WHAT IS THE ISSUE THAT EMPLOYEES DO NOT COMMUNICATE UPWARD AND WHY?
The first critical element or resource of every firm is its people. People aren’t just resources; they also manage everything else, including money, supplies, information, and procedures. This demands the employees’ complete commitment or belongingness. However, in the real world, many employees do not voice their concerns and instead remain silent. In recent years, many scholars have focused on employee silence. They assumed there were reasons for the silence, as well as aspects to it. This literature review suggests several practical characteristics for businesses to support growth and development, as well as some advice for coping with the silence of employees.
Employees’ Silence : Instead of frequently offering suggestions, facts, and opinions that can assist firms in improving their operations, they frequently withhold their thoughts, facts, and opinions rather than exercising their right to speak up and express themselves (Botero, Isabel C., et al., 2003). Silence, according to Akc and Ayşehan (2007), is the deliberate withholding of information about concerns relating to the job or workplace. According to Pinder and Harlos (2001), “silence” is defined as the withholding of any true expression regarding a person’s behavioral, cognitive, and/or effective judgments about his or her organizational conditions by people who are considered able to effect change or restitution. Silence, according to Morrison and Milliken (2000), is a phenomenon at the organizational level. A recent finding by Bogosian (2011) reveals that silence is established at the individual level and then becomes an organizational level phenomenon through a socialization process. Employee silence isn’t the polar opposite of an employee speaking up. Milliken, Morrison, and Hewlin (2003) described the concept of silence and voice as a continuum where employees might choose to speak up about work-related difficulties rather than remain silent, depending on the situation. Employee silence indicates a lack of genuine concern about working circumstances in an organization (Pinder, Craig C., and Karen P. Harlos, 2001).
Reasons for employees’ silence: Deterring speech attempts is a crucial aspect of voice efficacy, or people’s conviction that they can’t successfully express their views (Morrison et al., 2011). Another aspect that discourages speaking is the potential financial consequences for the speakers. When speaking up would result in a material or social loss for the employees, people are especially hesitant to speak up (Kish-Gephart, Detert, Trevino, & Edmondson, 2009).Employees remained silent when they believed that speaking out about concerns would put them in danger (Morrison and Milliken, 2000). He also indicated that managers’ implicit managerial beliefs that inhibit voice, such as the views that employees are self-interested, that management knows best, and that unity is desirable, while disagreement is bad, contribute to an atmosphere of silence.
