Question

Large organizations where there are many people working closely, create unofficial and informal channels of communication. What is this kind of communication known as and what purpose does it serve in large organizations?

Answer 1

In large organizations, communication usually observe channels official/formal or unofficial/informal both. This helps to communicate across the levels that exist in large organizations.

Informal or unofficial communication is also termed as Grapevine. It is more rapid, flexible, and no record is kept. As compared to the formal channel, it is more popular among employees and information is shared rapidly. As no record is maintained, nobody is held accountable.  

When organization want to share some information without making it official, grapevine is used. When employees want to interact on some topic like promotion, managerial practices etc. and still don’t want to be held responsible, grapevine is used.