Training Managers for “between You and Me†Experiences

This paper investigates the possibilities of formally training managers for effective informal communications in the workplace. Although business communication is taught extensively in most of the B-schools and in the corporate world (through training programs on presentation skills, meeting management, etc), scant attention is paid to training students or managers on how to deal with informal communication, i.e., grapevine activity, rumor, gossip or any other communication which does not fall in the purview of “formal communication“. Research has conclusively indicated that informal communication can affect decision making in organizations- favorably or otherwise. In this paper, the role of informal communications is established through extant literature review. After critical evaluation of variables, conceptual models are proposed for “informal communication†and “training managers in effective informal communicationâ€