Gossiping, rumors and speaking ill of others is a one-sided way of managing or creating conflict and is incredibly toxic to culture and relationships. Gossip is poisonous to any environment, but it is especially deadly to the work environment. Gossip creates disruption and is specifically designed for the death of others. Gossip comes from the person with the biggest ego, but the most fragile, and who feels the greatest threat to their job security, self-esteem, popularity or status.
Workplace gossip succeeds in undermining important people they admire or fear. An annoying gossiper knows that reputation is everything in business and that a tarnished reputation is almost impossible to recover. They devise strategies to ruin those they consider better than themselves or who stand in their way. Evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar pioneered this idea, comparing gossip with primate grooming as a means of creating emotional bonds.
It may seem like a gossiper cares about you, that he is interested in what you have to say and that he is a person you can trust. Gossip thrives on the emotions and fears of others, just as leaching thrives on sucking blood from its source. Ignoring a gossip deprives them of the fuel they're looking for, and eventually they'll start taking advantage of someone else. Gossip is never a sign that you are doing something wrong or that something is missing inside you.
Gossip, Dunbar's work argues, gives humans the ability to disseminate valuable information on very large social networks. Never think that when you hear one person gossip about another person in the workplace, they won't eventually turn against you. Envy, which comes from anyone, is a sign that you are achieving, succeeding and creating a path to success that gossip alone has not been able to achieve; therefore, you become their goal. They consider that others intend to make them fail, which causes gossip to remain defensive.
Not surprisingly, they were happier to hear positive gossip about themselves and more irritated by hearing negative gossip about themselves than to hear gossip about others. In addition, Feinberg's research has shown that gossip can promote cooperation by disseminating important information. Stay as far away from these people as possible, they have nothing real to say, nothing valuable to think about, and they only use you to get you recruited into their team. However, every time I think about writing it, I stop out of fear of being judged and gossiped about me.
Torres's research has found that gossip can prevent loneliness, while other studies have found that it can facilitate the creation of bonds and closeness and serve as a form of entertainment.
