FormalvInformal Communication, Grapevine

Comparison between a Formal Communication System and an
Informal Communication System

The figure 6.1 presents a comparison
between a formal communication system and an

informal communication system.

Figure 6.1 : A Comparison of the Formal and Informal
Communication

System.



 

F

 

G

 

H

 

I

 

J

 

K



 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 



i

 
 

 

 
i

 

 
 
















 



Indicates formal communication Indicates
informal communication

How the Grapevine
Operates (The grapevine pattern)

The
grapevine operates in different ways. Keith Davis who has extensive research work on the nature of
grapevine in organisations has classified it into the following four possible
types:

1.    
Single Strand. The single strand involves
a long line of persons passing throughwhich information reaches the final receiver. For example, in this
chain, person A(Figure 6.2) tells something to person B, who tells it to
C, who tells D and so on downthe line, till the information has reached most of the
persons concerned. This chain islikely to be used to the transmission of information which
is confidential. But the chainis the least accurate at passing on information.

2. 
Gossip. In the gossip chain, one person seeks
out and tells everyone the information.This chain is just like a wheel where the sender is at the
centre and the informationmom the sender at the centre passes along the spokes of the
wheel to other persons whoare stationed on the rim. Normally information of an
interesting but non-job-relatednature flows along these 'vines'.

3.  Probability. The probability chain is a random
process in which individuals areindifferent about the receivers of the message; the
communicators tell people at random andthe people
receiving the message in turn, send this to others at random. This chain isgenerally used to transmit the information
which is mildly interesting but insignificant.



 


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Formal Informal Communication

4. Cluster. Each
link in this chain tends to inform a cluster of other people instead of one person
only. Suppose, an employee A tells one selected person who in turn, relays the
information to selected others. In this way, as the information becomes older
and the proportion of the persons knowing the message gets larger,
the process gradually dies out and at this stage, the receivers do
not repeat the transmission. This network is called cluster chain.
Keith Davis considers the cluster chain to be the dominant grapevine pattern in
an organisatioa He thinks that only a few individuals called "liaison
individuals" pass on the information to people they trust or
from whom they would like favours. Information that is interesting as well as
job related usually flows through this channel.

Figure 6.2 : Types
of Grapevine Chains

 

A

 

B

 

C

 

D

 

E


 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 

 






















Gossip (One tells all)








Probability (Each randomly tells
others)

















Cluster
(Some
tell selected others)







Single Strand (Each person
receiving the message tells other)