When we communicate information about ourselves, we use the social setting, our appearance, and our manners to make impressions on others. erving goffman referred to these methods as

sign-vehicles                                      

Explanation:

Erving Goffman has proposed a theory in which he has mentioned the ideology that when human beings interact with each other in a specific social setting then they are continuously being involved in the impression management processes whereby each person efforts to represent himself or herself and to behave in certain way that will lead to prevent or avoid embarrassing situation for oneself and others.

Sign vehicles: According to Goffman, sign vehicles is a term associated with the mechanisms that an individual uses to represent oneself in front of others. It includes appearance, interacting manners, setting, etc.

In the question above, Erving Goffman referred to these methods as sign-vehicles.

an informal structure in a bureaucracy would be something like so-called "office politics". where there's a formal structure set up for the organization, but then an informal subculture as well that has a way of organizing the bureaucracy further. this can be positive because it sets up an added degree of organization, albeit informal, within the bureaucracy.