Lateral or Horizontal Communication occurs when people in the same organizational level communicate with each other. Interactions here are generally friendlier and more comfortable and less formal than flow either upward or downward. Public Relations is generally considered as external communication flow, outside the business or company. Informal Communication Channels within a company, and without, include the grapevine, an unofficial, independent flow of information. Information from the grapevine tends to move faster than through normal, official communication channels and studies have shown that it is surprising quite accurate.
Rumors are a major kind of internal and external communication delivered via the grapevine.
They may or may not be accurate and companies must develop strategies for understanding, evaluating and controlling rumors. Next, we shall take a look all the many steps and considerations involved in actually planning business documents. Go on to the next page.