Hunton & Williams: Informal Communication Process

Informal channels are the unofficial route of communication within an agency. Informal communication has also been labeled as “gossip” and should not be taken seriously until verified. Using informal channels when time is critical actually can save time. Instead of going through the chain

Formal communication can be a piece of writing or be communicated verbally, for example, by an email or a letter. In some cases, different methods might be used to send the information across and make sure that it is understood fully.

People from different backgrounds may use and/or interpret communication methods in different ways because every family has their own way of communicating together. For example: some children might hear or speak more than one language at home or they could hear others swearing. This can affect children’s communication and how they communicate as adults.

One theory of communication is Argyle’s stages of the communication cycle. This is when we try to understand what we are being told by another person.

In the textbook, communicating law, a protocol is defined “as the communication associated with routines, rituals and formalized practices of the courts (Schuetz; pg. 48).” During the trial of the case of TBT versus Reilly Winter, on Saturday, February 11, 2017, all the attorneys maintain professional conduct. They ask for the judges’ permission to speak, address the witnesses, and present their evidence for it to be taken into account. They ask for the permission of the judges to approach the bench and call a witness as well as dismiss the

Communications may be given personally, by registered or certified mail, or by facsimile transmission. When Client agrees then communications may be delivered through email.

You made a great point when you stated that communication is an important step in the process. In chapter 11, Ward (2015 states that when a grantee is experiencing problems the only real answer is to contact the funder, discuss the situation, have some possible solutions prepared, and be open to suggestions from the funder. Communication is the key when issues arise with grant funding. Grantees should never try to resolve issues on their own especially when it comes to financial problems. There are several ways that a grantee can avoid potential problems and by creating a communication plan from the very beginning it will help alleviate some of those problems. It is just as important that Grantees ensure that funds are spent in accordance

Bennett, W.L. & Manheim, J. B. (2006) The one-Step Flow of Communication. The Annals of the Ammerican Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol, 608.

Law enforcement use variety of communications to gather information regarding the case. The communication can be verbally or non-verbally. Sensory verbal communication is one of the neurolinguistics programming used in interviewing. There are three important aspects in sensory verbal communication: the purpose of sensory verbal communication, mirroring type, and shifting type.

Communication is the foundation of all contact and involves much more than just words being spoken. The skills of a good communicator must be practiced and developed with relative frequency. Participants in a high-quality communication conversation are engaged in choosing a communication channel, sending clear messages, listening actively, and understanding others’ responses. When considering the one-way communication that occurs in media through various artists and communication professionals, we must recognize the importance of varying communication approaches.

Oral communication is transmitted through speech. It includes personal conversations, speeches, meetings, telephone conversations, conference calls, and video tele-conferences (synchronic). Written communication is communications transmitted through writing. It can include e-mails (asynchronic), letters, memos, faxes, formal reports, news releases. Formal communication is transmitted through the chain of command within an organization to other members or to people outside the organization. It includes internal memos, reports, meetings, oral presentations, external letters, written proposal, speeches, news releases, press conferences. Informal communication is transmitted outside formally authorized channels without regard for the organization’s hierarchy of authority. It includes rumours, chats with colleagues in the hallways or during lunch or coffee breaks. Verbal communication is transmitted in the forms of words Meetings, voice mail, telephone conversations, internet forums (asynchronic) and chat (synchronic). Finally, nonverbal communication is transmitted through actions and behaviour

Formal communication is what is considered the proper way to communicate throughout an organization. “A formal structure identifies individuals who are the official sources of information and the information that is their special concern” (Johnson, Donhue, & Atkin, 1994). Information coming from an official source is what makes this type of communication formal. Since it is coming from someone with an understanding of the situation, they are deemed credible which is why what they say is usually listened to. Within formal communication it is broken down into four different types, those types are downward, upward, horizontal, and diagonal communication. Throughout this movie, the first three of these types are clearly demonstrated amongst all of the employees of the plant as well as Lucy Hill.

Communication plays a key role in any organization, and the importance of both channels i.e. formal and informal communication cannot be undermined. As an organisation grows in terms of size and function, an immediate increase is experienced in the chain of command prevalent in the organisation. In most cases, the chain of command flows from the upper level to the lower level, creating a high power distance. When an information is dispatched within an organization from top to bottom it may lead to a loss or dilution of information in the process of transmission, this loss of information leads to the development of vulnerability and ambiguity within the organization which in turn leads to the development of an informal communication network called as 'Grapevine'. Grapevine or informal communication network is present in all organizations as it is a natural consequence of people interacting. Grapevine gives the people a platform to socialize and communicate their thoughts and ideas in an informal fashion. Informal communication tends to spread in all the directions, it may travel upwards, downwards and diagonally, spreading throughout the organizational across all levels inconsistently sometimes more rapidly than formal communication channels. The grapevine is an outcome of social contacts and is therefore unpredictable,

This email appears to be from some com-pany domain, which is the social engi-neering approach of wanting to fake au-thenticity. The embedded message how-ever, talks about some order, which may be unknown to the target victim. There is scantly information except for the direc-tion link, which diverts the user into some other page, where he/she will possibly be, requested for the sensitive financial relat-ed information that will later be, used maliciously.

Formal / informal communication channels exist in every organization. Formal communication requires thought and planning prior to distribution; informal communication, however, usually succeeds on its own mostly because of the very effective grapevine. While there are several advantages of grapevine communication, managing the grapevine also requires thought and planning. Even so, it’s very difficult to formalize informal communication, therefore, the best way to cut the grapevine is to provide accurate, respectful and timely formal communication.