Abstract: Gossip is an enigma. It can be a tool for building or destroying reputations, or it can be the cohesive glue that holds a group together. It may even be the instrument used to banish an individual from a group entirely. It is only since the early 1990s or so that psychologists and other social scientists have turned their attention toward the study of gossip, partially because it is difficult to define exactly what it is. Most researchers agree that the practice involves talk about people who are not present, and that this talk is relaxed, informal, and entertaining. Typically, the topic of conversation also concerns information that we can make moral judgments about. When gossip is discussed seriously, the goal usually is to suppress its frequency in an attempt to avoid the undeniably harmful effects it can have in work groups and other social networks. Although most gossip is not mean-spirited or spiteful, it is this nasty side of gossip that usually overshadows the more benign ways in which it functions in organizations. This article will organize the literature on workplace gossip by examining the theoretical perspectives taken by researchers who study gossip, by making a distinction between “rumors” and “gossip,” and by exploring both the positive and negative roles played by gossip in organizational life. Attention will also be paid to the strategies employed by organizations to manage rumors and gossip.