Rumours!!!Can we prevent their damage?

I watched a movie last night, which was based on the gossip’s and rumour’s effects on people and their environment. It wasn’t a great movie but anyway, it made me think about all the damaging effects hese two elements can cause to an organization.

Rumours are usually a ‘thorn in the flesh’ of public relations and communications officers. They are not always harmful but recent research has illustrated that during restructuring and layoffs it might have effects such as decrease of productivity, lower employee morale, corrupt reputations and interfere with formal organizational communication, thus rumour control seems to be a necessity. So can a rumour=unverified information cause such disasters? Can something ‘you heard’ be of such an importance to certain groups and make such a great deal of it? Of course they can if it’s about changes of personnel, job satisfaction and anything that might threaten their current status in the workplace and make them feel insecure of the future.

I believe the best thing for an organization to do is be proactive about it. Include a chapter of rumour control in issues management or even in the crisis communication manual. Rumours can bring ‘python’ crisis to a company and it’s a shame because there are things that PR communicators can do about it. Being prepared to respond to those rumours, be alert to any negative effects they might have, be transparent to your staff, let them know of any changes and how they will affect them…it’s about having effective internal communication within the company that prevent at some level all the behind-the-back gossiping.