Gossip in the Workplace - Essay Example

Cause and Effect Paper – Gossip in the Workplace Workplace gossip can have lasting effects and impressions. The workers and employees are best advised to abstain from it so that these gossip conversations do not have lasting effects in the long term. Workplace gossips can turn pretty ugly at times since the informal ‘grapevine’ network present within an organization spreads very quickly and no one can actually stop rumors as well as true stories from being shared openly. The causes of workplace gossips are that the small conversations which are held between two employees are spread to other workers working within the organization if the conversation is overheard by another individual who also works in that organization. It is also possible that one of these two people might tell others who would further tell the remaining staff that is working within the organization and hence the gossip can turn really nasty at the end. Having informal gossips in the workplace suggests that the employees are not concentrating properly on their assigned tasks and the bosses take particular note of this fact. They mention these points to the employees who like to gossip a lot and also warn them from time to time so that the gossip within the workplace is reduced drastically. The effects of this workplace gossip are that the employees have a bad image within the organization and they are not taken in high esteem. They are also told of concentrating on their own duties rather than wasting their times on having useless gossips all the time. Workplace gossips also mean that the employees have lost a lot of interest in their work and they do not find their job challenging enough. The employers should provide comfort to these types of employees by changing their job nature or making their job focus a bit more different. They can also be delegated work in a different manner so that they feel at ease with the working methods. The employers generally do not like the employees who gossip a lot and are always suggesting some ways as to how they can control this problem. They find different means and ways through which workplace gossip could be reduced. It is a fact that employees are also humans and they need to talk to each other because after all a workplace is essentially not a jail but the restroom is one such place where they can hold their conversations. Even in lunch time they can chat over in an informal manner but when they are at their desk and doing work then that means work is everything and gossip holds no place within the office boundaries. Similarly, plants and offices have in recent times been filled by women who were reckoned by the authorities as of less efficiency as compared to their male counterparts some years back. This has changed for the better and more and more companies in the world of today are recruiting female candidates for suitable positions within their staff. Apart from this positive change in mindset of the companies and businesses, there have been some pretty negative points attached to the same notion moreover. The top one of these aspects is the indiscriminate attitude of the staff and creating gossip and related remarks towards the women working in the offices which has given birth to gender issues like the sexual harassment and racial vilification ones. In the present day workplace situation, white men have encouraged the selection of white women as well as minority group members but there is a totally different posture when the selection of black community staffing within these companies starts making waves. This must be discouraged within the companies if a fair and impartial selection policy has to be devised – one that is evenhanded for both the sexes and bears no prejudices for a particular black or white community or nationality, for that matter. In World War II, it so happened that all the men in the developed nations went to war who held high positions within the companies and industries, thus the workload then was burdened by the women who took over the reigns of these plants and companies. When they came back, these women were stripped of their jobs and positions, thus showing the ever-unequal nature of jobs and positions meted out to women over the decades. Of late, there have been noticed a number of problems for women working in the American workplaces which have really distracted the potential array of the females in the job openings and ultimately their process of recruitment. Companies must encourage mixed communities to interact and collaborate with each other as well as bolster the selection of deserving (on merit-basis) women. so that all of them in their own particular areas of output give their best and eventually produce the required results and pre-determined targets for the company or the business in unison. Working men often view their female co-workers as a threat to their secured jobs and opportunities that destiny holds for them. With the advent of advanced and new machines and sets of skills within different products that are being introduced into the workplace, which basically limit the amount of work a particular employee has to do, men have started to feel somewhat envy of the presence of women in their vicinity. They feel that their seniors would rather take some extreme measures, which would result in their transfer or eventual firing from the said business/company. Thus this is a clear example of gossip coming in turns under the cause and effect regimes. In the end, it is very important to understand that having a useless gossip in the workplace can go against the people who are having this gossip. They must understand that the effects of these informal gossips are destructive for their own stay at the organization and they would not be able to gain any advantage out of this in any way. The employees must concentrate on their work and stick to their gossip sessions when they are done with work or when they are having their supper. This is for their own betterment so that their workplace environment remains calm and smooth and there are no problems for anyone at all. Word Count: 1,040 Read More