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Managers' perceptions of intentional employee silence

Celiesiute, Milda LU (2014) SKOM12 20141
Department of Strategic Communication
Abstract
This master thesis aims to gain an understanding about how managers and members in an organization perceive observed employee silence (intentional withholding ideas at work) and attribute meanings to it. In addition, it aims to reveal, in what situations observers are not able to identify the intentional silence. Organizational culture, sensemaking and power relations and U-turn in criticism are the main theoretical approaches used in this research. Case study of Novo Nordisk Scandinavia AB allowed analyzing silence in different communication settings. The empirical part of this research consists of narratives, acquired during 30 qualitative semi-structured interviews by managers and employees. The study revealed, that observers can... (More)
This master thesis aims to gain an understanding about how managers and members in an organization perceive observed employee silence (intentional withholding ideas at work) and attribute meanings to it. In addition, it aims to reveal, in what situations observers are not able to identify the intentional silence. Organizational culture, sensemaking and power relations and U-turn in criticism are the main theoretical approaches used in this research. Case study of Novo Nordisk Scandinavia AB allowed analyzing silence in different communication settings. The empirical part of this research consists of narratives, acquired during 30 qualitative semi-structured interviews by managers and employees. The study revealed, that observers can identify silence by noticing inconsistencies in communication. However, observed silence is easy to misinterpret and the meanings attributed to it are inaccurate. Finally, in situations, when silence occurs as an expected behavior it remains unidentified and unaddressed. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Celiesiute, Milda LU
supervisor
organization
course
SKOM12 20141
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
employee silence, manager, self-censorship at work, organizational communication
language
English
id
4779771
date added to LUP
2014-11-20 15:14:47
date last changed
2014-11-20 15:14:47
@misc{4779771,
  abstract     = {{This master thesis aims to gain an understanding about how managers and members in an organization perceive observed employee silence (intentional withholding ideas at work) and attribute meanings to it. In addition, it aims to reveal, in what situations observers are not able to identify the intentional silence. Organizational culture, sensemaking and power relations and U-turn in criticism are the main theoretical approaches used in this research. Case study of Novo Nordisk Scandinavia AB allowed analyzing silence in different communication settings. The empirical part of this research consists of narratives, acquired during 30 qualitative semi-structured interviews by managers and employees. The study revealed, that observers can identify silence by noticing inconsistencies in communication. However, observed silence is easy to misinterpret and the meanings attributed to it are inaccurate. Finally, in situations, when silence occurs as an expected behavior it remains unidentified and unaddressed.}},
  author       = {{Celiesiute, Milda}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Managers' perceptions of intentional employee silence}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}