OTHER FORMS OF COMMUNICATION

Lateral Communication

 or cross-communication.
 Lateral communication refers to sharing information, ideas, feelings, or concerns between peers
within an organization or coworkers of about the same level regarding their tasks.

While inspiring collaboration across teams and departments is one of the many advantages of lateral
communication it’s worth mentioning a couple more.

 Lateral communication at work makes employees more time-efficient

since lateral communication consists of conversations between peers, it is usually more informal, easier
to engage in, and less stressful. Which leads to more direct and perhaps more productive dialogues.

 Efficient lateral communication leads to increased work productivity

Working collaboratively gives employees a sense of belonging to an organization while improving

productivity.

Boundary Spanners

 Employees who play a major role in lateral communication

Boundary Spanning

 the efforts by an organization to establish connections both within and outside the organization.

Networking

 A network is a group of people who develop and maintain contact to exchange information
informally, usually about a shared interest. An employee who becomes active in such a group is
said to be networking.
  Although networks can exist within as well as outside a company, usually they are built around
external interests, such as recreation, social clubs, minority status, professional groups, career
interests, and trade meetings.

Ombudsperson

 This position is created to receive and respond to inquiries, complaints, requests for policy
clarifications, or allegations of wrongdoing from employees who do not feel comfortable going
through normal channels.

 All contacts are typically confidential to encourage candor. The ombudsperson investigates the
matter and intervenes where necessary to right a wrong and correct the system to prevent
future errors. In this way, a streamlined alternative to the chain of command is created, and
employees feel that their problem will receive a fair and impartial hearing.

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION

Electronic Mail Electronic mail (e-mail)

 is a computer-based communication system that allows you to send a message to someone—or

to a hundred people—almost instantaneously.

The primary advantages of electronic mail systems are their dramatic speed and convenience;

The major disadvantages include the loss of face-to-face contact, the temptation to send flaming
(spontaneous, emotion-laden) messages, the risks of using acronyms and emoticons (keyboard versions
of various psychological states) that will be misunderstood, and the associated difficulty of accurately
conveying and interpreting emotions and subtleties in brief and somewhat sterile printed messages.

Blogs

 A special problem in electronic communication can arise with the rapidly increased interest in
Web logs, or blogs
 These are online diaries or journals created and updated frequently by individuals to express
their personal thoughts, musings, and commentaries on topics of interest to them. (Often
informative and sometimes amusing)
Telecommuting

 also called the electronic cottage.

 the ability for an employee to complete work assignments from outside the traditional
workplace by using telecommunications tools such as email, phone, chat and video apps.
 telecommuters accomplish all or part of their work at home, or at a satellite location, through
computer links to their offices.

The personal advantages of telecommuting include freedom from the distractions of the workplace, a
reduction in the time and money spent on commuting, the opportunity to reduce expenditures for
work-relevant clothing, and the opportunity to spend more time with family members or even to
provide for their care at home.

Corporate advantages include improved productivity (sometimes as much as 15 to 25 percent), reduced

space requirements, the opportunity to hire key talent who will telecommute from a distant city,
increased employee loyalty because the employer “went the extra mile” by setting up the system, and
the capacity to accommodate disabled or chronically ill employees.

Society benefits, too—from a reduction in auto traffic and pollution and from the employment of
people who are unable to work outside the home. Some employees are even inclined to contribute
more time and effort in exchange for the comfort of working in their homes.

As a consequence of this physical isolation, telecommuters may feel out of touch with their regular
(social) networks, unable to experience intellectual stimulation from their peers, emotional
disengagement, lack of collaboration between work teams and reduction of learning.

INFORMAL COMMUNICATION

is often free-flowing throughout an organization. It is characterized as being:

 Quick
 Relational
 Natural
 Spontaneous

Grapevine communication

 the grapevine is accurate, fast, and influential, but sometimes details are omitted and rarely is
the whole story communicated
  is a type of communication that forms mostly from unintentional social interactions. This means
that the information being conveyed may not necessarily be the primary intention of the initial
conversation or message.
 Grapevine communication is an informal method of communicating, so businesses and
management professionals often try to use formal communication channels for important news
instead. Because this type of communication originates from casual social interaction, it's often
inevitable for workplaces.

Types of Grapevine Communication

 Single strand – this is where one person talks to another person, who then talks to another
person.
 Gossip chain – the most common informal communication type. This is a group conversation
where everybody discusses a topic informally.
 Probability chain – this is when a message is randomly passed between different people in an
organization.
 Cluster chain – one person shares information on a given topic with select individuals. Those
individuals then go on to share the topic with another select group of individuals.

In conclusion, grapevine is influential, both favorably and unfavorably. The grapevine accomplishes so
much positively and so much negatively that determining whether its net effects are positive or negative
is difficult. Undoubtedly, its effects vary among work groups and organizations.

Rumor

 The major problem with the grapevine—and the one that gives the grapevine its poor
reputation—is rumor. The word “rumor” sometimes is used as a synonym for “grapevine,” but
technically, there is an important difference between the two terms.
 Rumor is grapevine information that is communicated without secure standards of evidence
being present. It is the unverified and untrue part of the grapevine. It could by chance be
correct, but generally it is incorrect; thus it is presumed to be undesirable.
 Rumor is primarily a result of both interest and ambiguity in a situation. If a subject is
unimportant or has no interest to a person, then that person has no cause to pass along a rumor
about it.
 Its general theme usually can be maintained, but not its details. It is subject to filtering, by which
it is reduced to a few basic details that can be remembered and passed on to others. Generally,
people choose details in the rumor to fit their own interest and view of the world.
 People also add new details, often making the story worse, in order to include their own strong
feelings and reasoning; this process is called elaborating.
Negative consequences of workplace gossip are:

 Erosion of trust and morale.

 Lost productivity and wasted time.
 Increased anxiety among employees as rumors circulate without clear information as to what is
and isn't fact.
 Divisiveness among employees as people take sides.
 Hurt feelings and reputations.

Control of Rumor

Rumor should be dealt with firmly and consistently, but how and what to attack must be known.

FIGURE 3.8 Guidelines for Control of Rumor

• Remove its causes in order to prevent it.

• Apply efforts primarily to serious rumors.

• Refute rumor with facts.

• Deal with rumor as soon as possible.

• Emphasize face-to-face supply of facts, confirmed in writing if necessary.

• Provide facts from reliable sources.

• Refrain from repeating rumor while refuting it.

• Encourage assistance of informal and union leaders if they are cooperative.

• Listen to all rumors in order to understand what they may mean.