Communication Channels

Let’s take a look at communication channels in management. An organization’s formal communication channel, is the system of official channels that carry organizationally approved messages and information.

Organizational objectives, rules, policies, procedures, instructions, com-mands, and requests for information are all transmitted via the formal communication system or channel. There are three formal communication channels: downward communication, upward communication, and horizontal communication.

An organization’s informal communication channel, sometimes called the grapevine, is the transmission of messages from employee to employee outside of formal communication channels. The grapevine arises out of curiosity, that is, the need to know what is going on in an organization and how it might affect you or others.

What can managers do to manage organizational grapevines? The very worst thing they can do is withhold information or try to punish those who share information with others.