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03 Forms of Communication
03 Forms of Communication
Business communication can be both formal or informal and internal or external. As you can
see from the following chart, many of the same tools can be used in any of these four
situations.
Internal External
Formal Planned communication Planned communication with
among insiders that follows outsiders.
the company’s chain of
command. Examples: letters, advertising,
Examples: memos, reports, websites, etc.
e-mails, etc.
Inform Casual communication Casual communication with
al among employees that do suppliers, customers, investors,
not follow the company’s and other outsiders.
chain of command.
Examples: phone calls, face Examples: phone calls, face to
to face conversation, instant face conversation, instant
messages, etc. messages, etc.
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Potential benefits of horizontal communication:
● Increased cooperation among employees with different duties
● Greater understanding of organization’s mission
Informal Communication Networks
Alongside the formal networks, every organization also has informal communication
networks—patterns of interaction based on friendships, shared personal or career interests,
and proximity. Informal relationships within organizations operate in ways that have little to
do with the formal relationships laid out in organizational charts. Two colleagues who are
avid cricket fans or share passion for travelling are more likely to swap information on work
than co-workers who have no such bonds. Beyond any sort of organizational connection,
people are connected with one another through informal personal networks—with friends,
neighbors, family members, and all sorts of other relationships.
Functions of Informal Networks within Organizations:
● Confirming. Some informal communication confirms formal messages.
● Expanding. Information communication can fill in the gaps left by incomplete formal
messages.
● Expediting. Informal networks can often deliver messages more quickly than official
channels can.
● Contradicting. Sometimes informal networks contradict official messages.
● Circumventing. Informal contacts can sometimes help you bypass official channels that
are unnecessarily cumbersome and time-consuming.
● Supplementing. Sometimes even management realizes that informal communication can
get the job done better and encourage open, unstructured contacts between people from
various parts of the organization.
Grapevine
A grapevine is an informal and unofficial communication network within the organization. It
arises due to co-existence of people. Therefore, it is found in all organizations. It operates
wherever two or more employees are in contact, from the lunchroom to the golf course to the
company’s e-mail and instant messaging systems. Grapevine becomes strong if formal
channels have structural weaknesses or do not work properly for some reasons and
employees believe that the formal networks are not providing the information they need.
Grapevine channels carry information rapidly. As soon as an employee comes across some
information of interest unofficially he passes it immediately to his closest friend who in turn
passes it to others and thus, it spreads quickly. Often the managers use grapevine to know the
reactions of their subordinates on their policies or plans. Thus, the feedback obtained is quick
compared to formal channel of communication.
The grapevine is not trustworthy always and is sometimes damaging as it spreads information
more by gossips and unconfirmed reports.
External Communication Networks
External communication flows into and out of the organization by both formal and informal
means. Formal means include carefully prepared letters, announcements, etc. and informal
means include meeting potential sales contacts at industry gatherings or networking at social
events, etc. Informal exchanges are now considered so important that a new class of
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technology has sprung up to enable them. Just as Facebook, MySpace, and similar social
networking websites such as Spoke, LinkedIn, and Ryze help businesspeople connect.
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