What is grapevine? What are the types

To hear something through the grapevine is to learn of something informally and unofficially by mean of gossip and rumours.

The usual implication is that the information was passed person to person by word of mouth perhaps in a confidential manner among friends or colleagues it it can also so imply an overhead conversation for or anonymous source of information for instance I heard through to the grapevine that Sridhar was getting fired.



study quoted in forbes magazine concludes that 75 percent of employees hear about matters first through rumours on the grapevine. Robbins states  that rumours flourish in an organisation because of 3 elements they are response to situations that are important to employees where there is some ambiguity, and under conditions that  arouse anxiety.from management perspective the grapevine acts as a filter and feedback mechanism to identify issues that employees consider important and relevant.

According to Robbins the grapevine   in an organisation has three significant characteristics.

1. it is not controlled by formal management
2. most employees perceive it to be more believable and reliable than formal communication is used by top management
3. it is largely used for the self interest of the people within the organisation.

Managers can use the grapevine to:

• get a feel for the moral of the organisation
• understand The anxieties of the work force
• evaluate formal communication efforts and see if they are working


In the autobiography of booker  T. Washingto up from slavery Washington says that slaves in the south kept up to date on current events by what was termed and grapevine telegraph he said often  the slaves got knowledge of the results of great battles before the white people received it this news was usually gotten from the coloured man who was sent to the past office for the mail the man who was sent to the post office would linger about the place long enough to get the drift of the conversation from the group of white people who are naturally congregated Terracotta receiving their mail to discuss the latest news the mail carrier on his way back to our master's house wood as naturally retail the news that he had secured among the slaves and in this way they often heard aap important events before the white people at the big house as the masters house was called.


According to Jitendra Mishra:
the term grapevine can be tracked to civil war days when Vine like telegraph wires were strung from 23 across battlefields and used by army intelligence.the messages that come over these lines where are of 10 so confusing or inaccurate that soon any rumours was saved to come from the grapevine usually grapevine flow around watercolours down hollow ways through lunch rooms and where ever people get together in groups.


The line of communication seem to be haphazard and easily disrupted as the telegraph via where however they transmit information rapidly and in many cases faster and with stronger impact than the formal system allows the term gained a boost in popularity through it used in the motow song.I Heard it through the grapevine major hit single for both marvin gaye and gladys knight& the pips in the late 1960s.