Researching the mechanisms of gossip: From fly on the wall to fly in the soup

Written by

I came across this great quote from Japke-d. Bouma, a columnist for the NRC: “Een bedrijf zonder roddel is als een voetbalwedstrijd zonder bal, een paella zonder garnalen, een hipster zonder baard.” [An organization without gossip is like a soccer game without a ball, a paella without shrimp, and a hipster without a beard].

While gossip usually has a bad rap, more and more managers, academics and researchers are recognizing the important role it plays in an organization’s communication and corporate culture. However, researching such a topic is not so easy to do…

In my article “Researching the mechanisms of gossip: From fly on the wall to fly in the soup,” that appeared this summer in The Qualitative Report, I explore how best to research such a sensitive topic.

Any comments, feedback or suggestions would be welcome, as I will continue to research this topic with a lot of enthusiasm!

Geplaatst in [Not Otherwise Specified]
Onbekend's avatar

Dominique Darmon has been a senior lecturer at The Hague University for Applied Sciences since 2012. She is the award winning author of "Have I Got Dirt for You: Using Office Gossip to Your Advantage" and "Roddel je naar de top: De ultieme kantoorgids." She teaches international communication management and is a member of the Research Group Change Management at the university. Dominique has more than fifteen years of experience as a television producer: she worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, for Vision TV, (Canada’s national, multi-faith television network) and produced documentaries for OMNI Television, (a Canadian multi-cultural station). Dominique then worked for SNV (Netherlands Development Organisation) as international campaign manager. Her work took her around the world, to places such as Russia, Indonesia, Cuba, Iraq, Cambodia, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Papua New Guinea.

Plaats een reactie