1. Thinking about your office or college, what types of information are conveyed through the grapevine? How often is the information accurate?
2. Does a flat organization encourage or discourage office gossip? What leads you to this conclusion?
3. Do you think that the grapevine would be more or less active in a matrix organization? Why?
4. Many companies encourage their employees to form social relationships outside work to build a sense of camaraderie. How would these informal groups feed or limit the grapevine?
5. Consider the following situation: You are the HR manager at a medium-sized business and the company's executives have decided that they must cut the workforce by 5 percent. You don't want to lay off anyone, so you "leak" information to a few people in the company that layoffs are imminent, hoping that this might motivate some employees to find jobs elsewhere. If people end up leaving on their own, you will not have to implement layoffs. Do you think that this is an ethical use of the grapevine? Why or why not?