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Employee Silence and Voice: Addressing Hidden Inequalities at Work

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Inequality and Organizational Practice

Part of the book series: Palgrave Explorations in Workplace Stigma ((PAEWS))

Abstract

This chapter explores the role of employee silence and voice in addressing hidden inequalities at work. The concepts of ‘employee silence’ and ‘employee voice’ are used as they can facilitate an understanding of the way in which employees respond to workplace problems, as well as their capacity to respond (Good and Cooper, Labour and Industry: A Journal of the Social and Economic Relations of Work 24: 302–316, 2014). In this chapter we examine when and how employees in organisational settings exercise voice and when and how they opt for silence (Milliken et al., Journal of Management Studies 40: 1453–1476, 2003). Under what conditions would employees articulate voice, revealing issues of hidden inequalities at work and under what conditions will they opt for silence? Why would employees make the decision to be silent and what types of issues would they be most likely to be silent about? How could organisations overcome this problem? Management, through practices and institutional structures, can perpetuate silence over a range of issues, thereby organising employees out of the voice process (Donaghey et al., Work, Employment and Society 25: 51–67, 2011). Any inequality in the workplace can lead to separation and isolation from the mainstream workforce, and this can influence affected employees’ voice and silence in the workplace (McFadden and Crowley-Henry, The International Journal of Human Resource Management Early View 1–26, 2017). On the other hand, opportunities to exercise voice, with transparent and fair mechanisms, can reveal a range of issues at work, from sexual harassment to any non-declared physical or psychological condition that otherwise can remain hidden. This can be a first step in addressing inequality in the workplace. Implications for theory and practice are discussed in this chapter.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    No real names used in this chapter. They have been replaced with pseudonyms.

  2. 2.

    Source: Baska (2018), People Management.

  3. 3.

    Adapted from Good and Cooper (2014, p. 308).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Resource Management, Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

    Konstantina Kougiannou

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  1. Konstantina Kougiannou
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Correspondence to Konstantina Kougiannou .

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  1. Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

    Stefanos Nachmias  & Valerie Caven  & 

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Kougiannou, K. (2019). Employee Silence and Voice: Addressing Hidden Inequalities at Work. In: Nachmias, S., Caven, V. (eds) Inequality and Organizational Practice. Palgrave Explorations in Workplace Stigma. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11647-7_8

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