Grapevine Communication | An Ultimate Guide | Analytics Jobs

Introduction

Grapevine Communication has existed since the American Civil War (First World War). It has since acquired popularity, especially as it was highlighted in the song “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” which is written by Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield for Motown Records in 1966. It became a major successful single for Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight & the Pips during the late 1960s. It’s a most common way of saying you’re gossiping about other people or events with no reliable source or using a source you don’t want to disclose.

The term “Grapevine” originated because of its genre of networking and reaching a lot at once, often causing the accretions of information between more than two individuals to many others.

What Is Grapevine Communication?

The unofficial communication system, sometimes called the grapevine, is the communication aspect of the unofficial system of the Organization. It is as fickle and varied as people are. It is the expression of the natural motivation of people to communicate.

The Importance of Grapevine Communication

Grapevine circulates those information, opinions, feelings, and messages that official communication channels cannot convey. Because those messages are regarded as secret or the official lines of communication are pathetic to spread those, or those are gossip in the world. Where official communication channels are necessary to fulfill human communication needs, the grapevine is valuable and inevitable there.

The following points will highlight the importance of grapevine:

Supplement to formal channels:

Grapevine plays a vital role as a supplement to official channels of communication. Grapevine channels can easily transmit those messages that cannot be sent through official channels. Whenever a message is to be utilized quickly, managers might get it refined on the grapevine, which may grow like a jungle fire.

Quick transmission of the message:

Grapevine can quickly transfer and split any message to the people engaged in it. Since it is effective for rapid communication, managers should encourage the broadcast of information through the grapevine. The information is granted by top-level management under the formal system. It is ordinary for the employees to carry the clarification by an unofficial system.

Getting feedback:

Grapevine allows the executives to know what the subsidiaries think about the Organization and its several activities by seeking feedback from them. It offers valuable feedback to the management if it is utilized intelligently. They can plan their movements to make decisions supportive of the staff.

Relieving dissatisfaction of employees:

Sometimes decisions regarding retrenchments, promotion, salary, retirement, etc., may create dissatisfaction in the employees’ minds. Communication with offended employees through grapevine relieves their dissatisfaction and offers mental satisfaction. 

It particularly assists in translating management’s official orders into employees’ language. Way making up for the collapse of the management in communication.

Useful for Trade Unions:

It is useful for trade unions. They utilize the grapevine as a major guide of communication for the dispersion of exciting news and irritating members for aggressive activities.

Types of Grapevine Communication

Grapevine communication often varies because it relies on people who also often have differences from each other. There are four main types of grapevine communication, which professionals differentiate by the pattern in which the communication spreads. Here’s an explanation of each type:

1. Single-Strand Chain

A single-strand chain of grapevine communication involves passing information from professional to professional in the form of a singular column. This means that one professional shares information with one colleague, and that colleague does the same. This pattern continues until each professional has the information.

If you recognize this type of communication within the company for which you work, try to ensure that each professional passes along the same piece of information. Sometimes, when professionals use this type of grapevine communication, the information may alter as it passes from professional to professional, which causes the original message to change.

2. Gossip Chain

In gossip chain grapevine communication, one professional share a piece of information with multiple colleagues at one time. This professional also typically seeks the information with the purpose of sharing it. If you notice this type of information within the place you work, you might want to ensure that the professional who starts the communication is well-informed. It’s also helpful for these professionals to have access to their colleagues so everyone can have the same information. 

3. Probability Chain

In this type of grapevine communication, information from one source spreads randomly. This can mean that the main point of communication is sharing information with one or more colleagues. Then, each individual may spread the information to one or more professionals. For example, if a professional learns of a new policy, they may share this information with their colleagues at lunch, who may then tell professionals working in offices near them.

Because probability chain communication is random, it’s helpful to ensure that each professional within the company is well-informed. You might do this by creating a group messaging system or company newsletter.

4. Cluster Chain

Cluster chain grapevine communication involves a primary professional sharing information with a specific set of colleagues, who then each share this information with another set of colleagues. This type of communication may include a head manager telling team leaders information, which they then pass on to professionals who work on the team they lead. When using cluster chain communication, it’s important to be intentional about how the information should spread. This ensures each professional within the company eventually receives the news.

For example, if a head manager wants to share the news of a revised company policy, they may specifically ask other managers to tell the professionals who work on the team they lead. This ensures each team lead passes on the information to their team members.

6 Reasons Why Grapevine Communication Exists in Organization

Six reasons why grapevine communication happenings in Organization;

1. The emotion of workers
2. Exceptional Information.
3. The existence of Informal and Peer Groups.
4. People of Talkative Nature and Suspicious Attitude.
5. Organizational Climate.
6. Job Itself.

The probable reasons that may activate the grapevine are discussed below:

Emotion of Workers

Some administerial issues like the insecurity of service, a prohibition from forming or entering into trade unions, the uncertainty of promotion, undermining the role of subsidiaries by superiors, etc., are likely to generate emotions in the mind of employers and make them thrilled.

Thus cooling down the excitement and relieving the emotions of some employees tend to start a grapevine.

Exceptional Information

Exceptional information or events like the innovation of the latest products, investment in a new domain, providing special facilities to a specific employee, etc., should be distributed throughout the institution.

Existence of Informal and Peer Groups

• The grapevine is a symbol that reveals the presence of informal and peer groups in the firm.
• They channel information over the grapevine to interchanging most personal and some administerial matters.

People of Talkative Nature and Suspicious Attitude

People holding suspicion on any matter or People of talkative nature actively channel information by the grapevine.

Organizational Climate

Presently, many organizations permit their workers to communicate with each other frequently. This also inspires them to activate grapevines.

Job Itself

It is observed that some positions or jobs, such as personal secretary, personal assistant, driver, etc., by their nature, can hold some essential messages and perform an active role in feeding information into the grapevine.

How to handle Grapevine Communication at Work

If employees have an easy-to-access supply of fresh fruit, they are more likely to work productively and help an Organization. Help the employees to maintain Work-Life-Balance.

Is Grapevine Communication Inevitable?

Most businesses have to cope with grapevine communication in one form or another. Accordance to the American Management Association, almost 70% of all organizational communication carries through the grapevine.

However, Though grapevine communication may be inevitable at the institutional level, not everybody participates evenly in the rumor mill. Only 10% of individuals in an industry are extremely-active participants in the grapevine, according to the journal “Public Personnel Management.”

Advantages of Grapevine Communication

The following advantages of grapevine communication are :

• The Grapevine channel increases the rapid flow of information in the institution. When a worker gets to know some confidential info, he immediately becomes impatient and inquisitive and passes the same to his closest friends in the institution, who in turn passes it to several others. The result is a communication flow that spreads rapidly.
• It gives space for passing feedback from workers to managers on various issues, which is usually impossible or difficult through official channels of communication.
• It engenders a sense of unity among workers when they pass across messages to one another; this becomes a reason to raise group cohesiveness.
• It brought about an emotional support system for workers.
• The grapevine is a good alternative source when official communication is ineffective.

Disadvantages of Grapevine Communication

• Grapevine is generally based on rumor and can’t represent the complete situation. Its original message’s content tends to switch, especially if the message is being sent orally from person to person.
• Due to the absence of formal confirmation, the information coming through the grapevine is not credible.
• Grapevine imbibes poor practices among employees because they may spend more time gossiping rather than contributing to productivity.
• Grapevine leads to making negative attitude of employees towards their executives or Organization.
• Grapevine adversely affects the goodwill of the Organization as it may carry false negative information about the top-level people of the Organization.

How Can Leaders Better Utilize Grapevine Communication?

Thereafter grapevine communication is greater or less inevitable, and business and team leaders and managers should avoid trying to shut down the grapevine completely. Instead, they should focus on handling the spread of false rumors, while encouraging healthy forms of informal communication. 

Recognize where unofficial communications are likely happening

There may be occasions either one or two “problem employees” are daily responsible for spreading rumors. In that case, once the workers in question have been detected, the issue should be addressed in a meeting.

Build a culture of transparency

Transparency is also a major factor in limiting the effect of rumors. Abby Herman, who is the Director of Strategy at Snap Agency, focuses on the importance of building an open corporate culture. “In our company, it’s very significant to keep a culture [where] if anyone is anxious about something, they can go directly to their head to talk about it.

Consider Grapevine Communication a way to capture the pulse of the company.

Grapevine communication can assist you in understanding what’s going on in your work. In some instances, though a grapevine rumor may seem unpleasant or unwarranted, it might actually signal a significant problem that needs to be addressed.

The Negative Sides of Grapevine Communication in the office

The Negative Side of Grapevine Communication in the office is that a lot of the information that spreads through the grapevine is not certified. Frequently, such information is difficult, if not impossible, to track.

Characteristics of Grapevine Communication

In the real world, it exists together with the formal communication system. Grapevine as an informal communication pathway bears the following characteristics:

1. Huge Impact: 

Many workers in an organization rely  on the grapevine because they believe this is the key source of information and the dependable channel to communicate facts within the firm.

2. Extensive: 

Grapevine links the whole Organization very quickly. From top to bottom of an organization, the body remains from the touch of the grapevine. That’s why occasionally, grapevine communication is considered very effective communication.

3. Flexibility: 

It is more flexible than official channels because official channels require several formalities, whereas grapevine is free from those formalities. Gossiping,  splitting moments, or conversation are enough to generate a grapevine. 

4. Speed: 

Information moves very quickly through the grapevine. Grapevine runs faster than the wind.

5. Distortion: 

Information spreading through the grapevine is like to be disformed as it moves terminal to terminal, point to point, or person to person. e.g., Mr. X got married currently. Such information can be disformed as Mr. X got married outward of his country two years ago.

6. Pervasiveness

An organization may have various grapevine systems depending on nature, levels, size, etc. That meant people working at the same position or level might have one grapevine while people at another level may have another grapevine.

The Impact of Grapevine Communication

The impact of the grapevine communication is:

• Suppose you told true information to people. Since grapevine is all about adding false stuff to the real information, therefore true information disrupts from purpose.
• If somebody in the chain denies the rumor being spread, the aim of the grapevine is not achieved.
• If people in the chain examine the information being dispersed and try to come to a single conclusion, the chain is again disturbed.
• In case you develop such a surrounding in the Organization that prevents the spread of such rumors, then the intended aim of the communication is not achieved.
• Since grapevine is a means of communication where rumors are split, and discussions and judgments are held, workers use this process to check the workers’ thoughts Thus the negative aim of grapevine communication is not achieved.

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Conclusion

At last, we will conclude by showing the existence of the grapevine as the unofficial channel of communication necessary to promote an institution’s efficient functioning.

By realizing its merits and importance, it intelligently handles consciously feed, water, and develop the grapevine rather than trying to curb its growth.