Gossip accounts for sixty-five percent of speaking time in our everyday conversations (Grosser et al., 2010). Not surprisingly, gossip is a common form of communication that is highly prevalent in our social lives, especially within the workplace. While gossip tends to hold negative connotations, research suggests that gossip may serve as a healthy social activity, creating unity and bringing people together. Gossip may have the power to strengthen group bonds, create stronger group identification, and foster greater interpersonal ties (Mills, 2010). Gossip, therefore, may serve as a beneficial organizational behavior within the workplace. However, the prevailing research links gossip to negative outcomes in the workplace, such as decreased productivity, misrepresentation of employees, or crushed morale (Mills, 2010). If gossip is seen as a destructive organizational activity, why is it so prevalent in the workplace? This question has fueled current research in workplace gossip, providing empirical evidence to broaden our understanding of gossip’s role within the workplace.
Gossip in the workplace is described as a type of “storytelling discourse” that exists in the “unmanaged spaces” of organizations (Michelson et al., 2010, p. 373). Gossip allows employees to express their opinions, emotions, beliefs and attitudes about workplace life. As a result, gossip is usually expressed in small, trusted groups, which ultimately plays a significant role in the maintenance of relationships within the organization (Michelson et al., 2010). Social norms usually influence whether gossip is accepted as a type of organizational communication, as well as establishing the expectations of who gossips to whom and about what subject (Michelson et ...
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Works Cited
Grosser, T. J., Lopez-Kidwell, V., & Labianca, G. (2010). A social network analysis of positive and negative gossip in organizational life. Group & Organization Management, 35(2), 177-212. doi:10.1177/1059601109360391
Kniffin, K. M., & Wilson, D. S. (2010). Evolutionary perspectives on workplace gossip: Why and how gossip can serve groups. Group & Organization Management, 35(2), 150-176. doi:10.1177/1059601109360390
Michelson, G., van Iterson, A., & Waddington, K. (2010). Gossip in organizations: Contexts, consequences, and controversies. Group & Organization Management, 35(4), 371-390. doi:10.1177/1059601109360389
Mills, C. (2010). Experiencing gossip: The foundations for a theory of embedded organizational gossip. Group & Organization Management, 35(2), 213-240. doi:10.1177/1059601109360392
First and foremost, it is critical to discuss and unpack the ethics behind online gossiping. The way Klosterman describes online gossiping is by using the word villainy. However, villainy is typically defined as cruel or wicked behavior. In his essay, Klosterman discusses what makes a villain in regards to the online world. Specifically, Klosterman states, “The reason Perez Hilton became a villain was because the intersection of those two qualities: It wasn’t just the content, and it wasn’t just the success. It was the creeping fear that this type of content would become the only way any future person could be successful” (226). This interpretation of villainy is quite different than what most would consider. When people hear the
Gossip can be a form of either informal or conversational talk that is not usually planned but happens spontaneously in conversation (Tholander, 2003). Gossip is a distinct and unusual form of storytelling as it involves a non-present third person. In order for a story to be considered as gossip it must handle a past event of which the absent third party was involved in. It often occurs within friendships,
Detrimental gossip was not a new concept brought to life in Virgil’s Aeneid; gossip has been around since the dawn of time and still exists in modern day. Gossip, especially false, can significantly alter the lives of those gossiped about, as shown in the Aeneid and in a Washington Post article written by Cass Sunstein, “Rumors are nearly as old as human history, but with the rise of the Internet, they have become ubiquitous… False rumors are especially troublesome;
Facing Corrections in the Workplace: The Influence of Perceived Face Threat on the Consequences of Managerial Reproaches. Journal of Applied Communication Research, Vol.28(3), pp.289-320. Goffman, E. (1967) Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior. New York: Anchor Books.
If you value honesty, therefore you should not gossip. What you claim is important and when your actions follow through, leads you to a more credible person. From my own personal experience, my manager addressed how it is unethical to use foul language in the workplace. She claimed that we should always be in a professional manner with or without customers around. In my perspective, the law applied to her differently. She would always curse whenever it was not necessary. My colleagues, including myself, faced dilemma whether to bring awareness of how she violate the rule. Due to her higher position, it was difficult to address the behaviour. My manager’s behaviour caused me to have ill feelings towards her. If she truly valued creating a professional workplace, she would do what she claimed.
Riaz, M. & Junaid, F. (2011). Types, Sources, Cost and Consequences of Workplace Conflicts. Asian Journal of Management Research. 2(1), 600-611.
Turman, P. (October 25, 2000f). Group Cohesiveness and Conflict: Group Communication [Lecture] Cedar Falls, IA. University of Northern Iowa, Communication Studies Department.
This week’s report deals with the concept of in and out-groups. As we begin, we will be looking into what exactly makes an in and out-group. We will also study the concepts of in and out-groups. Once we wrap up the first portion of the research we will immediately be going into our second section. The second portion will consist of describing a personal example in which I was part of an in-group situation. Once I divulge my personal example, I will be describing a situation in which a colleague of mine found himself in an out-group situation. Once we study these two situations, the report will navigate into the third portion in which we will be analyzing and explaining some of the differences between my in-group situation and my colleague’s out-group experience. As we move into the fourth section of the report, we will be looking into how in-groups and out-groups affect organizations and their employees. The fifth section of the report will explain how the out-group situation in which my colleague found himself was directly caused by an extend of a non-task related factors. Finally, as we reach the final section of the report, the report will describe some of the implications that can occur when leader’s develop a relationship with their followers.
... once it passes the individual who starts it. I feel that “Managing Rumors” by John Doorley and Helio Fred Garcia treats rumors as too much like a machine that can be turned on and turned off without any trouble. Even using a mathematical formula, one is unable to control a person’s beliefs and incentives about a certain subject in my opinion.
In the end I believe that it is in our human nature to share not only our own stories but those of others around us. We must understand that possessing this information comes with responsibility and that there could be negative consequences with the disclosure of the same. Theories like Communication Privacy Management lead way to research in many concepts like gossip in the workplace or even expanding on its ‘”possession” concept within others. How ethical is it for one to own information that is not about oneself? Can it be used as leverage for advancement? How much does gossip in the workplace distracts from productivity? Is the boundary permeability affected only by context or are there any other factors that would directly influence
In this paper, I have discussed the authors’ research on communication apprehension among secretarial students, as well as the limitations of the research. Booth-Butterfield and Thomas give us their interpretations of their findings and feel that secretarial students have greater anxiety when it comes to communication scenarios. They even conclude that this apprehension will make these students less capable of success in future work environments. However, these statements are based on generalizations and interpretations from research with various limitations. In conclusion, there are always limitations of interpersonal communication research because it is not like Mathematics where one can just measure communication levels with a ruler.
One of the ways Social Network Theory has been used is to examine how companies interact with each other. By understanding what links members of the companies together, Social Network theory has served as a way to gather information about the relationships within their company to help answer questions through the roles of the relationships within the company. For my question of study I looked at the question of: Are actors and their actions viewed as independent of interdependent within an organization?
Sias, Patricia M., Hannah Pedersen, Erin B. Gallagher, and Irina Kopaneva. "Workplace Friendship in the Electronically Connected Organization." Human Communication Research 38.3 (2012): 253-79. Print.
By conducting the Hawthorne studies, various assumptions were discovered. A person's work behaviour is not easily determined as a cause and effect relationship; however it is determined by a complex set of attributes. Informal groups that were present in the organisation form a social structure which was preserved through job related symbols of prestige and power. Change in the organisation can be avoided by being more aware of the employees' sentiments and their participation. The findings of the experiments led to the discovery that the workplace is a close knit social system and not just a production system.
This paper will discuss the human interaction in a workplace with respect to the discipline of communication, sociology and anthropology.