不妨听听办公室八卦

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作者：英国《金融时报》艾玛?雅各布斯(emma jacobs) 2009-01-08

悉尼一家招聘服务公司的董事总经理最近遇到一个问题：他不能给所有员工都加薪，但又担心不这样做会影响员工士气。于是他决定放出风声试一试。

他把打算给少数重要员工加薪的计划告诉一位可靠的下属，获得加薪的员工也将承担更多责任。不出所料，消息很快在公司里传播开来。令人惊讶的是，员工们都积极看待这一计划。于是他决定将加薪计划付诸实施。

法国南特商学院(Audencia Nantes Business School)研究主任格兰特?迈克逊(Grant Michelson)表示，这件事说明，高级管理人员可以利用办公室八卦网络，迅速地测试出员工对某项计划的反应。

随着经济放缓，企业纷纷削减成本，办公室流言很可能集中在裁员方面。管理者历来认为，裁员传言会影响工作，对士气不利。迈克逊表示，管理者认为，“必须对流言‘问题'采取行动”。但许多人认为，在工作场所的非正式沟通渠道和交谈可能对雇主们有益。

美国伊利诺斯州Knox大学的心理学教授弗兰克?麦克安德鲁(Frank McAndrew)指出，流言无论如何是挡不住的。他表示：“管理者无法阻止流言——那是人性中根深蒂固的一部分；那跟禁止呼吸一样困难。”

不过，闲言碎语的确存在阴暗的一面。麦克安德鲁认为，当员工全部心思都被流言占据时，他们会变得麻痹，使管理者难以施行改革。此外，如果你成了流言的目标，你很少会觉得流言是友善的。

但管理者无视传言，也会为此付出代价。正如迈克逊所言：“不是说听到点滴传言就要采取行动，而是说，如果消息来源可靠，或许就值得一听。”他谈到了2005年针对英国一家医院两位男精神病医生的调查，这两位医生在长达20多年的时间里对女病人实施性骚扰，却没被发现。最终报告认为，医院管理层本应更重视有关病人遭到性骚扰的传言。

英国特许人事与发展协会(CIPD)员工关系顾问迈克?埃默特(Mike Emmott)认为，企业防止流言传播的唯一方法是对消息持开放态度。“他们必须在第一时间出现。管理者必须诚实可信。即使你不知道发生了什么事情，你也必须诚实。你必须能让人愿意与你交谈。”

迈克逊表示，如果你想通过传言网络测试员工对某项计划的反应，就像上述悉尼招聘服务公司的董事总经理一样，那么，挑选适当的消息传播者至关重要。“必须是你与之建立了信任关系的下属，不管是通过私交还是公务建立起来的信任。但他们的职位不能比你低太多，否则就不太可能进行轻松的交流。”

埃默特表示，就员工来说，重要的是不要表现得好像很喜欢闲谈。“你当然不想让人觉得，在这种前路未卜的时候，你还有时间可浪费。”

《如何保住工作》(How to Bullet-Proof Your Job)一书的作者斯蒂芬?维斯卡西(Stephen Viscusi)认为，最佳策略是与办公室八卦保持友好关系。“诀窍是吸收信息，但不要传播。要表现得超然，虽然你正将消息存档，以备往后参考，必要时还可以用来保住工作。”

他讲了一个例子：他的一位朋友听说公司将被收购，于是推迟休假。后来传言变成事实，由于消息公布时他在工作，所以他能够展现出自己在合并后公司的确切作用。

迈克逊认为，闲言有利于员工团结，并促使人们争当良好公民。他表示：“假如我是个懒散的人，可能会忍不住想偷点懒，但这样人们就会在背后说我，我在公司的名声就会受损，所以我可能不得不卖力地干活。”

此外，埃默特认为，闲言可能会很有趣。“如果工作场所没有八卦，那将死气沉沉，功能失调。”

译者/岱嵩

psst! heard what they're doing with the office gossip?

by emma jacobs 2009-01-08

The managing director of a Sydney-based recruitment agency recently grappled with a problem. He could not afford to award all employees a pay increase but was worried an alternative proposal could destroy morale. So he decided to start a rumour.

He told a trusted subordinate of his plan to award higher salaries to a few key staff, who would also have to take on greater responsibilities. As expected, news spread rapidly through the company and employees were surprisingly positive about the proposal. So he decided to press on with the new pay structure.

Such an experience, says Grant Michelson, research director at Audencia Nantes Business School in France, shows that senior managers can use office gossip networks as a quick way to test reaction to proposals.

As the economy slows and companies cut costs, the rumour mill is likely to focus on where the axe falls next. Managers have traditionally seen gossip about such an issue as detrimental to productivity and bad for morale. They think they “must do something about the ‘problem' of gossip”, says Mr Michelson. But many believe that informal channels and conversations in the workplace can be helpful to employers.

At any rate, attempts to thwart rumour are futile, says Frank McAndrew, professor of psychology at Knox University, Illinois: “Managers cannot stop gossip – it is too much a part of human nature; it would be just as difficult to get people to stop breathing.”

Nonetheless, gossip and rumour has a dark side. According to Prof McAndrew, when employees become preoccupied by gossip they can become paralysed and wreck managers' attempts to introduce change. Moreover, gossip rarely feels benign if you are the object of it.

But managers ignore it at their cost. As Mr Michelson says: “It doesn't mean you should take action on every bit of information you hear but if it's from a reliable source, it is probably worth listening to.” He cites the findings of an inquiry in 2005 that looked into how two male psychiatrists working from the same British hospital were able to sexually abuse female patients over a period of more than two decades undetected. The final report found that management should have paid greater heed to rumours indicating that abuse was going on.

Mike Emmott, adviser on employee relations at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, suggests the only way to slow the rumour mill is for companies to be open with information: “They need to get there first. Managers must be honest and credible. You've got to be honest even if you don't know what's going on. You've got to be available.”

If, like the managing director of the Sydney recruitment company, you want to test a proposal through the gossip network, it is vital to pick the right messenger, says Mr Michelson: “They have to be a subordinate who you have built up some trust [with], either through social or professional activities. But they can't be so far below you in the pecking order that such easy exchanges would be unlikely.”

From the employee's perspective, it is important not to look like the office gossip. “You certainly don't want to look like you've got time to waste in this time of uncertainty,” says Mr Emmott.

Stephen Viscusi, author of How to Bullet-Proof Your Job, believes the best strategy is to be friends with the office gossip: the “trick is to absorb the information without repeating it, to appear to be above it even while you're filing it away for future reference to use, if necessary, to bullet-proof your job”.

He cites the example of a friend who heard his company was about to be acquired and deferred his vacation. The rumour turned out to true and by beingat work when the announcement came, he was able to carve out a clear role for himself in the fall-out from the merger.

Gossip can bring employees together and force people to be good citizens, suggests Prof McAndrew: “If I am a slacker who might be tempted to not do my fair share, knowing that people will gossip about me and that my reputation within the group will suffer might force me to do more than I otherwise would.”

What is more, says Mr Emmott, it can be fun: “If you had a workplace without gossip it would be dead and dysfunctional.”

coldgreat

双语的，顶一个

skyeager

看过，支持有益文字。