Men Also Like To Gossip And Marvin Is Dragged Into It

 

You didn't hear this from me, but ...

"Men are more likely to gossip about celebrities (hard to believe, yet apparently true)."

Marvin Gaye famously declared that he heard it through the grapevine. “Oh and I'm just about to lose my mind,” he sang – and that’s really what tends to happen, isn’t it? Gossip is the kind of thing that’s titillating to hear and fun to participate in … unless you’re the subject of the latest workplace tittle-tattle.
Some researchers believe it’s beneficial. In one major study conducted by scholars at Indiana University, workplace interactions and meetings were videotaped. The researchers concluded that gossip assists newcomers by helping them determine who wields the greatest power, something that’s often hard to detect from an organisational chart. Other studies show how gossip can build bonds between co-workers and enhance the sharing of information.
A common misconception, though, is that gossiping is the domain of women. An analysis published in the Review of General Psychology reveals there is very little difference in the degree to which the genders gossip. But there is evidence to suggest that what they gossip about differs.

For example, outside of work, men are more likely to gossip about celebrities (hard to believe, yet apparently true), as well as sports figures, politicians, and casual acquaintances. Women, on the other hand, are more prone to gossiping about family members and close friends. But in the workplace, both genders are just as guilty of the crime.
And it is increasingly viewed as a crime. Dr Peter Vajda, a cognitive psychologist, sees gossip as a form of “workplace violence”. He reasons that people who gossip do so out of fear. They use gossip as a defense mechanism to protect themselves from divulging their true self. In other words, by attacking others, they don’t need to fess up to their own insecurities.
Still, it might not be the friendliest gossip, but almost all of it is accurate. In their book Rumour Psychology, professors Nicholas DiFonzo and Prashnat Borida state that 95 per cent of rumours in the workplace turn out to be truthful.
There was a case last year where an employee, who was sacked for gossiping, lodged an unfair dismissal claim with Fair Work Australia. She won. The commissioner awarded her employer (a childcare centre owner) to pay compensation of $10,000. Even though the owner had made it clear to all employees that his business had a ‘no back-biting policy’, it still wasn’t enough to justify the sacking of the employee.
But then there was another case, also from last year, that had the opposite outcome. An employee was sacked for spreading rumours about her boss’s sex life and alleged drug use. The colleague she confided in, staggeringly, was the boss’s fiancé. After having her employment terminated, the employee took the case to Fair Work Australia, but the commissioner sided with the employer.
One of the differences between the two cases appears to be that the gossip in the first case was based on stuff that was true, whereas the gossip in the second was false. There was also the matter of intent. In the first case, the employee was genuinely venting about a disagreement she had with a co-worker. But the employee in the second case sought to actively cause trouble in the workplace.
One thing’s for sure. Gossip has been around for ages. In this Egyptian hieroglyph from 1550 BC, a man lets his employer know about the spread of nasty gossip and he even suggests ways of tackling it.
So how do you tackle it? The Society for Human Resource Management, based in the United States, suggests there are four actions managers can take:

• Educate employees on the damage caused by gossip
• Give employees meaningful work that reduces their idle time
• Tell all employees that gossip won’t be tolerated at work
• Confront people who repeatedly break the rule

Failing that, just hope it isn’t about you.