TY - JOUR
T1 - Management are aliens!
T2 - Rumors and stress during organizational change
AU - Bordia, Prashant
AU - Jones, Elizabeth
AU - Gallois, Cindy
AU - Callan, Victor J.
AU - Difonzo, Nicholas
PY - 2006/10
Y1 - 2006/10
N2 - Rumors collected from a large public hospital undergoing change were content analyzed, and a typology comprising the following five broad types of change-related rumors was developed: rumors about changes to job and working conditions, nature of organizational change, poor change management, consequences of the change for organizational performance, and gossiprumors. Rumors were also classified as positive or negative on the basis of their content. As predicted, negative rumors were more prevalent than positive rumors. Finally, employees reporting negative rumors also reported more change-related stress as compared to those who reported positive rumors and those who did not report any rumors. The authors propose that rumors be treated as verbal symbols and expressions of employee concerns during organizational change.
AB - Rumors collected from a large public hospital undergoing change were content analyzed, and a typology comprising the following five broad types of change-related rumors was developed: rumors about changes to job and working conditions, nature of organizational change, poor change management, consequences of the change for organizational performance, and gossiprumors. Rumors were also classified as positive or negative on the basis of their content. As predicted, negative rumors were more prevalent than positive rumors. Finally, employees reporting negative rumors also reported more change-related stress as compared to those who reported positive rumors and those who did not report any rumors. The authors propose that rumors be treated as verbal symbols and expressions of employee concerns during organizational change.
KW - Communication
KW - Organizational change
KW - Rumor
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33747871358&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1059601106286880
DO - 10.1177/1059601106286880
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33747871358
SN - 1059-6011
VL - 31
SP - 601
EP - 621
JO - Group and Organization Management
JF - Group and Organization Management
IS - 5
ER -