derstanding how the grapevine works is very important for both senior and middle management. Informal communication is where a majority of information is passed from co-worker to co-worker through a term known as the "grapevine". Research indicates information transmitted through the grapevine is approximately seventy percent accurate; in some organizations as high as ninety percent (Smeltzer, pp 235). The grapevine can be both a positive and negative beast. Rumors are created when there is ambiguity multiplied by the interest in the up-coming change. As rumors proceed from worker to worker the information will under go a change. First, the data will lose its details, which simplifies the information. Second, the information is dramatized and made grander usually about its level. Third and last, workers will tend to per!
             sonalize the news and make it shape their needs.
             This grapevine has many parts and is continually changing, therefore; upper management must listen to the informal communication and ask questions to the junior staff. In 1985 Ford Automotives' senior leadership started to discuss and plan the installation of robots, which would be working on frame welding on Ford's full size trucks. Management wanted to increase the standardized weld spots and decrease employee injury and accidents. The workers found out about the new machinery and the grapevine was off and running. Very soon the unions were talking about striking the plant to save the jobs of those who would be laid-off by the robots. When management finally heard these incorrect rumors it had to initiate an emergency review and then communicate the fact to not only the unions but also the workers. Effectively communicating the facts to both the union and workers relieved the stress. The leadership informed both groups that the welders currently doing those jobs would!
             be the ones programming the robots and providing quality control on the line. ...