TY - JOUR
T1 - Reconceptualising employee silence
T2 - Problems and prognosis
AU - Donaghey, Jimmy
AU - Cullinane, Niall
AU - Dundon, Tony
AU - Wilkinson, Adrian
PY - 2011/3
Y1 - 2011/3
N2 - A growing literature has emerged on employee silence, located within the field of organisational behaviour. Scholars have investigated when and how employees articulate voice and when and how they will opt for silence. While offering many insights, this analysis is inherently one-sided in its interpretation of silence as a product of employee motivations. An alternative reading of silence is offered which focuses on the role of management. Using the non-union employee representation literature for illustrative purposes, the significance of management in structuring employee silence is considered. Highlighted are the ways in which management, through agenda-setting and institutional structures, can perpetuate silence over a range of issues, thereby organising employees out of the voice process.These considerations are redeployed to offer a dialectical interpretation of employee silence in a conceptual framework to assist further research and analysis.
AB - A growing literature has emerged on employee silence, located within the field of organisational behaviour. Scholars have investigated when and how employees articulate voice and when and how they will opt for silence. While offering many insights, this analysis is inherently one-sided in its interpretation of silence as a product of employee motivations. An alternative reading of silence is offered which focuses on the role of management. Using the non-union employee representation literature for illustrative purposes, the significance of management in structuring employee silence is considered. Highlighted are the ways in which management, through agenda-setting and institutional structures, can perpetuate silence over a range of issues, thereby organising employees out of the voice process.These considerations are redeployed to offer a dialectical interpretation of employee silence in a conceptual framework to assist further research and analysis.
KW - employee silence
KW - employee voice
KW - managerial power
KW - non-union employee representation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79953659760&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0950017010389239
DO - 10.1177/0950017010389239
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79953659760
SN - 0950-0170
VL - 25
SP - 51
EP - 67
JO - Work, Employment and Society
JF - Work, Employment and Society
IS - 1
ER -