Organizational Implications of Gossip and Rumor

Abstract

The challenge in designing organizational interventions lies in making explicit and available what is usually implicit. Accordingly, a contribution to the understanding of complex and implicit practices such as gossip and rumor, the conditions responsible for their origin, as well as the relation they sustain to the outcome of group survival, particularly in organizational settings are the topics of this paper. Our analysis draws upon a number of perspectives: anthropological, sociological, social psychological and behavior analytic. These distinctions are followed by further elaboration on the functions rumor and gossip may serve in ambiguous circumstances since environmental ambiguity seems to be one of the primary factors that participate in the development and maintenance of gossip and rumor. Finally, we address the significance of the analysis of gossip and rumor in organizations and conclude with a discussion of the contribution that behavior analysis can make with regard to the analysis of such phenomena.

Key Words:

• Gossip
• rumor
• environmental ambiguity
• rules
• organizational effectiveness
• organizational survival