From CTV:
Pssst, did you hear that gossip in the workplace can actually be beneficial?
That’s the word from researchers at Indiana University who detail in a recent article how the rumor mill can provide insight into workplace politics and power. At the same time, gossip can subtly undermine those on the receiving end.
Talking trash is hardly a modern invention. It’s been around for ages, dating back to caveman days, when sharing information about others (Is he faithful? Is she a hard worker?) contributed to basic survival.
In ancient Egypt a hieroglyph from 1550 B.C. detailed the spread of gossip and suggested ways to curtail it. The Romans also partook: In Scorpion Tongues: The Irresistible History of Gossip in American Politics, Gail Collins notes that Mark Antony spread word that Caesar Augustus assumed the throne by bedding Julius Caesar.
Although gossip has garnered a bad reputation, various researchers have pointed out that it’s not always bad for you. It forges connections, builds trust, provides a means of learning unwritten social norms and offers a way of comparing ourselves with others.
“The fact that people automatically think gossip is bad is a bad rap,” says Frank McAndrew, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill. “Gossip is a social skill. Think of it less like there are people who gossip and people who don’t. There are people who are good gossipers and people who aren’t.”
Its origins can be traced to prehistoric times, when people lived in small groups and success in those groups — attracting a mate, establishing status, getting dibs on the fruits of a hunt — depended on getting the scoop on your neighbors.
“Those who weren’t good at gossip were eventually weeded out,” says McAndrew. “Those of us on this planet are descended from people who were good at it. It’s hardwired in us.”
At the office, gossip creates camaraderie. “If someone shares gossip with you, it bonds you together,” says McAndrew. “It creates trust. If you’re not in the loop, you feel ostracized.”
From a manager’s perspective, water cooler chatter can also serve a useful social function by keeping employees in line. For example, if you know your boss will start a whisper campaign every time you show up late, you’re more likely to put your nose to the grindstone.
“People get hung [up] on whether gossip is a good or bad thing,” says Timothy Hallett, Ph.D., an assistant professor of sociology at Indiana University and an expert in the dynamics of gossip in the workplace. “A lot depends on perspective.” If you’re on the receiving end, it can feel malicious and exclusionary. But idle talk can also be a valuable weapon and outlet for an already frustrated workforce.
When you’re not the leader, says Donna Eder, Hallett’s colleague and co-author of a paper, “Strategies of Adult Gossip,” you don’t have as much power to express yourself directly. “In the work setting, it can be a tool of the oppressed,” she says. Eder asserts that gossip is neither good nor bad; rather “it is complex.”
Truth is, being on the inside track is tempting, explains McAndrew, “Although everyone seems to detest a person who is known as a gossip and few people would use that label to describe themselves, it is an exceedingly unusual individual who can walk away from a juicy story about one of his or her acquaintances, and all of us have firsthand experience with the difficulty of keeping spectacular news about someone else a secret,” he wrote in Scientific American Mind.
Not everyone agrees with McAndrew’s perspective, of course. Beth Weissenberger of executive and personal coaching company The Handel Group, maintains gossip is never the way to go. “Our philosophy is ‘the truth is sexy,’ so I don’t think I’m ever going to think that gossip works in the workplace,” says Weissenberger, who coaches clients on how to be better leaders.
Gossiping about impending layoffs rarely serves a purpose, she insists; instead, it just ramps up the fear factor. “When there is something going on in a company, we tell bosses they should just say what’s going on.”
After all, stressful situations only power the rumor mill. A survey conducted in 2008 by the Society for Human Resource Management found that 54 per cent of human resources professionals had documented an uptick in gossip or rumors about recession-related downsizing or layoffs. The solution? Improve communication. The more employees know, the less they’ll need to speculate.
There’s no denying that gossip can serve as an outlet for frustrated workers. And it can empower the oppressed. On the other hand, it’s very easy for gossip to get out of control — and that, you might say, is when good gossip turns bad.
Apparently, half of employers in the Vancouver area have not formulated a plan for their employees to get to or stay at work during the games:
