How the employee deal with the rumors & lack of communications factors? when the business relations affected among top level managers & the employees?

Understanding Rumors and Gossip

Have you been a victim of nasty rumors and gossip? Is your company prone to rumors and gossip that affect your professional life? How would you properly handle them if they affect corporate or public life?

A gossip is “a private conversation between two people about someone else who is not around. The information they are discussing is represented as factual even though the truth may not have been confirmed. Gossip tends to be spoken by people about someone they know, not celebrities or historical figures" (http://education-portal.com). A gossip usually deals with personal matters or traits such as sexual orientation, hidden immoral act, undesirable personal attitude or an embarrassing physical defect or disability.

A rumor is a piece of information gathered informally that is used to interpret an ambiguous situation (Schaefer, 2005). It is an unsubstantiated "news" about a subject that is spread informally by people. Like gossip, a rumor is also an unverified piece of information or story. But unlike gossips, rumors are more focused on social issues or matters that affect a group or community. Thus, if the release of salary for the employees on a specified date is delayed without prior notice from the company, rumors are expected to circulate to explain why this incident occurred.

There is a thin line which separates rumors from gossip. For instance, a manager who occupies a top position in the company and is being gossiped for wrongdoing can probably generate rumors if this act can affect the welfare of the company. Thus, a company president who is gossiped to be a womanizer and corrupt can generate a rumor that the company would soon be bankrupt because the corporate funds were embezzled by him to maintain his mistresses.

Rumors and Gossip Thrive in Ambiguous Situations

Rumors and gossip thrive in ambiguous and doubtful situations. They remind people, especially public figures, to follow the social norms, whether moral or legal. They also prepare and warn people to cope with an impending corporate change. If a business firm, for instance, is about to collapse, rumors and gossip would usually precede it to prepare employees and managers of its actual demise and to enable them to prepare psychologically and to start searching for new jobs promptly. If not handled properly, rumors and gossip can wreck careers, sabotage ambitions or even topple big companies. With the advent of the internet and digital technology, rumors and gossip can spread like forest fires, ready to destroy people and companies. Indeed, rumors and gossip are unavoidable in corporate and public life. One cannot avoid rumors and gossip especially if one lives in a corporate culture where “playing politics” is a dominant mode of interaction.What is important then is how one handles them and turn them into challenges and motivations for growth.

The Degree of Rumors and Gossip Depends on Organizational Culture

The magnitude of rumors and gossip in a company would depend on the organizational culture and overall system of the business firm. If you have an environment which is efficient, transparent, supportive and rewarding, one cannot expect much humors and gossip. Expect this company to attract the best and most qualified talents (Is Google of this kind? That’s why job hunters prefer to join this company?). Thus, Richard Branson’s advice with regard to hiring people into the company is wise. He said that the foremost consideration in hiring people into the firm is to determine whether the applicant’s personality can fit into the company's culture (Branson, 2013). An applicant may be highly qualified for the job. But if his/her personality does not fit into the firm's culture, s/he will not last in the job. Thus, recruiters and HR personnel must have a firm grasp of their company’s organizational culture to be able to select the most qualified and culturally fit applicant for the firm. A highly qualified new employee who is not used to rumors and gossips would surely leave the company after a brief stint in the workplace.

Less Rumors and Gossip in an Efficient and Happy Environment

In an organizational culture where politics is less and "everyone is happy”, it is unlikely to see employees leaving or maligning their managers through rumors and gossip . If there is a high level of job satisfaction and compensation, efficient and clear information system, and strong corporate bonding, one can expect less rumors and gossip. But if the company’s system is irrational, unpredictable, full of power cliques, and low in compensation and rewards, expect higher levels of rumors and gossip from people who want to control the firm's resources and rewards. Rumors and gossip are instruments of power and resistance. Any power holder or resister in the company can use them to advance his/her personal and group interests. Resisters manufacture information or even use negative facts and shocking discoveries to change the system and weaken their enemies in the business firm. Thus, a company may seem functional outwardly but crumbling due to internal dissatisfaction, division, and power struggle of employees and managers to control the system inwardly. Because of this internal dissension, the company’s productivity suffers and the personnel’s creativity is stifled. Under a “bad” system, people’s energies are more spent to politics than promoting innovation and achieving the firm’s goals and forecasts