Care and feeding of the organizational grapevine.

The term grapevine can be traced back to the United States Civil War. Because the battle fronts moved frequently, army intelligence telegraph wires were loosely strung from tree to tree across battlefields, much like grapevines. Due to the reckless way the lines were hung, the messages sent over them were often garbled and confusing, leading to inaccurate communication. Soon, any rumor or unofficial command was said to have been heard "via the grapevine." It was during this time that the correlation between the grapevine and inaccuracy began. The grapevine has been an identifiable aspect of American culture ever since.

The organizational grapevine is part of the modern business world and has long been considered a necessary evil of conducting business. Managers typically have done their best to suppress this method of communication. However, some are beginning to consider it an asset rather than a liability. The grapevine will remain a part of any assembled workforce, so why not harness its potential to ease communication within the organization instead of trying in vain to smother it? The grapevine is a valuable means of communication within an organization; attempts to phase it out are unwarranted and unproductive. The grapevine does not always deliver information in an ideal manner and is sometimes difficult to manage, but its advantages outweigh its disadvantages. Therefore, it should be nurtured, not pruned - and management must cultivate it carefully to reap the greatest benefits for the organization.

The grapevine in business

Webster's dictionary defines grapevine as "an informal person-to-person means of circulating information or gossip." Psychologists G.A. Fine and R.C. Rosnow define gossip as "small talk with a purpose," and gossip columnist Liz Smith has added, "Gossip is usually the news running ahead of itself in a red satin dress - it is rumor about to become fact." No matter how the grapevine is defined, one thing is certain: The grapevine is the informal and unsanctioned communication network found within every organization.

Organizational members require information to perform their jobs. When information is not transmitted through a formal system in a timely fashion, the grapevine is called upon to communicate the essential facts throughout the organization. In fact, most organizational communication consists of person-to-person informal contacts. These contacts are necessary for the smooth functioning of the organization, and they contribute to improved job performance. Some research has found that communicatively isolated workers in a large organization have lower job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job performance than their counterparts who are engaged actively in a communication network.

The grapevine has a discernible structure. In a 1969 Personnel Journal article, Keith Davis described four primary chains of communication in an organization's grapevine:

* The single-strand chain. A tells B, who tells C, who tells D, and so on. The longer this chain continues, the greater the potential for alterations to the original message. Consequently, this chain tends to produce the least accurate messages.

* The gossip chain. A tells everyone he or she comes into contact with. This chain often transmits messages slowly, as there is only one active disseminator of information.

* The probability chain. A conveys information randomly to C and E. They, in turn, randomly tell others. In this chain, some in the organization will, by chance, get this information and some will not.

* The cluster chain. A tells those he frequently contacts, C and D. They continue the chain by revealing the message to those they have close contact with. Selectivity determines the pattern in this chain. As a result, some will not hear the information.

Elements of the grapevine

There are three roles to be filled for grapevine activity to take place:

* Bridgers or hey communicators. These individuals gather information and pass it on to others. These people are most responsible for the health of the grapevine.

* Baggers or dead-enders. These individuals hear rumors but either do not pass them along or repeat them to other dead-enders.

* Beaners or isolates. These organizational members are outside the grapevine and thus not privy to its messages. Therefore, they neither hear nor pass along correspondence.

Messages transmitted through the grapevine are normally referred to as "rumors." However, to label a message a rumor is a simplification. There are actually at least four types of messages:

* Pipe dreams or wish fulfillment. These rumors identify the wishes and hopes of employees. It naturally follows, then, that these rumors are positive in constitution, yet they still reflect employee anxieties.

* Bogie rumors. These rumors originate from employees' fears and concerns and result in a general restlessness within the organization. Often, these rumors are damaging.

* Wedge-drivers. These rumors are marked by aggression and animosity As a result, they are characteristically negative and serve to cleave groups and dissolve allegiances.

* Home-stretchers. These rumors are initiated in anticipation of final decisions or announcements. They tend to fill in the gap during times of ambiguity.

Benefits of the grapevine

The contemporary grapevine has kept its reputation for disseminating unreliable information. However, research shows that grapevine information is highly reliable and accurate, making this means of communication an asset to the organization. Studies done by Keith Davis have demonstrated accuracy ratings of nearly 80 percent for many grapevine transmissions, with a range of accuracy between 75 percent and 95 percent. The grapevine's precision is not surprising when one considers the origins of its messages. Research has shown that rumors passing through the grapevine begin as testimonies of an actual event. Thus, someone or some group has witnessed an event and feels it is worthy of passing on to others in the organization.

Still, people are wary of embracing information gleaned through the grapevine. This is partly due to the grapevine's poor reputation. Grapevine information is also considered inaccurate because its errors are often dramatic. Therefore, the mistakes are more memorable than the grapevine's normal daily accuracy. This skepticism is healthy and contributes to the benefits of the grapevine.

Many people think of the grapevine as an uncensored, "the rest of the story" source of information. As Jack Levin, Ph.D., professor of sociology at Northeastern University, put it, "If you want to know about the kind of insurance coverage your employer offers, look in the company handbook. But if you want to know who to avoid, who the boss loathes or loves, who to go to when you need help, what it really takes to get a promotion or raise, and how much you can safely slack off, you're better off paying attention to the company grapevine."

Probably the best feature of the grapevine is the timeliness of the message it carries. Its speed of transfer is far faster than messages coming through formal channels, partly because formal communication has traditionally been written in the form of memos, reports, and newsletters.

Since formal communication channels tend to transmit information slowly, gaps between the time information is needed and when it arrives are common. As a result, formal networks tend to be inadequate for handling unplanned communication requirements, for competently transmitting complicated or detailed information, or for sharing personal information.

The grapevine, on the other hand, thrives on quicker word-of-mouth conversations. And although electronic communications have made the formal methods of interaction faster, they have made informal means of conveying information even swifter. Because the grapevine is fast, it can serve as an early warning system for members of an organization.

Knowing this, management sometimes purposely sends messages through the grapevine to test the waters, allowing individuals to plan for and ponder formal statements to come. This may give employees the opportunity to provide input to senior management before final decisions are made. Thus grapevine timeliness often gives employees a chance to become more participatory, which is known to enhance an organization. These advantages are particularly beneficial when bad news will be coming through formal communication channels.

Another advantage of the grapevine is that it can transmit messages in a multi-directional manner. Unlike the formal communication network, which follows a highly rigid, linear path from supervisors to subordinates, the grapevine can leap from department to department and jump between various management levels. It moves up, down, horizontally, vertically, and diagonally in an organization at an incredible pace.

Furthermore, the grapevine can serve as an outlet for stress release. Subordinates frequently need an opportunity to let off steam but are unable to do so through formal communication lines, fearing embarrassment or repercussions. The grapevine provides them a way to share their personal opinions and feelings.

Another important aspect of grapevine messages is their personal nature. Instead of impersonal, faceless transmissions via the formal communication networks, the grapevine frequently facilitates enjoyable face-to-face interactions between co-workers. Research suggests that subordinates prefer to get their information in this manner. While this is not always possible, a healthy grapevine makes it more likely.

One other positive aspect of the grapevine is its immunity to time constraints. While the formal communication network typically starts up at 9 a.m. and shuts down at 5 p.m., the grapevine is in effect nearly 24 hours a day. It begins in. the morning in car pools on the way to work and may last late into the night through company softball teams, golf games, or bowling leagues.

Finally, the grapevine serves as an index of organizational health, morale, trends, and productivity. The grapevine can spotlight issues and problems important to an organization. Effects of policies and procedures often can be measured with informal communication. Also, it seems that organizations with strong formalized structures that inhibit communication outside these structures may benefit from an active grapevine that supplements formal channels of communication. Indeed, this informal communication network seems to blossom when certain common denominators exist in organizations. If formal channels are rigid and narrow, if vital intelligence is kept from employees, if an overabundance of free time is allowed to subordinates, or if employees feel the pressures of job insecurity, be assured that the grapevine will be very active.

Potential pitfalls

As mentioned earlier, grapevine information tends to be accurate 80 percent of the time. This means there is at least a 20 percent inaccuracy factor. Nearly all the information passed along the grapevine is undocumented, and thus is in a prime position to be altered and misinterpreted as it flows. The central theme is usually resistant to severe alterations, but critical details are eliminated constantly in a process known as "leveling." The most dramatic details are "sharpened" - hyped up - each time the message is recycled. And details are sometimes adjusted to correspond with the prior attitudes and experiences of the participants in a process called "assimilation." Together, leveling, sharpening, and assimilation have the potential to alter the facts significantly. Nevertheless, the correspondence is still grounded in the truth and remains an important vehicle for communication.

Electronic communication such as "cybergossip" (gossip through the computer) has made the grapevine an even faster means of communication. Though a potential advantage, cybergossip is often misinterpreted because it is flat: no voice inflection, no room for subtleties of language. It may be more difficult to tell whether someone is making a joke, being sarcastic, or passing on the gospel.

Like cybergossip, another modern-day phenomenon has changed the nature of the grapevine: The new generation of workers seems to disdain it. Historically, most baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964), as much as they deny it, believe in playing office politics and do their utmost to become proficient in this area. Conversely, the younger generation of employees takes offense to those proficient at politics and feels sorry for those who seek mastery in it. This present attitude could be a major blow to the informal communication network as it now stands. In fact, these "baby busters" or "generation Xers" (those born between 1965 and 1977) seem to prefer that crucial messages be presented one-on-one by supervisors - if not in person, then by voice mail or e-mail. Thus, they are ultimately unwilling to tap into the grapevine for information.

Another potential problem with the grapevine is the threat of legal action arising from inaccurate rumors traveling this network. Many organizations have been defendants in legal suits arising from false information circulating in the workplace. Lawsuits based on defamation, fraud, invasion of privacy, harassment, emotional distress, and disability discrimination have all taken place because of grapevine inaccuracies (Zachary, 1996).

Implications for leaders

As the previous section indicates, the grapevine is not all pinot noir. It is no wonder many managers feel they must attempt to silence the grapevine in order to avoid the problems just mentioned. But the potential for using the grapevine advantageously is well documented. To ensure that the grapevine remains primarily an asset and minimally a liability, there are some ground rules that management must follow in order to foster an effective, healthy environment for the grapevine to operate.

* Accept that the grapevine exists and has the potential to add value to the organization. Management must not try to eliminate it - they did not hire it and they cannot fire it.

* Acknowledge the fact that the grapevine must, for the most part, remain unrestrained. If management tries to take control of it, they do not allow it to operate effectively and it ceases to provide its potential benefits.

* Do not underestimate the grapevine's power or value to the organization. Ignoring the grapevine can do more harm than good, and managers cannot afford to attempt to escape putting the necessary effort into managing it.

* Become part of the grapevine rather than remaining a passive observer. If the main concern about the grapevine is false information, being privy to grapevine messages will allow management to monitor them most effectively. If management chooses to ignore the grapevine, they fail to use its potential. In fact, the grapevine can serve as a vital mechanism in the "management by wandering around" approach. This philosophy suggests that when managers wander around the workplace without any particular objective, they are likely to pick up highly relevant information. This is information that may never have become available if the manager stayed in his or her office all day or communicated only in the normally structured manner.

* Maintain activity within formal communication channels. The grapevine is not a substitute for formal communication, but it can be an effective supplementary tool when fostered properly.

* Encourage organizational members to question and assess grapevine exchanges prior to responding to them. This will help keep the grapevine from becoming a facilitator of false rumor.

The grapevine is alive and well. In the past, such a statement would have made management cringe, since the grapevine was often perceived as an impediment to organizational well-being. However, research, in addition to verifying the existence of a vibrant grapevine, supports the idea that an active grapevine correlates positively with a well-functioning organization. Organizations need a constant, consistent flow of information in order to operate in today's dynamic environment. Formal channels of communication are often unable to keep up with this informational demand. The informal communication network, the grapevine, picks up the slack and keeps organizations moving forward rather than stagnating.

No medium of communication is perfect, and the grapevine is no exception. It must be managed correctly to yield positive results. However, the cost of this management is well worth the effort when one considers what the grapevine can provide an organization: the fast, timely, and relevant flow of information from those who have it to those who need it.

For further reading

Baslie, F., "Pssst: Office Gossip Can Be a Productive Tool," Indianapolis Business Journal, Nov. 20, 1995.

Davis, Keith, "Grapevine Communication Among Lower and Middle Managers," Personnel Journal, April 1969.

Newstrom, John W. and Keith A. Davis, Organizational Behavior: Human Behavior at Work, McGraw-Hill, 1992.

Hough, R., "The Organizational Grapevine: Friend or Foe?" Police Chief, May 1991.

Kennedy, M., "Who Pruned the Grapevine?" Across the Board, March 1, 1997.

Mishra, J., "Managing the Grapevine," Public Personnel Management, Summer 1990.

Rakes, T. and G. Cox, "Using the Grapevine to Effect Change in Schools," Clearing House, September/October 1993.

Roberts, K.H. and C.A. O'Reilly III, "Some Correlates of Communication Roles in Organizations," Academy of Management Journal, 1979.

Souryal, Sam, Police Organization and Administration, West/Wadsworth, 1977.

Westen, R., "The Real Slant on Gossip," Psychology Today, July/August 1996.

Zachary, M., "The Office Grapevine: A Legal Noose?" Getting Results, August 1996.

The Authors

Patricia Karathanos, Ph.D., is chair of the department of administrative services at Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, Mo. She teaches management communication and leadership in the M.B.A. program and has written extensively for both academics and practitioners.

Anthony Auriemmo earned his bachelor's degree in business administration in 1993. At the time this article was written, he was a graduate student at Southeast Missouri State University seeking a master's degree in business administration. He works as a strength and conditioning coach at the U.S. Olympic Education Center in Marquette, Mich.