Making Sense of Organizational Members’ Silence: A Sensemaking-Resource Model

Bisel, Ryan S.; Arterburn, Elissa N.

doi:10.1080/08824096.2012.684985

Cited by 34 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Our results further suggest that, consistent with previous theoretical (Morrison & Milliken, 2000) and field studies (Bisel & Arterburn, 2012;Blenkinsopp & Edwards, 2008), the decision about whether to voice concerns about wrongdoing is an ongoing process, influenced by emotions, sensemaking, and critical events. In some cases, the incidents reassured individuals of Dr. Patel's competence; in others, a critical incident played a crucial role in shifting employees' interpretations of the situation from one of uncertainty to one of considerable concern and a perceived need for action.…”

Section: Theoretical Implicationssupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Another important theme to emerge from the data analysis is the importance of critical events and associated sensemaking in shaping employees' perceptions, emotional reactions, and eventually their behavior. Associated with this finding is the observation that, as Blatt et al (2006) emphasized, the decision about whether to voice concerns about workplace problems and issues is a dynamic process (see also Bisel & Arterburn, 2012). It is apparent that, although staff members held concerns about Dr. Patel from at least the middle of the 2003, most were unwilling to make a formal complaint to management; indeed, no major complaint was filed until October 2004.…”

Section: Major Themesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How Perceptions and Emotions Shaped Employee Silence in the Case of “Dr. Death” at Bundaberg Hospital

Edwards¹,

Lawrence²,

Ashkanasy³

2016

Emotions and Organizational Governance

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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. ABSTRACTPurpose À For over three decades, researchers have sought to identify factors influencing employees' responses to wrongdoing in work settings, including organizational, contextual, and individual factors. In focusing predominantly on understanding whistle-blowing responses, however, researchers have tended to neglect inquiry into employees' decisions to withhold concerns. The major purpose of this study was to explore the factors that influenced how staff members responded to a series of adverse events in a healthcare setting in Australia, with a particular focus on the role of perceptions and emotions.Research limitations/implications À Although limited to publicly available transcripts only, our findings provide support for the idea that perceptions and emotions play important roles in shaping employees' responses to adverse events at work, and that decisions about whether to voice concerns about wrongdoing is an ongoing process, influenced by emotions, sensemaking, and critical events.

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Section: Theoretical Implicationssupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Major Themesmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Perceptions and Emotions Shaped Employee Silence in the Case of “Dr. Death” at Bundaberg Hospital

Edwards¹,

Lawrence²,

Ashkanasy³

2016

Emotions and Organizational Governance

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Similarly, Tülübaş and Celep (2014) reported that institutional regulations play a considerable role whereas lack of self-confidence is relatively an insignificant factor. Bisel and Arterburn (2012) found that the most important reason for employees to be silent is to prevent possible damages in the future. Morrison and Milliken (2000) stated that organizational silence is closely associated with the organization's structure and its policies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relationship between Organizational Silence and Burnout among Academicians: A Research on Universities in Turkey

Akin

Ulusoy²

2016

IJHE

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The aim of this research is to analyze the relationship between organizational silence and burnout levels of academicians. The study group consisted of 190 academicians, who work in 17 state universities that are located in 15 different provinces of Turkey. Data were collected through Causes of Faculty Members' Silence Scale and Maslach Burnout Inventory. The results of the study indicate that silence levels of academicians are medium and burnout levels are low. A positive correlation was identified between organizational silence and burnout levels. Multiple linear regression analysis demonstrates that silence scores were predicting emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment. In order to reduce burnout to a minimum level in academy, university managers are offered to establish a culture, where academicians are allowed to express their opinions freely. In addition, the study provides suggestions for future research.

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“…Research demonstrates consistently that employees’ talk about ethics in the workplace gets silenced (Morrison, 2011), disqualified (Lyon, 2007), and displaced (Kassing & Armstrong, 2002) or voiced in equivocal (Ploeger, Kelley, & Bisel, 2011), economic (Sonenshein, 2006), or euphemistic terms (Lucas & Fyke, 2014). The dynamic is the result of socialization processes across the lifespan with authority figures (Detert & Edmondson, 2011; Kramer, 2010) as well as socialization within specific workplace climates (Bisel & Arterburn, 2012; Morrison & Milliken, 2000). In addition, employees’ reluctance to discuss private ethical concerns candidly is the product of facework and power dynamics (Bisel, Messersmith, & Kelley, 2012; Morand, 2000).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Encouraging Upward Ethical Dissent in Organizations: The Role of Deference to Embodied Expertise

Bisel

Adame

2018

Management Communication Quarterly

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This article demonstrates that when supervisors encourage subordinates to defer to their embodied expertise, subordinates are more likely to voice explicitly moralized upward dissent to an unethical business request. Working adults (N = 312) were randomly assigned to respond to an unethical business request from their boss in one of three scenarios that varied by how much the supervisor was known for encouraging deference to (a) embodied knowing, (b) intellectual reasoning, or (c) neither (i.e., a baseline control condition). Analyses revealed that participants were more than twice as likely to voice their private moral concerns explicitly with their boss when the supervisor was known for valuing subordinates’ embodied expertise (e.g., “going with your gut feelings”). In addition, participants also reported feeling significantly less communication anxiety in that same condition. Implications for leading organizational ethics conclude the article.

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Making Sense of Organizational Members’ Silence: A Sensemaking-Resource Model

Cited by 34 publications

References 19 publications

How Perceptions and Emotions Shaped Employee Silence in the Case of “Dr. Death” at Bundaberg Hospital

How Perceptions and Emotions Shaped Employee Silence in the Case of “Dr. Death” at Bundaberg Hospital

The Relationship between Organizational Silence and Burnout among Academicians: A Research on Universities in Turkey

Encouraging Upward Ethical Dissent in Organizations: The Role of Deference to Embodied Expertise

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