He could be testing to see if his idea goes down well, or use it as a ploy to cushion the impact of a drastic change, reported The Financial Times.

Like in the case of a managing director of a Sydney-based recruitment agency who recently grappled with a problem - he could not afford to award all employees a pay increase, but was worried an alternative proposal could destroy morale.

He decided to start a rumour by telling a trusted subordinate of his plan to award higher salaries to a few key staff, who would also have to take on greater responsibilities.

Predictably, the news spread like wild-fire and he got feedback that employees were surprisingly positive about the proposal. So he went with his proposal.

Mr Grant Michelson, research director at Audencia Nantes Business School in France, said senior managers can use office gossip networks as a quick way to test reactions to proposals.

Though managers traditionally gossip about who will be retrenched next, as detrimental as it is to productivity and morale, informal channels and conversations in the workplace can be helpful to employers.

The rumour-mill is there and you might as well figure a way to tap it to your advantage, say experts.

Mr Frank McAndrew, professor of psychology at Knox University, Illinois, said: 'Managers cannot stop gossip. It is too much a part of human nature. It would be just as difficult to get people to stop breathing.'

Added Mr Michelson: 'It doesn't mean you should take action on every bit of information you hear but if it's from a reliable source, it is probably worth listening to.'

He cites the findings of an inquiry in 2005 that looked into how two male psychiatrists working from the same British hospital were able to sexually abuse female patients over a period of more than two decades undetected. The final report found that management should have paid greater heed to rumours indicating that abuse was going on.

This article was first published in The New Paper on January 06, 2009.