DailyPost 175
GOSSIP, TALES & COTERIE
As staple as the all pervasive management principles in organizations is another staple in the diet of the business & organizational machines is is gossip and tales. This is the fast moving knowledge repository, dynamic and real time, in tune with the times. Another staple is a team which moves the well oiled machine of business enterprises, governments & NGO’s alike is what is termed as coterie, not found in the organisational charts and the official protocols, but can make or mar fortunes.
Carrying tales is as old human being themselves. This trait helps bosses & seniors to put moles at differential levels and keep getting inputs, which might or might not be of any use. Sometimes, on the contrary, tales have wrecked professionals & organisations and by the time damage is known, it’s well beyond the stage of rectification. Moles get known over a period of time. Carrying can generate only mistrust and suspicion. It is, for sure, the antithesis of professional relationship.
Gossip they say adds to flavor. It’s the proverbial chutney or pickle of the Indian thali. May as it may be so, the general claim remains that is harmless and is been done for some fun. Organisational gossip is catchy & addictive and comes in way of both right attitude and performance but there are no studies to suggest the same. It can be detrimental at times.
I am not aware of the history of coterie but it’s the mainstay of lots of organisations. It’s generally informal and is the real decision making body, the members can keep changing primarily on loyalty. It’s the de facto, the decisions thus informally taken is put into the de jure process for official sanctity and implementation. Coteries have ruled organisations as nothing else in human history.
COTERIES, GOSSIP & TALES ARE THE INFORMAL MAINSTAYS OF OUR ORGANISATIONS.
Sanjay Sahay