2.1 Employee Silence
Employee silence is described as “the deliberate withholding of any form of genuine expression about the individual behavioural, cognitive and/or affective evaluations of his/her organizational circumstance to persons who are perceived to be capable of effecting change or redress” (Pinder and Harlos, 2001.)There are numerous examples of situations where employees do not communicate important issues to their colleagues and supervisors. However, all of such cases do not necessarily count for employee silence (Johannesen, 1974). Employee silence arises when an employee intentionally chooses not to share potentially important information, such as recommendations, fears, or queries, with the others in the organization (Dyne
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Also, facts and ideas retaining can erode organization base or the foundation, decision making and innovation and development processes (Eisenstat and Beer, 2000). (Appelbaum et al. 2000) justified that during organisational change employees face many reconciliation issues such as fear of job loss, unpredictability about the new team members or the new manager, loss of situational control, etc. If silence is more powerful, change is at risk since positive communication climate is needed in order to avoid cynicism and suspicion (Appelbaum et al., 2000).
Milliken, Morrison and Hewlin (2003) posit that there are several antecedents and consequences of organizational silence. The antecedents, they claim, exist at the individual manager, management team, and organizational levels. Management practices are one such example contributing to employee silence (Morrison and Milliken, 2000). Employees who remain silent about relevant work issues that could inform their managers and organizations are in effect preventing the transfer of potentially valuable
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This is because it can hold within many various issues (like, , complaints about the organizational justice an employee receives, matters related to team’s efficacy or concern about misconduct at workplace), it can involve different organizational members, and can be targeted on different individuals or body (like administration, organizational subunits, colleagues, and external authorities) (Scott, 1993). Hence, it is believed that employee silence can differ from employee to employee depending on the issue, involved target audience and people. (Henriksen and Dayton, 2006). For example, an employee may choose to be silent concerning a certain issue but not for every others. In a same way he or she may exchange some information with some people but not with everyone. (Morrison and Milliken, 2000).
Employee silence according to the logic it is divided into three types. First one is defined as acquiescent silence which is exhibited by employees when they are not having the knowledge about the reality of other possible options to remain silent (Vakola and Dimitrias, 2005). Acquiescent silence is extricated and submissive behaviour of employees. They hold their opinion not because of high cognitive dissonance or because of any fear, but due to their attitude of detachment and discouragement (Pinder and Harlos,
In all relational issues, communication is not only important, it’s crucial. In the business world, this is no less true. However, many leaders neglect communication. They only lecture. They don’t listen. Of course, this isn’t an example of effective communication and the end result is employees never knowing exactly where they stand. A boss who doesn’t communicate will leave employees wondering about their futures at the company and in turn create an atmosphere of uncertainty within the company.
The book emphasizes on the existing knowledge base relating to open communication for individuals holding managerial positions. In its last and concluding chapters, it provides extensive literature reviews and theories that explain how open communication can be undertaken by managers. It explains that open communication occurs as a leadership dilemma across all management levels within an organization and entails a substantial array of...
Within an organization one of the key tools that they use is that of: communication. Communication is a primary key to any organization and without it there is no cohesion, no leadership, and no functionality. As communication begins to diminish, so does the organization – as one article puts it: “These new economic…. imperatives have significantly contributed to the demise of the old classic command-and-control bureaucracy…” (Tiernan et al, 2002, 47-48). From what this article states, the lack of communication has led to a semi-collapse of the mechanistic structure of an organization. Though communication does seem like a huge factor of an organization, communication does not come without its troubles within the inter-organizations; if there is communication going on in a company, there is going to also be a lack of communication. When a company has employed thousands of people (or maybe just a small amount) they are hiring a whole selection of individuals to work as whole group in unity – though this does seem like an amazing idea, these sets of individuals will have quite ...
Organizations that are more established and prosperous will have a more favorable way of looking at acts of whistleblowing and will have more resources at its disposal to devote to investigate the claims of the whistleblowers. On the other hand those firms which are less prosperous may see acts of whistleblowing as a threat to their existence and, have a hostile climate in general towards whistleblowing. The acts of whistleblowing may be perceived differently by different people in the organization. The superiors and the supervisors of the whistleblower may see such an act as questioning their ability, integrity and conduct. The fellow employees and colleagues may perceive the whistleblower as being disloyal to the company and the owners and the top management may see it as an effort on the part of the whistleblower to destroy the organizational image and threaten its stability. It is thus difficult to predict the outcomes across organizations in case of whistleblowing. A number of factors determine the outcome but these factors and the outcome itself vary from organization to organization and from individual to individual (Paul and Townsend,
The term Whistleblower means “An employee who discloses information that s/he reasonably believes is evidence of illegality, gross waste or fraud, mismanagement, abuse of power, general wrongdoing, or a substantial and specific danger to public health and safety. When information is classified or otherwise restricted by Congress or Executive Order, disclosures only are protected as whistleblowing if made through designated, secure channels. (What is a Whistleblower?)” The idea behind whistleblowers is that they believe trying to inform the public of illegal acts within their businesses has the potential to protect the public from wrongdoing. The following studies analyze scholar’s findings on different factors related to whistle blowing as
Poor communication skills among staff increase high level of stress and guilt. Conflict also leads to poor management skills and ineffective teamwork. “Such an environment decreases the likelihood of burnout and moral distress.” Savel, R. H., & Munro, C. L. (2013).
...due to fear. Sometimes an employee may be having an issue but fails to deliver it due to fear if getting sacked bearing in mind that the cost of living is very high. A situation may appear that due to this gap, something might crop up either the employees trying to harm the employers and before it is realized a loss has already occurred. It is good to be open in work places and to have forums where people can state what they think would be the appropriate measures to take for company or organization growth. Information should be shared freely within an organization.
A healthy flow of upward and downward communication ensures that the communications between managers and employees is complete. For example, in 2010, Kroger surveyed over 200 thousand employees in its “Associate First Tracker survey” and found the feedback both invaluable and “humbling.” Kroger then communicates the findings with their employees who participated which will then generate a new dialog in regard to what the next steps should be (Orgel, 2010). The final channel of communication is the use of horizontal communications between coworkers. This can...
It appears that, when employees who were responsible for sales, could not achieved the desired goals, preferred not to say anything and instead, enroll in unethical behaviors such as opening accounts without the client’s approval. It seems that they decided to handle the situation the way they did because they did not feel comfortable about speaking up and addressed the problems to their supervisors. I looked like they kept silence because they did not want to create any problems or conflicts and preferred to maintained the artificial harmony established within the company. All this behavior led to believe that the whole problem started not with the fear of conflict but with one dysfunction lower, Absence of trust. How do we expect that the employees feel comfortable about speaking up about how they feel and the things they do not feel good about if they don’t trust their supervisors or even their
Whistle-blowers face ethical dilemmas in decision-making about reporting organizational misconducts. Manager’s disapproval of whistleblowing hinders employee’s willingness to report internal wrong doing. High rank managers are not to empathic to whistle-blowers because this
It is this capability of the management to cultivate communication that is important towards effective engagement with the employee (Albrech, 2011). It is not just a one-sided affair of a company engaging employee, but also mutual loop where the employee is also engaging the company. After all, it takes two hands to clap. “Voice must be approached in a genuine and authentic way, and treated as more than just a cosmetic exercise. An authentic use of voice means that when the employee is invited to speak up, the company in return will both listen and will respond to what the employee says, even if just to explain why they cannot carry out a request for change. Feedback is vital and action must be seen to follow.” (Dromey et al, 2012, p.17).
The average worker spends two-thousand and eighty hours a year at their place of employment. Communication within the workplace is often overlooked or not given as much importance as most people should allow, given the amount of time that is spent there. Beyond the more basic verbal speech, one must be aware of the nonverbal symbols and noise that can have an effect on communication. There are also cultural, environmental and internal factors that can effect communication and how successful it can be. The various perceptions that an individual has developed over their life can also effect communication. One’s ability to communicate effectively will determine the success and enjoyment that is to come from their job.
Each day an individual will make a decision that will affect their life in some way. Should I wear the green shirt or the yellow shirt? Should I order a shake or lemonade? Should I wash the car today or wait until tomorrow? These simple decisions often happen without serious thought. Why? Because these decisions are not life changing ones. But what happens when the decision is not so easy to make, when it’s life changing. Sometimes a person’s conscious greatly affects one’s decision making, especially when the topic of whistle blowing arises. In this paper, I will discuss and analyze whistle-blowing, where it occurs, the effects of whistle-blowing, the consequences of whistle-blowing, and finally I close my paper with a conclusion.
A negative work environment can make employees feel irritable, anxious and defensive. This can cause poor productivity, lack of motivation and poor communication in the workplace which in turn can cause problems for the company. An employer’s abuse of power can cause mental or emotional distress on employees and also disrupt the workplace. Examples of employers abusing their position include humiliation, undermining, disrespectful language, discriminatory comments, yelling and intimidation. When employees are surrounded by this on a daily basis it can affect their self-worth. Employers can resolve these issues by allowing open lines of communication and by not giving employees the impression that it is acceptable to act negatively and disrespect fellow employees.
Communication is a very important aspect in leadership. It involves the ability of managers and other leaders in an organization to engage employees through effective listening and understanding of any issues that may be making it difficult for them to realize their full potential. The need for good communication capabilities in the workplace is to make sure that leaders give employees enough time to air their opinions before any binding directions are made. It is always necessary for leaders to remain mindful of the manner in wh...