Get premium membership and access questions with answers, video lessons as well as revision papers.

Explain how grapevine can be used to supplement other forms of communication in an organization

Explain how grapevine can be used to supplement other forms of communication in an organization.

Answers

Grapevine communication is informal workplace dialogue in its purest form: it is characterized by conversations between employees and superiors that do not follow any prescribed structure or rule-based system.
It therefore require management's keen watch to see that it is used positively.
in the case of supplementing other forms of communication, grapevine works best for it spreads very fast like bush-fire, for example:
i) When there is no enough time to prepare other means of communication like memos: The management can 'leak' the information to one of the employees and in no time, while employees are still on their duties, they will have the whole information. They will respond in the way they react, e.g. they may improve their work output so as not to be subjects in case of firing, so that to win awards in case of a planned assessment, or even to please their bosses in case he/she offers an impromptu visit.
ii) When the management is looking for suspects, that is, in case of a strike, it is easy to know those behind the strike, their issues, their recommendations and their worries. This, other than other means of communication, will offer relatively more information
iii) In case of a very sensitive issue: The management may not go to everybody or call a meeting to address the issue, it may end up with no or less and misleading information, but the grapevine will give better information and answers. As employees interact in gossip, they mostly share these information with no fear or care thus, if the information can be captured clearly, it may be very useful in providing solutions
iv) In self-assessment of the management: The employees may lie on the table if questioned on how they view the management service just to try pleasing them, but will never tell a lie when they are gossiping and discussing among themselves. This makes it important for the management not to ignore gossips, but to try and hear them as well, and instead of punishing those who speak, they should try to address what they say, it may just be the plain truth and in a way affecting the performance of the management
CONCLUSION
Grapevine may be positive as well as negative in terms of its outcome. But to prevent the negative outcome, the management may design ways of getting these things the employees gossip about and focus on addressing them. on the other hand, it may also use it as a way to passing information to all the employees. see for example when the management reshuffle the shifts of the workers and post it on the noticeboard, they only need to ensure that one or a few of the employees see it, and in no time, they will all be having the information and will come to see the notice just to confirm the integrity of the grapevine

Eng melau answered the question on November 9, 2019 at 06:34

Next: When a current of 1.5 amperes was passed though a cell containing m³⁺ ions of a metal M for 15 minutes, the mass of the cathode...
Previous: Explain some of the critical challenges facing the ministry of education today relating to equity access,quality and relevance of education

View More Communication Skills Questions and Answers | Return to Questions Index

Learn High School English on YouTube

Explain how grapevine can be used to supplement other forms of communication in an organization

Answers

Related Questions