Organizational dissent is the "expression of disagreement or contradictory opinions about organizational practices and

policies Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an orga ...

".Kassing, J. W. (1998)
Development and Validation of the Organizational Dissent Scale
/ref> Since dissent involves

disagreement A disagreement is the absence of consensus or consent Consent occurs when one person voluntarily agrees to the proposal or desires of another. It is a term of common speech, with specific definitions as used in such fields as the law, med ...

it can lead to conflict, which if not resolved, can lead to

violence Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened ...

and struggle. As a result, many organizations send the message – verbally or nonverbally – that dissent is discouraged. However, recent studies have shown that dissent serves as an important monitoring force within organizations. Dissent can be a warning sign for employee dissatisfaction or organizational decline. Redding (1985) found that receptiveness to dissent allows for corrective

feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled ...

to monitor unethical and

immoral Immorality is the violation of moral laws, norms or standards. It refers to an agent doing or thinking something they know or believe to be wrong. Immorality is normally applied to people or actions, or in a broader sense, it can be applied to gr ...

behavior Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as we ...

, impractical and ineffectual organizational practices and policies, poor and unfavorable

decision making In psychology, decision-making (also spelled decision making and decisionmaking) is regarded as the cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several possible alternative options. It could be either ra ...

, and insensitivity to employees'

workplace A workplace is a location where someone works, for their employer or themselves, a place of employment. Such a place can range from a home office to a large office building or factory. For industrialized societies, the workplace is one of ...

needs and desires. Furthermore, EilermanEilerman, D. (January 2006)
Conflict: Cost and opportunity.
Retrieved September 17, 2007 argues that the hidden costs of silencing dissent include: wasted and lost

time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

, reduced

decision Decision may refer to: Law and politics *Judgment (law), as the outcome of a legal case *Landmark decision, the outcome of a case that sets a legal precedent * ''Per curiam'' decision, by a court with multiple judges Books * ''Decision'' (novel ...

quality,

emotional Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definition ...

and relationship costs, and decreased job

motivation Motivation is the reason for which humans and other animals initiate, continue, or terminate a behavior at a given time. Motivational states are commonly understood as forces acting within the agent that create a disposition to engage in goal-dire ...

. Perlow (2003) found that employee resentment can lead to a decrease in

productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proces ...

and

creativity Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a printed lit ...

which can result in the organization losing money, time, and resources.

Types of dissent

There are three types of dissent: articulated, latent, and displaced (Kassing, 1998).

Articulated

Involves expressing dissent openly and clearly in a constructive fashion to members of an organization that can effectively influence organization adjustment. This may include

supervisor A supervisor, or lead, (also known as foreman, boss, overseer, facilitator, monitor, area coordinator, line-manager or sometimes gaffer) is the job title of a lower-level management position that is primarily based on authority over workers or ...

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

, and

corporate officer Corporate titles or business titles are given to corporate officers to show what duties and responsibilities they have in the organization. Such titles are used by publicly and privately held for-profit corporations, cooperatives, non-profit ...

Latent

Employees resort to expressing dissent to either their coworkers or other ineffectual

audience An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), o ...

s within the organization. Employees employ this route when they desire to

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...

their

opinions An opinion is a judgment, viewpoint, or statement that is not conclusive, rather than facts, which are true statements. Definition A given opinion may deal with subjective matters in which there is no conclusive finding, or it may deal with ...

but lack sufficient avenues to effectively express themselves.

Displaced

Involves expressing dissent to external audiences, such as

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

and friends, rather than media or

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studi ...

sources sought out by whistle-blowers.

Factors influencing dissent expression

Kassing (1997) states there are three factors that influence which dissent

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " ...

employee Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any ot ...

will decide to use: #

Individual An individual is that which exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of being an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) of being a person unique from other people and possessing one's own need ...

# Relational #

Organization An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived f ...

Individual influences

Individual influences concern qualities that employees bring to the organization, expectations they have acquired, and behaviors they enact within organizations.

Preference to avoid conflict

Roberto (2005) claims that employees may have a preference for avoiding conflict. Therefore, they find confrontation in a public setting uncomfortable. Individual's sense of powerlessness and senses of right and wrong are contributing factors (Kassing & Avtgis, 1999).

Verbal aggressiveness and argumentativeness

Kassing and Avtgis (1999) demonstrated that an individual's verbal aggressiveness and

argumentative In the American legal system, argumentative is an evidentiary objection raised in response to a question which prompts a witness to draw inferences from facts of the case. One common misconception is that argumentative questions are meant only t ...

ness influence the manner in which an individual will approach expressing dissent. Verbal aggressiveness involves attacking another person's self concept. This may include character attacks, competence attacks,

ridicule Mockery or mocking is the act of insulting or making light of a person or other thing, sometimes merely by taunting, but often by making a caricature, purporting to engage in imitation in a way that highlights unflattering characteristics. Mock ...

, and

threats A threat is a communication of intent to inflict harm or loss on another person. Intimidation is a tactic used between conflicting parties to make the other timid or psychologically insecure for coercion or control. The act of intimidation for co ...

. Argumentativeness, on the other hand, is when an individual argues about

controversial Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite d ...

issues. Individuals will choose their strategy for expressing dissent based on the strength of their arguments. Kassing and Avtgis (1999) found an individual who is more argumentative and less verbally aggressive is prone to use articulated dissent. On the other hand, an individual who lacks argumentative skills will resort to using a less direct and more aggressive strategy, latent dissent.

Work locus of control

Work

locus of control Locus of control is the degree to which people believe that they, as opposed to external forces (beyond their influence), have control over the outcome of events in their lives. The concept was developed by Julian B. Rotter in 1954, and has sinc ...

can also be a contributing influence. An individual with an internal locus of control orientation believes that they have control over their

destiny Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often ...

. They feel the only way to bring about a desired outcome is to act. Individuals who see their lives as being controlled by outside forces demonstrate an external locus of control (Robbins, 2005). Kassing's (2001) study demonstrated that employees with an internal locus of control used articulated dissent whereas an employee with an external locus of control preferred to use latent dissent.

Relational influences

Relational influences include the types and qualities of relationships people maintain within their organization. ''Employee relationships''
Employees develop and maintain various relationships within organizations. These relationships can influence the choices employees make about expressing dissent. Employees may feel uncomfortable voicing their dissenting

in the presence of others because they feel the best way to preserve relationships is to keep quiet. Homogeneous groups also place pressure on individuals to

conform Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms, politics or being like-minded. Norms are implicit, specific rules, shared by a group of individuals, that guide their interactions with others. People often cho ...

. Since many people fear being embarrassed in front of their peers, they can easily be lulled into consensus (Roberto, 2005). ''Superior–subordinate relationship''
The

superior Superior may refer to: *Superior (hierarchy), something which is higher in a hierarchical structure of any kind Places *Superior (proposed U.S. state), an unsuccessful proposal for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to form a separate state *Lake ...

–

subordinate A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an important ...

relationship is an important relational factor. Employees who perceive they have a higher-quality relationship with their

s are more often to use articulated dissent. They feel their supervisors respect their opinions and that they have mutual influence and

persuasion Persuasion or persuasion arts is an umbrella term for influence. Persuasion can influence a person's beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivations, or behaviours. Persuasion is studied in many disciplines. Rhetoric studies modes of persua ...

over the outcome of organizational decisions. Conversely, employees that perceive their relationship with their supervisor as low-quality will resort to latent dissent. They feel that there is no room to voice their opinions (Kassing, 2000).

Management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

which models the use of articulated dissent contributes to the use of articulated dissent among its employees (Kassing & Avtgis, 1999). Subordinates who witness their supervisors successfully articulating dissent may be more likely and more willing to adopt similar strategies. However, a supervisor must keep in mind that expressing dissent can be very difficult and uncomfortable for lower-level managers and employees. Therefore, supervisors should not only take actions to encourage dissent, they must be willing to seek out individuals willing to say no to them (Roberto, 2005).

Organizational influences

Organizational influences concern how organizations relate to their employees.

Organizational norms

Once an employee joins an organization, it is through

assimilation Assimilation may refer to: Culture * Cultural assimilation, the process whereby a minority group gradually adapts to the customs and attitudes of the prevailing culture and customs ** Language shift, also known as language assimilation, the prog ...

that they learn the norms of the organization. Perlow (2003) states that organizations placing "high value on being polite and avoiding confrontation" can cause employees to be uncomfortable expressing their differences. Employees make assessments about motives and restraints when others dissent and use this

knowledge Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is distin ...

to inform their own decisions about when and how to use dissent (Kassing, 2001). Furthermore, some corporate assumptions are accepted without questioning. For example, employees will defer to the expert's opinion (Roberto, 2005).

Organizational identification

Organizational identification and workplace

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

has an effect on an individual's choice of expressing dissent (Kassing, 2000). If an individual highly identifies himself or herself with the organization, they are more likely to use the dissent strategy that mirrors the organization's values. If the organization demonstrates it values dissent and promotes workplace freedom of speech, the highly identified employee will demonstrate articulate dissent.

Openness

An organization that limits the opportunities for employees to voice their opinions, demonstrates contradictory expectations, and gives the perception that openness is not favored, will lead employees to select latent dissent strategies (Kassing & Avtgis, 1999).

Perceptions of organizational dissenters

The

perceptions Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...

of supervisors and coworkers can be used to further determine an individual's choice of dissent strategy. Employees will take notice of other

dissenter A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc. Usage in Christianity Dissent from the Anglican church In the social and religious history of England and Wales, ...

s and the consequences of their actions and will use this information to refine their "sense of organizational tolerance for dissent, to determine what issues merit dissent, and to inform their future dissent strategy choices" (Kassing, 2001). Kassing (2001) found that articulated and latent dissenters were perceived differently. People perceived articulated dissenters to be more satisfied, more committed, possess higher quality relationships with their supervisors, and seen as employees who believed they have influence within their organizations than latent dissenters. Furthermore, articulated dissenters, compared to latent dissenters, were perceived to be less verbally aggressive.

Triggering events

Organizational dissent begins with a triggering event. This triggering event is what propels individuals to speak out and share their

about organizational practices or

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

. An individual will consider the issue of dissent and whom it concerns before deciding what dissent strategy to use. The types of issues that cause employees to dissent vary. The majority of

employees Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any ot ...

expressed dissent due to resistance of organizational change. Other factors include employee treatment,

tactics Tactic(s) or Tactical may refer to: * Tactic (method), a conceptual action implemented as one or more specific tasks ** Military tactics, the disposition and maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield ** Chess tactics ** Political tact ...

, inefficiency, role/ responsibility, resources,

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...

performance A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Management science In the work place ...

evaluation Evaluation is a systematic determination and assessment of a subject's merit, worth and significance, using criteria governed by a set of standards. It can assist an organization, program, design, project or any other intervention or initiative to ...

s, and preventing harm (Kassing, 2002). In addition to the dissent-triggering event, the focus of the issues can be relevant to how one expresses dissent. Kassing (2002) believed individuals may focus on improving matters within the organization that affect themselves (self-focused), they may focus on the welfare of the organization of the whole (other-focused) or they may focus on issues concerning their co-workers (neutral).

Articulated dissent

An individual will use upward articulate dissent in response to functional and other-focused dissent-triggering events. Organizations are more attractive to upward articulate dissenting when it is in regards to functional aspects. This type of dissent gives the perception that dissenters are being constructive and are concerned with issues of "principle rather than personal-advantage". It allows the employee to signal their commitment to

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

goals.

Latent dissent

Individuals may also express latent dissent in response to functional and other-focused dissent-triggering. They determine to use latent instead of articulate when they believe that

is not receptive to employee dissent. This indicates that individuals would use articulate dissent if they feel those channels are not available and accessible. Latent dissent is also used in protective dissent–triggering events.

Displaced dissent

Individuals will readily used displaced dissent regardless of the focus or triggering event. External audiences provide individuals with a low-risk alternative to express dissent. The downfall for organizations, however, is the loss of employee

. If an employee expresses their dissent to outsiders, the organization will not hear about it and will assume that less dissent exists within the organization. When an organization fails to address potential issues, employees may then view the organization as discouraging dissent and will resort to using either latent or displaced dissent in the future.

Benefits of upward dissent

In 2002, Kassing's research found upward dissent can be beneficial to both the organization and the individuals involved.

Organizational benefits

Upward dissent serves as an important monitoring force and allows the organization to identify problems and issues before they become damaging.

Individual benefits

Employees who express upward dissent seem more satisfied, to have better work relationships, and to identify with their organization.

Upward dissent strategies

Not all organizations are designed to recognize and respond to employee dissent. Furthermore, employees consider expressing upward dissent as a "risky proposition". In several studies Kassing (1997, 1998) found that employees decided to express dissent by considering whether or not they will be perceived as constructive or adversarial, as well as the risk of retaliation associated with dissenting. In 2002, Kassing found that once an individual decides to

strategically Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...

express dissent, they use five different categories: direct-factual

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

repetition Repetition may refer to: * Repetition (rhetorical device), repeating a word within a short space of words *Repetition (bodybuilding), a single cycle of lifting and lowering a weight in strength training *Working title for the 1985 slasher film '' ...

, solution

presentation A presentation conveys information from a speaker to an audience. Presentations are typically demonstrations, introduction, lecture, or speech meant to inform, persuade, inspire, motivate, build goodwill, or present a new idea/product. Presenta ...

, circumvention, and threatening

resignation Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...

Direct-factual appeal

When an employee uses factual information derived from physical evidence, knowledge of organizational policies and practices, and personal

work experience Work may refer to: * Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community ** Manual labour, physical work done by humans ** House work, housework, or homemaking ** Working animal, an animal ...

, they use the direct-factual appeal strategy. This strategy is considered active and constructive because the employees seek evidence and base their assumptions on facts,

evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports this proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the supported proposition is true. What role evidence plays and how it is conceived varies from field to field. In epistemology, evidenc ...

, and first-hand

experience Experience refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these conscious processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience involv ...

. Employees avoid using verbal attacks and unsupported

data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpret ...

Repetition

Repetition Repetition may refer to: * Repetition (rhetorical device), repeating a word within a short space of words *Repetition (bodybuilding), a single cycle of lifting and lowering a weight in strength training *Working title for the 1985 slasher film '' ...

involves expressing dissent about a topic/issue repeatedly at different points in time. This strategy is often used when an employee feels nothing is being done to correct the original articulated problem/issue and feel that the issue warrants being repeated. The problem with this strategy is that repetition in a short period can be seen as destructive. Especially if the abbreviated time frame does not allow the supervisor enough time to respond. However, if repetition is used over an extended time period it may be considered active–constructive since it may serve as a reminder to the supervisor.

Solution presentation strategy

The solution presentation strategy is deemed as active–constructive since an employee will provide solutions, with or without supporting evidence. This allows the supervisor to be receptive to the expressed dissent and indicates that effort has been put into solving the problem/issue.

Circumvention

If an employee feels their immediate supervisors are not responsive to dissent, they may employ the circumvention strategy. This entails the employee choosing to dissent to an audience higher in the organizational

hierarchy A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an important ...

. If an employee uses this strategy before giving their supervisor they opportunity to handle the situation first, this strategy can be deemed active–destructive. However, when used to express dissent regarding unethical practices it is considered active–constructive since the dissent is issue driven.

Threatening resignation

Threatening resignation can also be seen as both active–constructive and active–destructive. This strategy involves the employee threatening to resign as a "form of leverage for obtaining responsiveness and action from supervisors and management." When used to express your concerns about unsafe and intolerable

work conditions Occupational safety and health (OSH), also commonly referred to as occupational health and safety (OHS), occupational health, or occupational safety, is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at wor ...

it is deemed constructive. However, this strategy will appear to be destructive when the managers view the threat as " antagonistic and unprincipled".

Encouraging dissent in the workplace

There are some " tricks" that leaders can utilize to develop their employees' attitudes,

, and

skills A skill is the learned ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. For example, in the domain of w ...

that are needed to foster constructive dissent.

Change decision-making focus

Leaders should focus on "How I should make the decision" instead of "What decision should I make". In the end, if they perform the following steps the decision the leader should make will be obvious.

Encourage constructive conflict

Leaders need to ensure that conflict remains constructive. That is, they must stimulate task-oriented

and

debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, a ...

while trying to minimize

interpersonal The concept of interpersonal relationship involves social associations, connections, or affiliations between two or more people. Interpersonal relationships vary in their degree of intimacy or self-disclosure, but also in their duration, in t ...

conflict. Eilerman (2006) claims that the way conflict is handled will determine whether the outcome is constructive or destructive. According to Roberto (2005) leaders can create constructive conflict by taking concrete steps before, during, and after a critical

decision process In psychology, decision-making (also spelled decision making and decisionmaking) is regarded as the cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several possible alternative options. It could be either rat ...

Establish ground rules

Before the process begins, leaders can establish ground rules for how people should interact during the deliberations, clarify the role that each individual will play in the discussions, and build mutual

respect Respect, also called esteem, is a positive feeling or action shown towards someone or something considered important or held in high esteem or regard. It conveys a sense of admiration for good or valuable qualities. It is also the process of ...

. Asking individuals to

role play ''Role Play'' is an upcoming American thriller film directed by Thomas Vincent, written by Seth Owen, and produced by and starring Kaley Cuoco. Premise A married couple's lives are turned upside down when secrets are revealed about their past ...

or to become the devil's advocate ahead of time can help reduce affective conflict while also stimulating constructive conflict (Roberto, 2005). Macy and Neal (1995) claim that since the role of the devil's advocate is to present convincing

counterargument In reasoning and argument mapping, a counterargument is an objection to an objection. A counterargument can be used to rebut an objection to a premise, a main contention or a lemma. Synonyms of counterargument may include rebuttal, reply, count ...

s and to challenge the main position, its benefit lies in the fact that it automatically builds conflict into the decision-making process.

Intervene when necessary

During deliberations, leaders can intervene when debates get heated. They might redirect people's attention and frame the debate in a different light, redescribe the ideas and data in novel ways so as to enhance understanding and spark new branches of discussion or may revisit ideas in hopes of finding common ground (Roberto, 2005). Deutsch and Coleman (2000) explain that reframing allows conflicting parties to see themselves as being in a

collaborative Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Mos ...

, while producing a positive atmosphere that is conductive to

and one that increases the potential solutions available.

Reflect on the process

After a decision process ends, leaders should reflect on the process and try to derive lessons learned regarding how to manage conflict constructively. Since reflections can lead to new

insight Insight is the understanding of a specific cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings: *a piece of information *the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of seeing intui ...

, individuals must take time to critically assess the experience. They also must address and repair any hurt feelings and damaged relationships that may not have been apparent during the process itself. If these relationships are not repaired, trust could be lost which could negatively affect the effort of the next collaboration. Additionally, leaders should celebrate constructive conflict management and help others to remember the success of the process (Roberto, 2005).

Establish a supportive climate

Bennis (2004) emphasizes that corporate leaders must promise their followers that they will never be devalued or punished because they express dissent. All too often in the past, organizations would marginalize or terminate any employee who voiced an opposing view. Additionally, leaders should reward dissent and punish conflict avoiders. Anyone who clearly withholds a dissenting view only to obstruct the implementation later should be held responsible. When leaders establish a climate of openness, they make constructive conflict a habit in the organization and develop behaviors which can be sustained over time. Kassing's (2000) research found that when leaders emphasize workplace

, employees openly and clearly express dissent to audiences that are responsible for "organizational adjustment". However, for leaders to ensure this type of sustainability, they need to not only change the way they make decisions, but they must develop a pipeline of leaders who approach decision-making differently (Roberto, 2005).

Situations that may undermine a leader's efforts

Even if a leader takes all the steps indicated above they must be aware of four situations that can undermine their efforts (Roberto, 2005).

Crowding out response time

Leaders should avoid crowding out opportunities to respond or discuss policies. Overloading an agenda can decrease the amount of time that is available for an individual to express their view.

Appointing the same devil's advocate every time

Employing the same person as devil's advocate can cause the view that it is an "empty

ritual A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized ...

". It is seen as being done for procedural reasons instead of seeking dissenting views.

Allowing too much time for subgroups

Leaders should not allow employee

subgroups In group theory, a branch of mathematics, given a group ''G'' under a binary operation ∗, a subset ''H'' of ''G'' is called a subgroup of ''G'' if ''H'' also forms a group under the operation ∗. More precisely, ''H'' is a subgrou ...

to have too much time before coming together as a group. Doing so can cause the employees to become attached to an

argument An argument is a statement or group of statements called premises intended to determine the degree of truth or acceptability of another statement called conclusion. Arguments can be studied from three main perspectives: the logical, the dialecti ...

and as a result they may not be open to other ideas.

Focusing on qualitative data

Leaders should avoid focusing on qualitative data. The employees may become more focused on the

than the real issue(s).

Whistle-blowing

Whistle-blowing is a

subset In mathematics, set ''A'' is a subset of a set ''B'' if all elements of ''A'' are also elements of ''B''; ''B'' is then a superset of ''A''. It is possible for ''A'' and ''B'' to be equal; if they are unequal, then ''A'' is a proper subset of ...

of dissent. It involves the expression of dissent to external organizations such as media and

avenues that have the power to take corrective action. Kassing (2000) believes that the whistle-blowing process begins at the superior–subordinate relationship. If a superior response to an employee's effort to dissent is negative this may cause the employee to seek other avenues of dissent. In fact, evidence indicates that only as a last resort do the dissendents finally go public with their tales (Bennis, 2004, Kassing, 2000). Whistle-blowers are often high-performing employees who believe they are doing their job (Martin, 2005). They just want to bring people's attention to a problem that is potentially harmful or unethical. Despite this, whistle-blowers are perceived negatively and suffer grave consequences. They are often

ostracized Ostracism ( el, ὀστρακισμός, ''ostrakismos'') was an Athenian democratic procedure in which any citizen could be expelled from the city-state of Athens for ten years. While some instances clearly expressed popular anger at the cit ...

harass Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates or embarrasses a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and moral re ...

ed, and attacked by their superiors and coworkers. They face

termination Termination may refer to: Science *Termination (geomorphology), the period of time of relatively rapid change from cold, glacial conditions to warm interglacial condition *Termination factor, in genetics, part of the process of transcribing RNA ...

, financial losses,

stress Stress may refer to: Science and medicine * Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition * Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...

, relationship breakdown, and

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organ ...

problems. Even worse, few whistle-blowers seem to bring about any change. The organization seems to put all their efforts into destroying the whistle-blower while ignoring the original problem. The organization will take great measures to cover-up the problem, devalue the target, reinterpret the events, and intimidate and/or bribe the whistle-blowers (Martin, 2005). Organizations need to realize that internal dissent is not itself a crisis, but rather priceless

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

against

disaster A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources ...

. Until the ugly headlines appear and the consequences are unavoidable, companies too often forget that they will suffer far more for ignoring their principled dissendents than by giving them a hearing (Bennis, 2004).

Notes

References

* Bennis, W. (Jan 23, 2004)
Truth or consequences
Center for Public Leadership. Retrieved September 22, 2007 from John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University Web site * Deutsch, M. & Coleman, P.T. (Eds.) (2000). ''The handbook of conflict resolution: Theory and practice.'' New York: John Wiley & Sons. * Eilerman, D. (February 2006)
Conflict: Personal dynamics and choice.
Retrieved September 17, 2007 * Kassing, J.W. (2001). "From the look of things: Assessing perceptions of organizational dissenters." ''Communication Research'', 21, 553–574. * Macy, G. & Neal, J.C. (1995). "The impact of conflict-generating techniques on student reactions and decision quality." ''Business Communication Quarterly'', 58:4, 39–45. * Martin, B. (2005). "Bucking the system: Andrew Wilkie and the difficult task of the whistleblower." ''Overland'', 180, 45–48. * Perlow, L.A. (May 26, 2003)

Harvard Business School Working Knowledge. Retrieved September 20, 2007 from the Harvard Business School Web site * Redding, W.C. (1985). "Rocking boats, blowing whistles, and teaching speech communication." ''Communication Education'', 34, 245–258. * Roberto, M.A. (2005). ''Why great leaders don’t take yes for an answer.'' New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. * Robbins, S.P. (2005). ''Organizational Behavior.'' New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

External links

Conflict Management Articles
– A Collection of Conflict Management Articles
The Organization Development Network

Society of Human Resources Management
{{DEFAULTSORT:Organizational Dissent Management theory Communication Labor disputes Dissent Group processes

Types of dissent

Articulated

Latent

Displaced

Factors influencing dissent expression

Individual influences

Preference to avoid conflict

Verbal aggressiveness and argumentativeness

Work locus of control

Relational influences

Organizational influences

Organizational norms

Organizational identification

Openness

Perceptions of organizational dissenters

Triggering events

Articulated dissent

Latent dissent

Displaced dissent

Benefits of upward dissent

Organizational benefits

Individual benefits

Upward dissent strategies

Direct-factual appeal

Repetition

Solution presentation strategy

Circumvention

Threatening resignation

Encouraging dissent in the workplace

Change decision-making focus

Encourage constructive conflict

Establish ground rules

Intervene when necessary

Reflect on the process

Establish a supportive climate

Situations that may undermine a leader's efforts

Crowding out response time

Appointing the same devil's advocate every time

Allowing too much time for subgroups

Focusing on qualitative data

Whistle-blowing

See also

Notes

References

External links