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CMA Foundation · Fundamentals of Business Laws and Business Communication · Types of Business Communication

A firm's staff learn of a planned branch merger through casual talk at lunch, where one employee tells a few trusted colleagues, each of whom tells a few others. Which grapevine pattern is this, and what is the key feature?

This is the cluster chain pattern of grapevine, in which an individual passes information to a few selected trusted people, and only some of those pass it on to other selected people. It is selective rather than a random or one-to-all spread.

  1. ASingle strand chain; one person tells only one other
  2. BGossip chain; one person tells everyone directly
  3. CProbability chain; people randomly tell others
  4. DCluster chain; selected persons tell a few selected others who in turn pass it onCorrect

Explanation

In the cluster chain, a person tells a few chosen people, and some of them pass it on to other chosen people. Single strand passes to one person at a time. Gossip has one person telling all. Probability chain involves random telling, not selective trust.

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