3). Pick one concept from Chapter 8 that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.
I found it really interesting to read about the history of the saying “I heard it through the grapevine (pg.224).” I have used this phrase many times in the past without even knowing the story behind it. I found it amusing that the saying came from the Civil War telegraph lines. Also, it was funny to read that information on the grapevine is usually 75 to 95% accurate. I assumed that a lot of the information one hears through the grapevine was false rumors. Especially after reading about the example of the game telephone. I found that example to be useful because information does get distorted when being shared through many links. I felt that the information on the grapevine could be like information in telephone but now once I think about it, it makes sense that information can be incomplete and still accurate.
The grapevine is an informal communication structure and I feel, through both reading the book and my experience, that the informal structures are the most effective. Just as the book discusses dissatisfaction of employees with downward communication, formal communication runs with the same stride. People can take formal information worse than they would informal information, especially because with informal communication information comes out smoother and can be situational. More formal communication is less situational and personal.
Hi Nene,
ReplyDeleteI also have used the phrase "I heard it through the grapevine" MANY times myself, and had no idea where it came from. I also laughed out loud when I heard that it is 75 to 95% accurate, but that also made sense to me because playing the game telephone has taught me that people interpret and like to changed all types of things around. I also feel that informal communication structure are the most effective especially depending on the certain situations we put ourselves in. Thank you for bringing up great points and I hope you are enjoying this summer semester.
The text touched a little bit on how formal and informal communication can be bad and good for workplace communication. Horizontal communication, although sometimes competitive, is a type of communication that is easier because one may feel like they can't be punished or scrutinized by someone at the same level as them in the bureaucracy. I don't know what I would do at my job without the informal "grapevine" like relationships with my coworkers. Recently, we were allowed to request days off at my job, and I would have known nothing about it if my coworkers hadn't told me. The managers didn't announce, post, or email this new allowance of requesting time off, probably because it was something they didn't want to be well known. Later, I found out that corporate had forced them to let the staff take time off,due to a labor law, which is probably why they failed to mention it to anyone, because it was something that worked against their own interest. Informal communication is necessary for an organization to function, and serves as important of a service as formal communication.
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