Gossip and Organizations

9780415417853

0415417856

Exciting and innovative, this book provides readers with an important analysis of the latent and informal aspects of organizational discourse on which, until now, no serious research has been carried out. Gossip forms an important, if not potentially problematic social function. Through gossip, individuals communicate verbally (although this can sometimes take written form) about rules, values and history as well as providing others with information about social structures. Rather than dismissing gossip as 'small talk' and therefore trivial or inconsequential, this book argues that gossip is ubiquitous and performs many different functions (both positive and negative) in organizations as well as helping to shape and constitute meaning for individuals, groups and organizations. Exploring this serious and important aspect of organizations and the experience of working life in organization, this book is of importance to a variety of scholarly communities within organization studies, especially those researching or studying discourse, work psychology and communication.