Office gossip related to gays and lesbians: An ‘otherness’ perspective

Abstract

Cross-cultural encounters with diverse individuals, such as gays and lesbians, has resulted in these persons often encountering a sense of otherness. Within the workplace context, there exists a preferable cultural identity of heteronormativity, where heterosexual individuals dominate and represent the ‘we,’ while those who are ‘different,’ including gays and lesbians, represent the ‘cultural other.’ The study that informs this article investigated how Black African gay and lesbian people, as the ‘cultural other,’ experience otherness through workplace gossip, and why gossipers engage in such behavior. Using a qualitative research approach comprising semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 18 Black African gay and lesbian persons, in various South African organizations, thematic analysis was the basis for data analysis. Findings suggest that Black African lesbian women at lower organizational levels experience greater marginalization in the form of gossip compared to Black African gay men. Furthermore, the perception among gay and lesbian participants is that gossip related to the sexual orientation of the other is more rooted in the Black African than the White, Coloured and Indian South African communities. It was also found that intersecting identities (socio-economic class; educational qualifications; geographic location) result in marginalized, lower educated employees from Black African townships gossiping to a greater extent about gay and lesbian people, than those with higher qualifications and socioeconomic profiles residing in suburbs. Organizational cultures where people were rooted in religious beliefs produced more intense office gossip than workplace cultures where managers and peers embraced diversity. We recommend that in embracing cross-cultural management practices, training of employees regarding cross-cultural adjustment and understanding the other, will bring positive outcomes in the workplace environment.

Investigating otherness, not difference: Should saming and othering be the focus of the discipline? Implications for a contemporary cross-cultural management studies

“…Seemingly innocent mechanisms and overtly blatant exclusion processes are equally relevant to investigate, and the analysis contributes to our current knowledge. The shift in focus of the discipline has already happened, and we propose that researchers should continue going the hard way to examine intercultural situations involving 'Othering' and 'Saming' and be bold enough to search for explanations which are not necessarily obvious, such as: What people create together instead of focusing on 'inherited' differences (Chevrier, 2024); accept more conflict for a positive cross-cultural management (Mahadevan, 2024); include alternative social identities, even at the price of problematic in-group and out-group relations (Wilmot et al, 2024); raise further awareness of intersectionality in intercultural awareness training at work (Carrim et al, 2024); and investigate the global landscape in terms of human right violations (Ascencio et al, 2024), just to name those research directions which were selected for this special issue. Certainly, others will follow on this path in order to increase and maintain the relevance of a contemporary cross-cultural management studies, with Otherness as its central focus.…”

“…One way of moving beyond Otherness is to narrow the focus and to trace the small, seemingly mundane mechanisms by means of which a certain group is made the Other. The article by Carrim et al (2024) underscores the relevance of studying how Othering and Saming emerges from the everyday, namely from office gossip. The authors show how heteronormativity, race and religiosity intersect to make gay and lesbian individuals in South Africa ‘the Other.’ They suggest that the present cross-cultural adjustment focus in intercultural awareness training at work needs to be widened to include such intersections.…”