Case Study 2: TRYING TO CUT THE GRAPEVINE

"Whether or not gossip benefits organisations has become a grey area. In some contexts, gossip may be beneficial. Some leaders, such as Aviva Leebow Wolmer, CEO of Pacesetter, believe that gossip can be harnessed by managers to make a positive impact on the organisation. While Wolmer generally believes gossip has a negative influence, she also thinks gossip can be used as a way to bond with co-workers and to creates sense of excitement in the office. In addition, when employees gossip with clients, clients may feel more valued by the company because they were given what they perceive to be the inside scoop. What about when gossip alienates an employee?

According to anthropologists, humans gained the ability to gossip through evolution. Gossip allowed our tribal ancestors to form bonds while also learning who to avoid. According to recent research, negative gossip may have been used to identify individuals who had broken norms (see Chapter 8) about sharing with the tribe. By ostracising the individual who did not act in the best interest of the tribe, the group as a whole benefitted. Unfortunately, in the modern-day workplace, office gossip may serve to exclude others. And unlike our tribal ancestors, gossip is often not directed towards employees who have acted against a group. Instead, gossip about a specific individual is often a means of incivility.

An employee can deal with being the target of malicious office gossip in several ways. Dr Berit Brogaard of the University of Miami suggests not confronting the person spreading rumours through the grapevine but that instead reaching out to a supervisor (if they're not also part of the rumour mill) or human resources may beneficial. Alternatively, openly talking about gossip in a blas manner may take away the gossiper's motivation. Like many bullying behaviours, gossip is often meant to harm the target emotionally. When the gossiper realises that they aren't achieving this goal, they will sometimes stop.

Gossip can also harm individuals other than the target. Gossip that targets an individual may break up an office as people take sides. This can lead to low job satisfaction, lower trust and a decrease in work productivity as people fail to cooperate with each other. Karin Lunland argues that the leader has a primary responsibility to manage it well because once the office culture takes a turn for the worse, talented employees may choose to leave for a company with a more positive environment. Managers can try to avoid this situation by meeting with the team and discussing the problem, or creating official policies regarding workplace gossip."

QUESTIONS:

1) Summarize the issues identified in the case study

2) Describe the advantages of the case study topic

3) Describe the disadvantages of the case study topic

4) Identify alternative solutions for the manager and summarize and evaluate the relevant findings to the entire class

Hey, so i have this case study for my class presentation, i think i can do the first 3 questions but i need help with the 4th one.