Sam asks: "I wonder if the gossip process in organizations is an
information compost heap?"
I think not. Gossip is hardly ever productive, and it is always
dissipative of energy. The basic analogy is,I think, right on: Gossip is
the information garbage heap of the organization. But garbage is a
by-product of use - it is the discards of a process - whereas gossip is
creative: it is a transformation of fear, ignorance, anxiety, and
self-doubt into manageable discourse. Unfortunately, genuine dialogue in
organizations - which is discouraged by the formal relationships - often
only occurs in the informal structures created by and for gossip, and as a
consequence are often discounted, even by those who participate in them.
In those circumstances when gossip appears to be generating positive
energy, what we are probably seeing is the outgrowth of unacknowledged and
incompletely understood dialogue.
DOWN WITH GOSSIP!
-- jack@his.com Tell me, what street compares with Mott Street in July? Jack Hirschfeld