Effectiveness of Grapevine as a Communication Strategy in Tertiary Administration in the dynamic world of social media: COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

Nowadays, technology has led to cheap and easy communication through use of various social media platforms. Traditionally grapevine was communicated from one person to another directly without any media in between. The rate of transmission of information by grapevine has increased significantly due to social media. This paper seeks to find the effectiveness of grapevine as a communication strategy in tertiary administration operating during the COVID-19 pandemic. A case study was done within the department of Computer Science at a state university in Zimbabwe. Information which got to employees and students from management in a structured manner was compared to that which got to employees and students through grapevine. The information was obtained through document analysis and interviews. This information was analysed and the effectiveness of grapevine was deduced. The effectiveness of communicating through grapevine was measured in terms of the information being able to be accessed, its clarity level, the level of distortion, rate of transmission from sender to receiver and whether there was a two way communication.