The Influence of Grapevine Communication on Employee Engagement and Commitment: A Study of GIHOC Distilleries, Ghana

Abstract

Businesses thrive on effective communication to build relationships with both internal and external stakeholders. The level of effective interpersonal relationship that exists amongst employees and management in an organization can go a long way to affect productivity and performance. Informal communication, also known as grapevine plays a key role directly or indirectly to achieve effective employee engagement and commitment. Thus, the prevalence of informal communication channels significantly impacts employee engagement and organizational commitment, particularly in Ghana's public sector where formal communication often follows rigid bureaucratic patterns. The study therefore addresses this gap by examining how GIHOC's informal communication patterns impact employee engagement and commitment, particularly in an environment where traditional Ghanaian communication practices intersect with modern corporate requirements. The study is essential because it will inform management on procedures to undertake to mitigate internal crises due to grapevine when they arise. Thus, management will use this document as a yardstick to improve flow of information in the organization to impact employee engagement and commitment. It will also serve as a means to encourage positive news to build morale and motivate employees in the best possible way to improve productivity. Social exchange theory and social penetration theory was applied to the study to further explain the phenomena understudy. The theories supported the phenomenon that relationship is built by employees over a period of time where they feel more comfortable on a personal level to share information among themselves that is outside the official channel of communication at the workplace. Research methodology employed was that of Quantitative approach. The population of the study was GIHOC distillery located in Accra, Ghana with about 150 employees. The researcher sampled 50 respondents using the convenient sampling method and distributed structured close-ended questionnaires relevant to the research objectives and questions. Major findings indicates that grapevine communication plays a major role on employee engagement and commitment at GIHOC Distilleries. Through spontaneous interactions, employees are engaged at different stages which improves engagement levels and commitment. Again, it was revealed that through grapevine, management hears employee’ grievances. Thus, management must always be concerned and communicate in open dialogue with employees to avoid speculations. According to Argenti (1998), two-way interna1 communication is the most successfu1 as it faci1itates casua1 encounters between managers and staff, enhancing comprehension and teamwork. The study provided recommendations based on theory, knowledge and policy where the researcher recommended that an internal communication committee should be set up to observe and communicate relevant issues that come up in the grapevine to senior management for appropriate measures to be put in place to resolve them. Finaly, the researcher recommended management to provide the opportunity for employees to voice out suggestions, opinions and grievances on occasional town hall meetings to encourage open dialogue and two-way communication in the organization.