Organizational Silence: introduction and critique

• Autor(a) principal: Moura-Paula, Marcos Júnior de
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Outros Autores: Silva Ferraz, Deise Luiza da
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Cadernos EBAPE.BR
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.fgv.br/cadernosebape/article/view/14581

With the changes that happened from the 1970s, organizations started to demand more participation of their employees in work processes’ decisions. Open and frank communication becomes vital in this scenario. The organizational silence (MORRISON e MILLIKEN, 2000) and the employee silence (PINDER e HARLOS, 2001) are to be studied in more depth to understand the behaviors that lead employees to voice, via speaking up, or to remain silent. Since the 2000s, silence has gained an increasing research interest (BRINSFIELD, EDWARDS e GREENBERG, 2009), and this paper aims to introduce the organizational silence on the research agenda on Organizational Behavior in Brazil. Therefore, we present what the foreign literature points out as motives that lead employees to remain silent, and the consequences of this silence both for them and for the organization. We believe, however, that there are limitations in the reflections developed. To prevent a domesticated introduction of knowledge, we present some still emerging reflections on the subject based on debates by some Brazilian scholars (especially, TRAGTENBERG, 1971; 2005; PRESTES MOTTA, 1981; PAES DE PAULA, 2002; FARIA e MENEGHETTI, 2011) on the ideological character and, therefore, oppressive side of the knowledge produced by management science. So, we criticize some of the underlying assumptions of the organizational silence theory, drawing attention to the role of the organization itself as sponsor of both silence and the consequences that may arise from it.