EXPRESS: Moved to speak up: How prosocial emotions influence the employee voice process

2021 ◽  
pp. 001872672110075
Author(s):  
Emily Heaphy ◽  
Jacoba Lilius ◽  
Elana Feldman
Keyword(s):  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Empathic Concern ◽  
Employee Voice ◽  
Speaking Up ◽  
Organizational Issues ◽  
Emotional Culture ◽  
Culture Influence ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Speak Up ◽  
Organizational Issue

Employees often notice issues as they go about their work, but they are more likely to remain silent than to voice about those issues. This means that organizations miss out on critical opportunities for improvement. We deepen understanding of why and when employees do speak up by theorizing about voice episodes that arise when organizational issues (e.g., policies, actions) cause others to suffer. We suggest that when employees feel prosocial emotions—empathic concern, empathic anger, and/or guilt—in response to another’s suffering, they are more likely to voice about the issues creating that suffering. Specifically, we propose that these other-oriented emotions make it more likely that employees will see an opportunity for voice, feel sufficiently motivated to voice, and assess the potential benefits of speaking up as greater than the possible costs. We also posit that three contextual factors—relationship to sufferer, relational scripts, and emotional culture—influence whether (and how intensely) employees experience prosocial emotions in response to suffering triggered by an organizational issue, and thus affect the likelihood of voice. By theorizing the mechanisms through which prosocial emotions animate a specific episode of voice, we provide a foundation for understanding how employees can be moved to speak up.

scholarly journals A spiral of voice? When employees speak up on internal social media

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 331-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vibeke Thøis Madsen ◽  
Winni Johansen
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Spiral Of Silence ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Speaking Up ◽  
Open Communication ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Organizational Issues ◽  
Internal Social Media ◽  
Speak Up ◽  
Communication Culture

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the discursive tactics that employees use when they speak up on internal social media (ISM) to gain support for their cause, and how this can develop into a “spiral of voice” when organizational members interact with each other on ISM. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on screenshots of four months of coworker communication on ISM in a Danish bank and on semi-structured interviews with 24 employees. Findings Employees succeeded in speaking up and gaining support on ISM by using eight different discursive tactics. These tactics helped move organizational issues from an operational to a strategic level, thus making the issues relevant for management as well as gaining the support of other coworkers. The visibility and persistence of communication on ISM forced managers to react. Research limitations/implications Further research should investigate whether similar tactics and reactions occur in organizations with a less open communication culture where it might be less safe for employees to speak up. Practical implications Organizations need to be aware of the dynamics of the “spiral of voice” and of the way in which the visibility and persistence of communication on ISM forces managers to handle organizational issues. Originality/value This study is the first to explore what happens when employees speak up on ISM and to propose the concept of “a spiral of voice” as an extension of the theory of “the spiral of silence” (Noelle-Neumann, 1974).

scholarly journals Speaking up about care concerns in the ICU: patient and family experiences, attitudes and perceived barriers

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (11) ◽  
pp. 928-936 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sigall K Bell ◽  
Stephanie D Roche ◽  
Ariel Mueller ◽  
Erica Dente ◽  
Kristin O’Reilly ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Perceived Barriers ◽  
Family Education ◽  
Speaking Up ◽  
Academic Medical Centre ◽  
Know How ◽  
Family Attitudes ◽  
Conflicting Information ◽  
Academic Medical ◽  
Internet Sample ◽  
Speak Up

BackgroundLittle is known about patient/family comfort voicing care concerns in real time, especially in the intensive care unit (ICU) where stakes are high and time is compressed. Experts advocate patient and family engagement in safety, which will require that patients/families be able to voice concerns. Data on patient/family attitudes and experiences regarding speaking up are sparse, and mostly include reporting events retrospectively, rather than pre-emptively, to try to prevent harm. We aimed to (1) assess patient/family comfort speaking up about common ICU concerns; (2) identify patient/family-perceived barriers to speaking up; and (3) explore factors associated with patient/family comfort speaking up.MethodsIn collaboration with patients/families, we developed a survey to evaluate speaking up attitudes and behaviours. We surveyed current ICU families in person at an urban US academic medical centre, supplemented with a larger national internet sample of individuals with prior ICU experience.Results105/125 (84%) of current families and 1050 internet panel participants with ICU history completed the surveys. Among the current ICU families, 50%–70% expressed hesitancy to voice concerns about possible mistakes, mismatched care goals, confusing/conflicting information and inadequate hand hygiene. Results among prior ICU participants were similar. Half of all respondents reported at least one barrier to voicing concerns, most commonly not wanting to be a ‘troublemaker’, ‘team is too busy’ or ‘I don’t know how’. Older, female participants and those with personal or family employment in healthcare were more likely to report comfort speaking up.ConclusionSpeaking up may be challenging for ICU patients/families. Patient/family education about how to speak up and assurance that raising concerns will not create ‘trouble’ may help promote open discussions about care concerns and possible errors in the ICU.

scholarly journals Making soft intelligence hard: a multi-site qualitative study of challenges relating to voice about safety concerns

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (9) ◽  
pp. 710-717 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham P Martin ◽  
Emma-Louise Aveling ◽  
Anne Campbell ◽  
Carolyn Tarrant ◽  
Peter J Pronovost ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Employee Voice ◽  
Senior Leaders ◽  
Speaking Up ◽  
Academic Hospitals ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Constant Comparative Method ◽  
Organisational Intervention

BackgroundHealthcare organisations often fail to harvest and make use of the ‘soft intelligence’ about safety and quality concerns held by their own personnel. We aimed to examine the role of formal channels in encouraging or inhibiting employee voice about concerns.MethodsQualitative study involving personnel from three academic hospitals in two countries. Interviews were conducted with 165 participants from a wide range of occupational and professional backgrounds, including senior leaders and those from the sharp end of care. Data analysis was based on the constant comparative method.ResultsLeaders reported that they valued employee voice; they identified formal organisational channels as a key route for the expression of concerns by employees. Formal channels and processes were designed to ensure fairness, account for all available evidence and achieve appropriate resolution. When processed through these formal systems, concerns were destined to become evidenced, formal and tractable to organisational intervention. But the way these systems operated meant that some concerns were never voiced. Participants were anxious about having to process their suspicions and concerns into hard evidentiary facts, and they feared being drawn into official procedures designed to allocate consequence. Anxiety about evidence and process was particularly relevant when the intelligence was especially ‘soft’—feelings or intuitions that were difficult to resolve into a coherent, compelling reconstruction of an incident or concern. Efforts to make soft intelligence hard thus risked creating ‘forbidden knowledge’: dangerous to know or share.ConclusionsThe legal and bureaucratic considerations that govern formal channels for the voicing of concerns may, perversely, inhibit staff from speaking up. Leaders responsible for quality and safety should consider complementing formal mechanisms with alternative, informal opportunities for listening to concerns.

Becoming Active Citizens

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Braunstein
Keyword(s):  
Religious Discourse ◽  
Active Citizenship ◽  
American Democracy ◽  
Speaking Up ◽  
Standing Up ◽  
Civil Discourse ◽  
Waking Up ◽  
Speak Up

Chapter 2 focuses on similarities in the ways in which members of Interfaith and the Patriots described their choice to become more active citizens, despite significant differences in their demographic compositions and policy demands. For members of both groups, this process involved waking up, standing up, and speaking up—acts that were described as democratic and sacred responsibilities alike. In justifying their choices and distinguishing them from alternatives, participants in both groups drew loosely on a “civil discourse” that valorized the qualities associated with active citizenship, while critiquing or distancing themselves from fellow citizens who chose not to wake up, stand up and speak up. In the process, they also drew on “civil religious discourse” that infused active citizenship and American democracy itself with sacred significance.

Paternalistic leadership style, employee voice and creativity among entrepreneurs

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bahadur Ali Soomro ◽  
Maqsood Memon ◽  
Naimatullah Shah
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Style ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Employee Voice ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Paternalistic Leadership ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Organizational Issues ◽  
Benevolent Leadership ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Impact

PurposeIn today's world, employee voice has become an important factor in resolving organizational issues and making innovativeness. Therefore, this study proposes to investigate the paternalistic leadership style, employee voice and creativity among entrepreneurs of Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs a cross-sectional study design in which a survey questionnaire is employed to collect the data from the respondents. After data cleaning and screening, in total 416 suitable samples are proceeded for data analysis.FindingsStructural equation modeling findings underlined as a positive and significant relationship of moral leadership with employee voice. Hence, this study found an insignificant relationship of authoritarian, benevolent leadership with employee voice. Further, the study also finds a positive and significant association between employee voice and creativity.Practical implicationsThis study may offer a thoughtful and systematic approach to employee voice and creativity for resolving organizational issues through recommendations/opinions of employees. This study may be helpful for addressing issues by bringing out creativity and innovation to achieve organizational goals and objectives.Originality/valueThe study is the first to investigate the impact of paternalistic leadership style on employee voice. Besides, it examines the influence of employee voice on creativity among entrepreneurs of Pakistan.

Organisational empowerment and assertive communication behaviours: a survey of Jordanian newly qualified nurses

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 419-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad W Darawad ◽  
Mansour Mansour ◽  
Tahany Al-Niarat
Keyword(s):  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Speaking Up ◽  
Structural Empowerment ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Clinical Scenarios ◽  
Communication Behaviours ◽  
Speak Up ◽  
The Impact

Background: Newly qualified nurses (NQNs) face several challenges in their early years of practice. Being empowered and able to speak up against unsafe practice are two important pillars for practising nursing safely and competently. Little research has examined the potential correlation between those two dimensions in the context of NQNs in Jordan. Aims: To investigate the correlation between NQNs' perceived structural empowerment in their work setting and their willingness to challenge unsafe practice in some hypothetical clinical scenarios. Methods: A cross-sectional survey involved 233 NQNs, who completed a self-administered questionnaire between January and March 2016. Findings: Participants reported moderate levels of both perceived structural empowerment and willingness to speak up against unsafe practice. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between the total structural empowerment score and the mean score for speaking up against unsafe practice. Conclusion: The findings highlight the impact of peer, managerial and overall organisational support on enabling NQNs to become more empowered and assertive. Concrete, collaborative and organisation-wide efforts must be considered to foster greater empowerment of NQNs, but also revisiting work priorities to include supporting and advocating assertive communication skills among the more vulnerable of the newly qualified cohort.

scholarly journals Blasphemy and persecution: Positioning in an inter-religious discussion

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-98
Author(s):  
Peter Richardson ◽  
Stephen Pihlaja ◽  
Miori Nagashima ◽  
Masako Wada ◽  
Makoto Watanabe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Management ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Complex Interplay ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Religious Dialogue ◽  
Evaluative Language ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Positioning Analysis

AbstractIn May 2017, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, popularly known as Ahok, the former Christian governor of Jakarta, Indonesia, was found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to two years in prison. Although he was released in January 2019, his trial and the various reactions it elicited continue to highlight the very sensitive and complex issues surrounding the notion and enforcement of blasphemy and how different communities talk about it. This article focuses on a discussion about the trial between an Indonesian Muslim in favor of the blasphemy charge and an Indonesian Christian opposed to it. Using positioning analysis, it investigates how their conversation in English at a University in Japan exhibited an occasioned, fluid, developing range of evaluative language, both in terms of how they talked about themselves and others. The analysis demonstrates the complex interplay and consistent tension that is often present in inter-religious dialogue, and tracks how a wide array of discourse and contextual factors relate to developing positions, storylines, expressions of social power, and strategies for conflict management. We conclude by highlighting the inherent complexity of the dynamics of such interaction and how it can lead to greater convergence and/or tension, while emphasizing the potential benefits of face-to-face conversations around issues of possible conflict.

Silence is not Golden: Motivating Employee Voice through Inclusive Leadership

2020 ◽  
pp. 109634802096369
Author(s):  
Phillip M. Jolly ◽  
Lindsey Lee
Keyword(s):  
Basic Needs ◽  
Need Satisfaction ◽  
Employee Voice ◽  
Leader Behaviors ◽  
Voice Behavior ◽  
What Works ◽  
Direct Knowledge ◽  
Speak Up ◽  
Satisfaction Theory ◽  
Do So

Given the dynamic nature of the hospitality industry, firms must continuously improve to remain viable. Many innovations and improvements in service are driven by the experiences of employees on the front lines of service delivery, who have direct knowledge of what works and what does not in the day-to-day operation of a hospitality business. Unfortunately, research indicates that employees are not likely to speak up with opinions, ideas, and suggestions, behavior known as employee voice, unless they have some motivation to do so. Drawing on basic need satisfaction theory, we hypothesized and found that inclusive leader behaviors are associated with the satisfaction of followers’ basic needs for relatedness and competence. In turn, the satisfaction of these basic needs was associated with increases in employee self-reported voice behavior. Our findings provide important insights into the kinds of leader behaviors that may drive employee voice.

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