Psst ... Have you heard what that nice Tim Hallett found out when he and two colleagues undertook a study about workplace politics at an urban elementary school? Well, among other juicy tidbits, it appears that workplace gossip sometimes plays a positive role in the social food chain.

Hallett, [a sociologist at Indiana University] and his colleagues, it turns out, are into gossip. [Their recent study] observed teachers, administrators and students at formal and informal meetings, from the teachers' lounge to more formal, teacher-led meetings.

Among their findings is that office gossip isn't always worthy of the bad rap it receives.

. . . "Everybody assumes that gossip is negative, and this is often the case," Hallett said. "But people can say very positive things about people when they're not present, and in that way, gossip can be a weapon in which people can undermine each other, but it can also be a gift."

Gossip also serves as an informal organization chart, which can help employees understand who the go-to people are in their department.

Some employers, however, actively work to stymie workplace gossip.

. . . Sam Chapman, CEO of Empower Public Relations in Chicago, said the only way to cease tongue-wagging in the office is to ban it entirely and to reinforce that ban by bringing potential gossip into the light of day. Chapman's no-gossip zone techniques have worked wonders in his own 20-person firm, he said.

. . . [Chapman] instituted his no-gossip-zone policy a little over two years ago after it appeared to him that too much time and productivity was lost while employees dished the dirt. He wanted his employees to be busy, rather than busybodies, and if there were negative sentiments about others' work, Chapman said he wanted them to be aired publicly, rather than be fodder for gossip. "It's a management tool for me," he said.

The rest of the story . . . .