CASE STUDY: GOSSIP GIRLS

SUM: Four ladies in a New Hampshire municipality were sacked after circulating a story against
the town administration. According to the information provided, the administrator was rumored
to be having an affair with another local employee. He filed a complaint with the local council,
which initiated an investigation. The council subsequently fired the four veteran employees for
propagating a rumor and refused to restore any of them. Two of the ladies will never be able to
apply for jobs in town again.

Q1: What do you think of this situation? Do you agree with the town council's decision
about the firing and refusal to reinstate the employees?

Office gossip is a type of informal communication among coworkers that focuses on others'
private, personal, and sensitive issues. Sometimes a gossip’s topic is just funny stories, small
problems in life. However, it is almost widely seen as a harmful activity because it can introduce
lies, rumors, and defamatory claims into the workplace ecosystem and generate problems in
interpersonal interactions (hrzone.com). The case of four women who defamed the head of the
town where they worked had a romantic relationship with a female subordinate because they
thought she was favored despite her limited ability. They communicated to each other through
informal channels. It has left heavy consequences, which is the hurt of others and even the loss
of jobs. So, I believe that negatively and persistently affecting person’s morale is an offense that
deserves disciplinary action.

From my point of view, we disagree.

Although what the four ladies did was dishonest, insubordinate, and may have injured the
victims of the gossip; we disagree with the town council's decision to fire them and refuse them
reinstatement. 

It is clear that these 4 women only talked about the problem of the director having an affair, but
it has not heavily affected the reputation of the boss plus the company, because in fact he did not
have an affair (Evidence is The boss company won the case, 4 employees were forced to quit).
Additionally, these 4 women had given the amount of service offered for the town. Even so, the
decision to sanction was made hastily.

They were still fired and two were barred from applying for jobs in the town despite their appeal
and the petition of 419 residents, in my opinion, indicates a lack of communication between the
parties involved; otherwise, a proper settlement and a more appropriate punishment would have
been given. The women would have been disciplined in a way that would have allowed them to
reflect on and learn from their mistakes, as well as improve their work habits, but they were cut
off immediately. People could learn, develop, grow, and make relationships with effective
communication, but the way things ended in this circumstance created additional bitterness and
hostility. 

 It can be said that the company's dismissal is just a way to threaten other employees to respect
their superiors more. The company did lose four excellent people for a total of 330000 USD, but
there was no gain and no proper lessons were gained.
CASE STUDY: GOSSIP GIRLS

Q2: As was stayed in the case, a recent survey showed that 60 percent of the respondents
indicated that the biggest pet peeve they have about their jobs is workplace gossip.
Research the topic of office gossip/ office rumors. Is office gossip always harmful?
Discussion. Could it ever be useful to managers?       
Gossip is the second type of Grapevine communication. Keith Davis (1976) “Grapevine is
basically a channel of horizontal communication, for it is only people working at the same level
of hierarchy who can informally communicate with one another with perfect ease.”

Chain of Gossip:

 Is office gossip always harmful? Discussion.

60% of respondents indicated that the thing that annoys them the most about their work is
the small talk in their workplace. In my opinion, this issue has its advantages and
disadvantages, it depends on what you're discussing and your views on the matter.
Although gossip is a fast means to distribute information, it is useless if it is false or
incorrect. 

A gossip is a tool that may be used to improve interpersonal connections and group and
individual relationships. In the workplace, gossip may lower stress and boost
productivity. Meetings and memoranda are useful for communicating the truth, but
knowledge comes to life through gossip. Moreover, rumors might spark innovation and
come up with fresh ideas. In fact, previous studies have shown that gossip in the
workplace can actually be beneficial, helping individuals deal effectively with job
uncertainty (Jiang et al., 2019) and improve employees' self-esteem, knowledge of
organizational identity (Ye et al., 2019). In addition, positive workplace gossip can
reduce employee job insecurity by reducing employee job dissatisfaction (Chen and
Jiang, 2017; Song and associates, 2018; Jiang et al., 2019).

On the other hand, if the content in such small talk is false or has other intentions, then it
will be the basis for bad things to happen such as causing injury, promoting defamation,
vandalism and revenge between people, individuals or groups. According to the case
study, gossip in the workplace has a negative effect on an individual or group. Although
the problem is not as harmless as some people think it can lead to, these 4 women in this
CASE STUDY: GOSSIP GIRLS
case study had to suffer from job loss and this consequence also affected their future
career.

 Could it ever be useful to managers? 

My view on this is that while some gossip can be malicious, in general, getting involved in
workplace gossip can be beneficial for managers. Gossip develops social connections and
supports in the better understanding of employees by leaders, allowing them to make decisions
on how to handle and carry out organizational tasks. Managers that are interested in fostering
successful organizational communication from the grapevine to enhance communication across
the company. The grapevine's true importance should be in exposing to management the
problems that originate at the grassroots level. 

As a result, an intelligent manager will acknowledge the presence of grapevine, pay attention to
rumors spreading, and take immediate action to dispel false rumors. A formal communication
network, which includes memos, newsletters, bulletin boards, meetings… can help stop rumors
or gossip if they do not want to suffer the consequences caused by it such as employee health,
individual and team performance. In conclusion, gossip can benefit managers as long as it
remains within the control of the organization.

Q3: In retrospect, what could these four women have done differently?

In my opinion, four women should only discuss and exploit their work in gossip. The gossip
between them about boss having affair is unethical communication that distorts the truth and
manipulates listeners. Specifically, unethical communication attacks an individual, organization
or group by using offensive or inflammatory language. Communication unethically includes
abusive language and use of information to discredit. It is aggressive, harassing and demeaning
(Campbell A., 2022 ). These women should ask the board to hold a meeting to share concerns
about what they observe about whether or not their manager is having an affair with a
subordinate and whether there is some bias in the relationship when they see the junior employee
working in a special position and being paid more despite having less experience and seniority so
that if the problem is true then all organizations should consider it more appropriately instead of
these women talking baselessly like that. And if that is wrong, those women must admit their
behavior and apologize. Because meetings are effective ways of communication in the
workplace, even the organization is big or small.. They are also one of the least understood and
most used communication styles. Effective meetings create synergy between teams and quickly
convey information that is highly likely to be misunderstood in another format. (Tabbutt K.,
2021 )
CASE STUDY: GOSSIP GIRLS
QUESTION 4: What implications can you see for managers and communication from this
story?
The problem of the manager being negatively gossiped is a common story in every company, not
just this case study. Implications are:
 When the boss is involved in negative rumors, sometimes it is not known whether it is
true or not, but it will also greatly affect the work and personal life of the manager. The
higher the status, the greater the negative influence.
 If the manager during that period, has no way to prove his innocence, this person will
lose the respect of upper managers as well as other workers, and will be easily demoted
or suspended from work for a while, even having to quit. Upper managers, at this time, it
will be difficult to trust the boss's explanation.
 The organization’s order of the company is disturbed, employees spend more time talking
negatively about the manager, do not trust the instructions of the boss, despise the boss
and tend to resist.
 Bad rumors about the boss damage the reputation of the company. Sometimes both the
company and this boss will be famous on social media articles, even the company's
communication department is difficult to handle thoroughly because bad rumors often
spread very quickly.
 Communication will be impeded.
If the rumor is not true:
  This manager was only affected by a bad reputation for a short time and was examined
by the staff to find evidence.
 And when confirming this boss is clear, employees/customers/ top managers will become
more trusting of the manager, and there will be positive conversations about the boss.
 The company's order is maintained.

If the boss has rumour, what he should do?

- If it's a nonsense rumour, the manager should not care because it í such a incredible waste of
time. Manager will do not have time and temperament to deal with gossip , and grapevine.
- If this is a bad rumor that affects dramatically himself and the reputation of company, the
manager needs to calm down, find the root cause and deal with it thoroughly.
  
CASE STUDY: GOSSIP GIRLS

References:
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[online] betterup.com. Available at: https://www.betterup.com/blog/why-communication-
is-key-to-workplace-and-how-to-improve-skills [Accessed 14 July. 2022]
2. Chen, L. J., and Jiang, S. (2017). Analysis of individual factors which influence the
workplace gossip. J. Hubei Sec. Nor. Univ. 34, 80–83. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-
344X.2017.07.019
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[Accessed 4 Mar. 2022]
4. HRZone Website. [Online] Available at: https://www.hrzone.com/ [Accessed 4 Mar.
2022] 
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workplace friendships? Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 16:1285. doi:
10.3390/ijerph16071285                                                  
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9. Ye, Y., Zhu, H., Deng, X., and Mu, Z. (2019). Negative workplace gossip and service
outcomes: an explanation from social identity theory. Int. J. Hosp. Manag. 82, 159–168.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2019.04.020