SILENCE AND FEAR IN ORGANIZATIONS

When you ask that why people choose silence in organizations one answer which you get quite often is: fear.  This is the answer in which has emerged in numerous personal discussions in different contexts. I also made a Linkedin poll where I offered two options that why people choose silence. The first option was fear and the other was that speaking does not seem to provide results.  The poll got 9 answers which came from all over the world, therefore the result is not based on anything larger, but nevertheless the result was indicative - a fear was a clear winner with 8 votes (feels somewhat awkward to write that fear was a winner, but in this polling context it was).

Apparently fear is one of those words which you seem to know with certainty, but when you try to define it you may notice that the concept of fear is very, very elusive. Defining fear is not at all simple task. Therefore let us look first how Wikipedia defines fear and after that we will examine different ways of approaching fear in organizational context:

Wikipedia starts its fear entry as follows:

Fear is an emotion induced by a perceived threat which causes entities to quickly pull away from it and usually hide. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger. In short, fear is the ability to recognize danger leading to an urge to confront it or flee from it (also known as the fight-or-flight response) but in extreme cases of fear (horror and terror) a freeze or paralysis response is possible.

In organizational context fear which leads to silence is a phenomenon of its own. In this text I will approach that specific phenomenon from two angles:

1)      Fear which relates to you

2)      Fear which relates to others

Clearly this discussion is tentative and thought provoking by its nature. The point here is to suggest that because a silence is a very important organizational factor which may play a crucial role in determining whether the organization succeeds or not, we must pause to examine that what actually causes silence. One explanation is certainly fear, perhaps based on real things or perhaps mainly imagined, however fear must be one factor which relates to silence in organizations.

Therefore understanding the roots of fear, and through that understanding being able to reduce silence and increasing communication can be seen a most important managerial task for every executive. But what actually is fear in organizational context, how it can be approached and discussed?  The purpose here is to find new openings which might give new ideas for executives and for each of us how to tackle these issues in the working environment.

1.       Fears which relates to you (or to me, or to any individual personally)

1a. Fear of making fool of yourself

Certainly there might be situations where you choose silence because you are afraid that you would make fool of your selves. Perhaps you may feel that you do not know enough of the topic under discussion.  Or perhaps you may feel (know, anticipate) that your position in your organization is such that in those discursive practices which prevail in your organization your effort to participate would result in difficult and embarrassing  consequences.

 

 1b. Fear of getting more tasks

Age old truth in army is that motion reveals. Unfortunately something similar may be true in organizational life. Consequently, there seems to be a tendency that a person who opens her/his mouth about something also gets that task on her/his task list.                   

 

2.       Fears which relate to others

2a. Fear of ruining positive atmosphere

Apparently we all wish to work in a pleasant environment, in a nice atmosphere with collaborative colleagues. And certainly nice and supporting atmosphere can be a success factor of its own right, it nurtures creativity, innovation, it energizes and it provides many other positive things to all involved and to whole organization.

In this setting you may fear that taking up certain matters might for some reason drastically harm the positive general atmosphere. Therefore you may decide to avoid taking up certain matters.

2b) Fear that the others do something negative - fear of negative consequences

Evidently a person may fear that bringing something up might result in negative reactions and actions by others. In practice there is a huge variety of possible negative consequences which might take place. In case you anticipate that raising up certain issues might cause negative actions towards you in the future you certainly may resort to silence on those occasions.

2c) Fear that you cause a mess in organization

Also it is thinkable that person predicts in her/his mind that bringing something up might cause a mess in her/his organization. We all know that organizations are pretty delicate creatures on what comes to trust and sharing between people. Hence, some issues may cause that the focus of organizational activity become lost and that may harm the success of the organization.

 

In sum

Unavoidably silence and fear are both organizational phenomena which are always present to some extent. These phenomena on their part affect to the success of an organization. Certainly these phenomena also affect to the general atmosphere and what it is to work in certain organization. Hence these are phenomena which also belong to the management agenda.

Could it be that silence is the next hot topic on the arena of management thinking? What are the most effective ways to reduce silence and thus increase discussion and sharing in your organizational context?