by Emily Comedis

Created on: October 25, 2008   Last Updated: October 15, 2010

Before anything else, I would like to bring everyone to the unequivocal interpretation of the word "gossip". The word "gossip" has been associated synonymously to "rumor." In fact, some have referred daily news commentators as gossips. Thus, it is important to understand the thin line between these two terms. Webster defines rumor as a general public report of certain things, without any certainty as to its truth, while gossip is a report (often malicious) about the behavior of other people. However, both terms can be a mixture of truth and untruth. Both can also be passed from one person to another, without any known authority for its truth. Yet often times, rumor is with intention to inform or forewarn, while gossip is always with intention to malign a particular person.

If I announce, "There will be an earthquake tonight." Then this is a rumor. It has no certainty as to its truth. If I will say, "My neighbor next door is like an earthquake. Everyone from our neighborhood is scared of him." This statement is maligning an innocent person. It is therefore, gossip.

Now, let us take a look at the office. An office is like a battlefield, though nobody carries a gun and bullets in the office except for the guard-on-duty. Just like in the battlefield, all employees have specific job titles and must respect these job titles. Like on a battlefield, they must fight as a team. Usually they fight against another company to gain or defend their company`s goal. But sometimes, company employees turn their own office into a battlefield. Thus the office becomes a battlefield among employees themselves.

The office has only a few positions for officers, managers, chiefs, directors, and supervisors. The bulk of the employees are usually among the rank and file. Promotion is a challenging motivation in the office. Promotion carries higher pay and greater responsibilities, but it surely presupposes higher or additional qualifications. A rank and file employee will aspire to become a supervisor. A supervisor will aspire to become a manager, and a manager will aspire to be among the officers. Promotion in the pffice is not an ordinary success because promotion is often perceived as fulfillment of the need for achievement.

An employee aspiring for a promotion who perceives another employee as a threat to his or her ambition needs to suppress or overpower the said threat. If the aspiring employee gets promoted under the rules of professionalism, that is, by working hard and playing smart, then the competition or the battle is fair and good. But some employees are too impatient. Instead of playing by the rules, they rather want to eliminate the threat. This evil motive incites the aspiring employee to use gossiping as strategy in eliminating the threat. However, reality is not as simple as this. The employee who is the subject of the gossip will not resign but will retaliate using the same strategy, gossip.

This vicious cycle of gossiping is not after all just an idle exchange of maligning information. Both parties have underlying motives to do harm to another for personal gain and thus with evil intent set in motion the rumor mill. Employees who are unskilled in these types of cruel office politics and manipulations can be perceived as weak or even as failures. Yet good employees should not despair. There are so many labor laws in most countries that protect the rights of those who were victimized by gossip.

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