Here’s some news that definitely runs counter to conventional wisdom: Workplace gossip is good.
At least that’s the position of University of Kentucky business professor Giuseppe Labianca, who, along with two UofK doctoral students in management, recently examined the social interactions in a branch of an unidentified U.S. company.
Their conclusion: “Gossip can be very helpful to people in organizations, especially when the flow of information from the top gets choked off, as often happens when companies are in crisis or undergoing change,” in Labianca’s words.
Their findings are summarized in an article in the September issue of the Harvard Business Review.
Eye-opening answers
The research turned up some surprising results.
First, the study revealed the more staff members gossiped, the better they understood their social environment — and the higher their peers rated their influence.
Another intriguing fact: Supervisors gossip with far more people than regular staffers do. The researchers said that was a good thing, because gossip “can be a great diagnostic tool” and a way “to hear about potentially troublesome issues as they arise.”
Final counterintuitive result: A substantial amount of gossip is devoted to praise — as a matter of fact, the researchers heard more positive feedback about participants’ co-workers than negative.
For more on the research, go here.
