Is office gossip always a bad thing?
When faced with uncertainty about whether to introduce a new office policy, procedure or process, one crafty chief executive based in Dubai would anonymously start a rumour about the potential change to assess the reaction of employees.
This individual, who asked to remain unidentified, would tap into the office gossip mill and find out whether employees were embracing or rejecting the idea.
"A small leak to test the waters can be quite a good tactic," agrees Amanda White, the managing director of Innovative Human Resource Solutions in Dubai.
And while gossip gets a bad rap in popular culture, from the "Loose lips sink ships" posters of the Second World War to the non-stop nastiness of Gossip Girl on television, a new research study has concluded that office gossip - positive and negative - can be a good thing that managers can use to the benefit of the organisation.
The research, conducted by Lea Ellwardt of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, is based on interviews with 132 employees at a medium-sized Dutch healthcare company. Ms Ellwardt looked first at how gossip between colleagues can cement friendships and build trust. She noted that this, in turn, can help to promote cooperation and the exchange of information, lubricate work flows and ultimately contribute to the successful completion of a project. And while negative gossip may be harmful for individuals, it can be beneficial for the group.
"High levels of gossip are coupled with the employees' interest and concern for one another," Ms Ellwardt wrote in the paper. "Interdependent employees praised the contributions of others but criticised uncooperative behaviour. These mechanisms of social control may help to reduce free-riding where employees collaborate toward common goals and formal surveillance systems possibly fail."
Ms White concurs. "From an anthropological viewpoint, gossip is society's way of keeping norms alive; of establishing what good and bad behaviour is," she says.
Ms Ellwardt's study went on to examine how staff talk about their bosses - who are the natural targets of gossip - and how managers can control the flow of gossip for their own benefit.
Her research showed that staff are more likely to gossip negatively when there is a lack of trust and friendly relations between managers and their subordinates. This negative gossip, however, also helps to cement trust between colleagues, although perhaps to the detriment of the boss.
But rather than stamp out gossip, as managers are wont to do because they fear losing control, Ms Ellwardt suggests a different approach. They should aim to improve their relations with employees and build up trust. They can do this by providing information in a transparent manner, promoting a culture of fairness and justice, and stamping out malicious gossip. This way, bosses can still benefit from the positive aspects of gossip while minimising the negative aspects.
The paper, which is published in Social Networks journal, also suggests that if a manager overhears subordinates gossiping negatively, it can be an opportunity for reflection rather than for alarm or retribution. "In cases where managers hear gossip, they should not condemn but utilise it as a diagnostic tool and early warning device," Ms Ellwardt recommends.
Ms White agrees, pointing out that overhearing gossip may be a useful opportunity for a boss to make behavioural changes.
"First, as the boss, you must decide if it's valid or not and then perhaps do something about it," she says. "If it's undeserved then grow a thicker skin and move on."
But Ms White warned that malicious gossip is tantamount to bullying when it targets a junior colleague. In that situation, managers should step in and find out what is going on. "A manager's foremost responsibility is creating an environment where people feel comfortable and perform well. People indulging in idle and malicious gossip is perhaps the outcome of an environment where all is not as is it should be," she says.