FORMAL AND INFORMAL

COMMUNICATION
NETWORKS
Presented by: Angelica Aller
Carol Anne Conocido
 NETWORKS

Provides the means for messages to

flow in all directions in the
organization

a. Information can be disseminated, or retrieved

b. Tasks can be coordinated and completed
c. Decisions can be made
d. Conflicts can be resolved
e. Workforce can be
maintained
 ORGANIZATIONAL
COMMUNICATION NETWORK

Represents a pattern of interactions;

once such a pattern is established
among employees it can be
designated as a network.
 NETWORKS

- Can operate at the DYADIC, GROUP, AND

ORGANIZATIONAL level.
An employee is typically part of a
number
- Example: of networks
Supervisors :
and subordinates communicate on
a frequent basis as a function of their relationship.

- As a member of a supervisor-
subordinate dyad
- As a member of a work unit
- Associates across departments to
accomplish tasks
 NETWORKS

There are ones that span to entities outside the

organizations boundaries; these networks
are IMPORTANT to an
organizations SURVIVAL.

- In the procurement of raw

materials
- In determining the needs
and preferences of
consumers
- In the marketing of
products and services
- In staying abreast of govt
regulations
- Learning about
 MESSAGE FLOW

H O R I Z O N TA L V E RT I C A L
Communication Communication

Involves employees of Involves employees of

relatively the same status in different hierarchical status.
the organization
Chief Executive Officer & a
Department Head
 COMMUNICATION

U P WA R D D O W N WA R D

Initiated by the individual of Initiated by the individual

lower status with higher status

Subordinate to a Supervisor
 FORMAL NETWORKS

- Carry officially sanctioned messages that the

organization creates.
- Reflect relationships described in the organizational
personnel chart.
- Example:
supervisors and subordinates communicate formally
is systematically
through established for the
a reporting relationship
transmission of messages through
DEFINED RELATIONSHIPS.
 FORMAL NETWORK

WITHOUT FORMAL
- Instructions
COMMUNICATION
- Task accomplishmentsNETWORKS,
- Disseminating & retrieving of
AN info
ORGANIZATION WOULD BE
CHAOTIC.
- Random actions
- Task execution
- Dysfunctional feedback
- Products and services
- Employee evaluations
 FORMAL NETWORKS

Types of Messages
1. Task or Production Messages task output, job
instructions & performance feedback

2. Maintenance Messages policies & procedures

(how tasks are to be carried out)

3. Human Messages individual employee (vacation

schedule, company benefit plans, attitudes, recognition)
NETWORK STRUCTURES

No one employee
is central to the
message flow
 NETWORK STRUCTURES

Serial transmission
from one employee to
another until message
reaches its destination
NETWORK STRUCTURES

Involving a
central message
unit and
branching units
NETWORK STRUCTURES

Involves central
message unit and
separate
transmission/recept
ion units in all
directions
 NETWORK ROLES

1. A Liaison initial sources of information, highly

influential (department head carrying messages
between work units under individuals supervision)

2. A Bridge member of one network who connects it to

another by forming a dyadic relationship with one of the
other groups member. (accounting department who
meets regularly for lunch with a member of the payroll
department)

3. A Gatekeeper acts as a filter to allow information to

pass to a receiver or to a screen out (secretary who
screens telephone calls to a supervisor), is also
influential
 NETWORK ROLES

4. An Isolate has relatively few communication contacts

compared with others, might happen to an employee with
highly specialized job function (a researcher not assigned
to a research team)

5. A Boundary Spanner or Cosmopolite reaches beyond

the boundaries of a network to the outside
(customer service representatives
span the boundaries of the organization
to the public)
 NETWORK DESCRIPTORS
1. Dominance
2. Centrality
3. Flexibility
4. Reachability
5. Reciprocity
6. Symmetry
7. Openness

Reciprocity - The degree of the agreement of network about the

nature of their linkages (High reciprocity = high agreement)

Openness - the degree to which a network is characterized by

linkages to its outside environment. It has multitude of
connections to other networks in the system.

Closed network - Functional autonomy, not needing messages

Dominant - degree of equal relationship among
network members

Highly Dominant Network - Few people receives

Lowly Dominant - 5 and more
Highly Centralized - Message being communicated
is concentrated, controlled by a single authority.

Lowly Centralized - No one employee is central to

the message flow.
Flexibility - Degree of a network following a set of rules
about the pathways on which communication must
travel.

Highly Flexible - Transmission of communication has

variations of pathways, and members share the same
hierarchical status. Not centralized).
Lowly Flexible - Use the same transmission pattern for
example a strict chain of command (Centralized).
High Reachability - More intermediaries or
individuals through whom a message must pass
(Prone to info distortion).

Low Reachability - Less intermediaries,

message can get more directly from source to
receiver.
Symmetry - degree to which communication in
a network is equally shared (two-way link).

Asymmetry - unequal relationship between

network members (one communicates
significantly more than another).
 INFORMAL
COMMUNICATION
NETWORKS

SITUATIONALLY DERIVED
They emerged out of the immediate needs of organization
members
 INFORMAL
COMMUNICATION
NETWORKS

- Informal networks operate in an unpredictable manner.

- Employees may choose to communicate with other
organizational members through informal means:
a. Proximity
b. Reliable and knowledgeable source
c. Friendship and trust issue to the co-worker
d. Meets outside of workplace
 INFORMAL
COMMUNICATION
NETWORKS
 GRAPEVINE PARTICIPANTS

- Individuals who serve as communication centers mare

strategically located in the pathway of informal
communication transmissions.
- Secretaries (Davis, 1969; Kaufman, 1977)
- Network liaisons

- Transmission can be initiated and stopped anywhere in

an organization (Goldhaber, et al., 1979)
- Active among management personnel (Davis, 1954)
 EFFECTS OF GRAPEVINE

Rumors represent incomplete information; employees may

feel inclined to second-guess the missing information.

Informal communication may lead to

the leaking of information before the
organization is ready to disseminate it.
 FACTORS INVOLVED IN
RUMOR DISPERSION

- Importance of the message

- The ambiguity of the message
- The need for information
- The withholding of information by management that the
employees believed they need
- The credibility of the transmitters
- Who the rumor involves
- Its timeliness
 FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO
GRAPEVINE MESSAGE
DISTORTION

- Condensation or leveling sender reduces the amount of

information
- Information salience or sharpening highlighting of
information. Source will only communicate what she/he
feels important
- Closure or adding it is the filling of gaps, source tend to
fill gaps so that the story looks complete
- Selective perception picking out pieces of information
only and forgetting about others
 GRAPEVINE TRANSMISSION
PATTERNS

KEITH DAVIS (1953)

- Follow a single-strand chain pattern:
- A communicates the information to B
- B transmits it to C, etc.

- Gossip chain pattern communicates to all employees

- Probability chain pattern communicates to random

employees only
 CONTROL OF THE
ORGANIZATION GRAPEVINE

1. Management needs to be sensitive

2. Management needs to provide important information to
employees openly
3. Management can locate key communicators
4. Management can combat organizational
dysfunctioning
 METHODS OF ANALYZING FORMAL AND
INFORMAL COMMUNICATION
NETWORKS

Residential Analysis requires the investigator to conduct

observations of communication behavior within the
organization

Distribution of questionnaires to org members through

the process of recall, indicate, with whom they
communicate

Maintenance of a communication diary noting the initiator

of the communication, channel involved

ECCO (Episode Communication Channels in Organization)

analysis developed by Davis (1952), examines grapevine
patterns of transmission
 REFERENCES

Communication as a Process/Chapter 2
Giphy.com
Pinterest.com
Deviantart.com
Memes.com