Employee silence refers to situations where employees withhold information that might be useful to the organization of which they are a part, whether intentionally or unintentionally. This can happen if employees do not speak up to a supervisor or manager.
Within organizations people often have to make decisions about whether to speak up or remain silent - whether to share or withhold their ideas, opinions, and concerns ... [The problem is that] in many cases, they choose the safe response of silence, withholding input that could be valuable to others or thoughts that they wish they could express.
— Frances J. Milliken and Elizabeth Wolfe Morrison, Shades of Silence: Emerging Themes and Future Directions for Research on Silence in Organizations
This means the situation is not going to change for the better anytime soon. Employee silence does not only occur between management and employees, it also occurs during conflict among employees, and as a result of organizational decisions. This silence keeps managers from receiving information that may help to improve the organization.
Incidence
Employee silence, the antithesis of employee voice, refers to situations where employees suppress information that might be useful to the organization of which they are a part. One way this can happen is if employees do not speak up to a supervisor or manager.
Van Dyne et al. (2003) define silence as an employee's motivation to withhold or express ideas, information and opinions about work‐related improvements. This silence can be intentional or unintentional; information can be consciously held back by employees. Or it can be an unintentional failure to communicate or a merely a matter of having nothing to say (Tangirala and Ramanujam, 2008). In an organization, this is interesting because it appears that silence is a communicative choice that employees may decide to adopt.
Indeed, when there is a problem in the workplace, employees have two options: remain silent or speak up. Unfortunately, many employees choose to remain silent because they do not want to share information that could be interpreted as negative or threatening. Employees typically remain silent about conflicts with co-workers, disagreements about organizational decisions, potential weaknesses in work processes, illegal or dangerous behaviors, and individual/personal grievances. Their silence keeps management from receiving critical information that would allow their organizations to improve or address problems before they have adverse effects.
The question of why employees choose to communicate or not in an organizational setting is an interesting one. As Milliken et al. (2003) state, “there is evidence from a variety of sources that employees often do not feel comfortable speaking to their bosses about organizational problems or issues that concern them.” Employees might be afraid of the outcome of speaking up, they might feel like nothing will change, they might simply feel intimidated with the subject matter that they wish to express, or they might feel intimidated by whom they would have to talk to. Also, if their co-workers aren't speaking up, they might be inclined to close their mouths as well, termed "collective silence". They might not want to break away from the crowd and present an opinion that differs from the majority. Or, employees might not feel like they possess enough power to speak up and voice their opinions; this notion is of particular significance when the organization is structured and set up as a hierarchy or bureaucracy.
Employee silence can occur in any organization, most often in organizations where communication is suffering. Employee silence causes the most damage when employees and supervisors do not meet on a regular basis. In a virtual workplace this is also true. In a virtual workplace the only in-person communication is in small discussion groups. This kind of organization is very susceptible to employee silence because there is almost no person-to-person communication, and it is very easy to ignore or misinterpret things like email. Employee silence is a problem for more than just virtual organizations. Within the past few years employee silence has been happening more often in non-virtual organizations.Panteli, N., and S. Fineman. "The Sound of Silence: the case of virtual team organising." Behaviour & Information Technology 24 (2005): 347-52. Organizations where considerable risk is involved such as airports and “hospitals; should be especially mindful of” employee silence. This is because mistakes caused by employee silence in these organizations can lead to the loss of life or serious damage costs to the organization.
Causes There are many different reasons for the start of employee silence in an organization. According to the Handbook of Organizational Justice, "a culture of injustice in organizations, be it distributive, procedural, or interactional (what we would call interpersonal), can lead to employee silence." In other words, "if the organizational norm is an unjust environment such as one that is characterized by intense supervisory control, suppression of conflict, ambiguous reporting structures, and poorly conducted performance reviews, employees will choose not to exercise voice and will therefore not receive the benefits available to those that do express opinions and ideas."
One obvious cause of employee silence is constant negative feedback from supervisors. When an employee gives a supervisor a suggestion and is shot down, employee silence is developed in an organization. Over time employees start to feel that every time they make a suggestion it will not be taken into consideration or will be rejected. A result of this is called a dissenting voice, which contributes to employee silence. The dissenting voice is that of the supervisor shooting someone down.Tourish, Dennis, and Paul Robson. "Sense Making and the Distortion of Critical Upward Communication in Organizations." Journal of Management Studies 43 (2006): 711-30. Supervisors, leaders, and managers alike can avoid the occurrence of a dissenting voice among employees by monitoring their management style. Cooperative styles such as "integrating, obliging, and compromising" are more effective than "avoiding and dominating" styles, which could cause silence among employees (Colquitt and Greenberg 312).
Another reason employee silence occurs is because people fear that if they speak up they may lose their jobs.Pentilla, Chris. "Get Talking." Entrepreneur Nov. 2003: 25-25. In some cases subordinates don't want to appear as though they are going against their supervisors, as they may view the employees' input as criticism of their practices, and be fired. This is especially true of organizations which have just experienced layoffs. In these cases, employees fear that their jobs could be taken away and are even less likely to voice their opinions than they did in the first place.
Another cause of employee silence is when supervisors and employees fail to address problems. Avoiding problems or looking for "quick fixes" only makes things worse and causes employees to feel that there is no hope for resolution. If employees lose hope that the real problems will actually be addressed and resolved, it can lead to a host of problems for the organization and for the employee, one of which is continued employee silence.Vakola, Maria, and Dimitris Bouradas. "Antecedents and consequences of organisational silence: an empirical investigation." Employee Relations 27 (2005): 441-58. Employees then start to feel it is better to remain silent about issues because nothing will change anyway. If companies want to be successful they need to confront the actual problem and fix it. Both employee and supervisor need to deal with the situation because employee silence usually stems from higher management down to lower level employees, which is the cause of the indifferent employee.Joinson, Carla. "Recreating the Indifferent Employee." HRM Magazine Aug. 1996: 76–81.
Discursive formations A discursive formation is defined as the regularities that produce such discourse. Discourse (acts of speaking and writing) is the medium by which an individual's behavior is framed for him/her and others. We are who we are, based on our communicative practices with others. Foucault uses this concept in his analysis of the political economy and natural history, but it's very useful when studying organizational communication. Discursive formations perhaps can intensify the conditioning of the silent employee based on the power aspect of the discourse itself. When one speaks or writes, a message can be delivered in a certain context, and that can have an effect on the employee on whether or not to remain silent. Discourse is the product of the dominant power interests in organizations and these interests can perpetuate themselves based on the ideology that is represented through them. Employees can feel less powerful as a result of hearing dominant opinions and perceptions; these practices can encourage silence naturally.
Many factors contribute to the notion of employee silence, especially when it comes to how one is placed or ranked in an organizational structure. There are distinct organizational groupings or divisions, such as masculine or feminine, subordinate or dominant, manager or employee, that can influence silence. The way superiors communicate with subordinates determines the climate and the culture of the organization. Employees begin to identify themselves throughout the culture they work in, by the ways in which they participate in work rituals, through the relationships they form with co-workers and managers, and through the language/discourse they use. Communication is thus at the forefront of how employees perceive themselves in relation to the organization and in regards to their relationships with other people.
Research by Milliken et al. (2003) suggests that employee silence is related to social capital (valuable resources such as trust and goodwill that are embedded within a social structure). Employees work hard to build and maintain social capital and typically do not engage in behaviors that may weaken or sever these vital social ties. They do not want to risk looking bad; this will reflect on their identity, their role, and their overall connection to the organization. This is pertinent as it relates to employee identity and power. Since employees perceive themselves in relations to others, they do not want to ruin their public image because that image alone protects their social capital.
Additional causes In organizations, there is evidence that employees are especially uncomfortable conveying information about potential problems or issues to those above them (Milliken et al. 2003). This knowledge brings up the notion of hierarchy and subordinate/supervisor relationships. Someone in a lower position will be uncomfortable expressing issues to someone in a higher position. If, however, subordinates have close, positive, interpersonal relationships with their supervisors, chances are higher that they will choose to communicate honestly. It comes down to the basic principle of trust and mutual appreciation, which is difficult to obtain in a bureaucratic structure. Willman, P. et al. (2006) present evidence that any hierarchical organization tends to support what its leaders already think is true more than it challenges them to think differently. The levels below the leaders are more interested in keeping their jobs than in telling the truth.