activities

Open door policy of managers

Identification of leaders & winning their

confidence

Employees’ participation in decision making

process

Creation of healthy environment

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Enhancing feedback

Discouraging rumours aimed at character

assassination or maligning somebody

Be a good empathetic listener

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Thank You...

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