Silence and management - part 3

…text about Silence in organization continues - this is part 3.

 

2.  What is silence - three perspectives on silence

This text as a whole is about silence and in particular about silence in organizations. However I feel that it is valuable to say something more general about silence before we go deep into organizational sphere. My hope is that this general discussion on its part helps us to see more about our specific topic ie., silence in the organizational context.

At the same time this discussion on its part relate to the general idea that it is important to try to examine whole and real people in organizations.  In addition the research should not neglect anything what relates to being a human in organizations. This means because real, complex and manifold emotions and experiences are part of being human and these phenomena are also important research topics in business studies. This kind of comment may sound odd, but perhaps the history of business disciplines has focused rather heavily on technical and rational side of organizational life. Sometimes it may have been difficult to find real people on the pages business literature, or in consulting discussion and also style of discourse within organizations themselves have been permeated with rather technical tone, like let us make strategy and let us implement it and that's it.

So what is silence how is it experienced? Clearly a vast topic and I will approach this subject with a help a very specific and limited empirical material. However, I strongly feel that there is something valuable here - at least the following will confirm that silence appears to be a very strong, very important and deeply emotional phenomenon to us.

The empirical material used here are numerous pictures in internet. I have looked for pictures which people have connected to silence. On that basis I have come to interpretation that in general people seem to approach silence from a three perspectives. Certainly my point here is not present this interpretation as a anything fixed or permanent, it is here more a heuristic[1] tool which helps us to deepen our study of silence. The perspectives are as follows:

 

2.1  Impressive nature makes us silent

 

Quite often people seemed to connect silence to magnificent and marvelous pictures about lakes, mountains, trees or some other beautiful sights or to some awesome elements of nature. Apparently the point was that often nature is so impressive that it silences us. Apparently the silencing happens here in a very good and positive way - we are silenced in front of beauty, tranquility or something else which is so stupenduos and tremendous that it fills us with awe, enthrall and eventually respectful silence.

It seems that it is a far cry to try to connect this kind of approach to silence with any discussion about silence in organizations. Clearly these are different worlds, that world of nature and the world of organizations. Yet, it is interesting to try to think that in organizational context can we think that people would choose silence because they have encountered something so fabulous. Perhaps, this can happen, it is thinkable that the organization operates in a way which creates awe, also organization may have possessions like buildings, factories or so on with create silence because they are so overwhelming.

The other thing is that when, for instance, customer service  reaches extraordinary performance  would organizations prefer that silence would be the result? Probably not. For instance, in case an organization provides astonishing service, the goal would not be silence, but a hope that a very satisfied customer would tell to others. Also for instance the magnificent head quarter buildings are built to create awe, but not silence. Apparently it is hoped that people talk about those landmarks as much as possible and that discussion is hoped to strengthen the brand.

 

2.2  Silence which relates to crimes and wrong doings

 

 

 

These pictures about silence are sometimes very tough to look. They certainly open a

touching and poignant perspective to silence. These pictures tell that there is an array of

wrong doings which have may have happened and which may continue to happen at least

partly because of silence.[2] Sometimes there seem to be wrong doings which are used in

order to create silence.

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Unfortunately it is possible to see that this perspective on silence can relate also to organization life in various forms. The special term in organizational context is “whistle blowing”.   It means that that there is something wrong happening within some organization and perhaps that thing is somehow silently accepted.  And then someone, the whistle blower, breaks the silence. We can anticipate how difficult those situations must be to everyone involved. Certainly these phenomena around whistle blowing would deserve more research in the future. For instance, it would be valuable to examine the scope of whistle blowing. Should we use that concept only in relation to possible crimes or could whistle blowing also refer to all or to some unsatisfactory operation which is for some reason silently accepted.

 

2.3  Silence which relates to internal wisdom

 

There may not be that many actual pictures which relate to this perspective, but there are numerous   quotations which proclaim this message in various forms.[3] Wikipedia entry sums up succinctly how some major religions approach silence from this perspective:

"Silence" in spirituality is often a metaphor for inner stillness. A silent mind, freed from the onslaught of thoughts and thought patterns, is both a goal and an important step in spiritual development. Such "inner silence" is not about the absence of sound; instead, it is understood to bring one in contact with the divine, the ultimate reality, or one's own true self, one's divine nature.  Many religious traditions imply the importance of being quiet and still in mind and spirit for transformative and integral spiritual growth to occur. In Christianity, there is the silence of contemplative prayer such as centering prayer and Christian meditation; in Islam, there are the wisdom writings of the Sufis who insist on the importance of finding silence within. In Buddhism, the descriptions of silence and allowing the mind to become silent are implied as a feature of spiritual enlightenment. In Hinduism, including the teachings of Advaita Vedanta and the many paths of yoga, teachers insist on the importance of silence, Mauna, for inner growth.

 It may be difficult to connect this perspective on silence to the organizational life. Yet, perhaps proponents of self-leadership might suggest that:  “this is it”, meaning that the key element in leadership is self -knowledge and what we are discussing here relates to the highest form of self- understanding which is basis of true leadership.

Also some people might suggest that when we examine on communication more deeply we become aware that in order to hear (understand what the other tries to say) we need some place (silence) in our own mind.

…to be continued

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[1] It is simply beautiful how Wikipedia entry defines heuristic, I have to add it here: Heuristic (pron.: /hjʉˈrɪstɨk/; or /hyoo-ris-tik/; Greek: "Εὑρίσκω", "find" or "discover") refers to experience-based techniques for problem solving, learning, and discovery. Where the exhaustive search is impractical, heuristic methods are used to speed up the process of finding a satisfactory solution; mental shortcuts to ease the cognitive load of making a decision. Examples of this method include using a rule of thumb, an educated guess, an intuitive judgment, or common sense.

 

[2] This quote is well known. “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

[3] For instance the following quotes: "Silence is an empty space, space is the home of the awakened mind." - Buddha;  “Silence is a true friend who never betrays”. Confucius; “ Silence is a source of great strength.” Lao Tzu

  

Silence and management - part 2

 

1.2 The level of silence as a success factor in organizations

The loudly touted wisdom in business world today advocates that in order to do good work everybody should share all kinds of things to their colleagues and networks and in general everybody should work in a transparent way.  It has been proposed that this kind of action would help the whole organization to grow to its full potential.

We can apprehend how beneficial it would be if people would actively and openly think, plan and act together. This sounds both understandable and acceptable, because organizations are networks of people and in case people decide to choose silence (often, sometimes, in some special situations) and do not communicate at the level where they could the result will be that the whole organization may not work as well as it would be able to do. Certainly, there is always happening something important or people get new valuable insights and in case the information does not flow from people to people something valuable is missed. Sometimes that may an idea which could help to improve operations, sometimes we could offer something new/more to customer if just knew what someone in our organizations has seen, sometimes it is something else. Also what is important in general is the open dialogue where people create new understanding about everything important which relates to successful operations and development, that dialogue does not reach its full potential if a lot of silence prevails.

 

 

Hence, it makes sense to propose that a very important success factor for any organization is that key experts (often this means everybody) in any organization would share their ideas and observations with others.[1]  Apparently the basic idea would be that the more the better, ie. ever increasing sharing and transparency would be help the organization to thrive always better.

So, here we have one clear recipe for success, so let’s do it. This should be a pretty straightforward assignment, surely people should be happy to share and operate in a transparent way.  Sharing should be particularly easy assignment nowadays when there are technical solutions for open and sharing mode on action. As we know there exist excellent technological tools which can be used for sharing valuable insights from one to many and many people do the sharing in their private life as Facebook and other systems clearly demonstrate.

Yet, in real life in organizations people often seem to choose silence?  Why people choose silence?  Why this happens when we all know that voice would be an asset and silence like an element in liabilities, why we still may choose silence?  Do we have the freedom to choose either silence or sharing in real organizational life or what we are facing here? Let us deepen our understanding about silence. It appears to be a most intriguing element in human life.

...to be continued

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[1] But as always, also different views have been expressed. “I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.” Publilius Syrus Roman Writer (~100 BC)

 

Silence and management - part 1

This is a bit different blog. I am writing a text about silence in organizations. As a whole the text will be more than 20 pages long. The text will focus on silence from a management perspective but I will also explore silence more generally. It seems that silence is very important topic to us all and in order to understand better what silence is and how it is approached it is necessary to dig a bit deeper into this mysterious and powerful concept.

My plan is to publish one blog in a week. I will publish the text in parts and here is part 1. I hope you enjoy and find this treatise useful.

Best regards,
Ari

                Silence

Hot but quiet topic on the arena of management and control

1.    Hush, shh, … introduction

1.1 Money, silence and accounting

There is a connection between the level of silence and the success of an organization. Hence there is also a connection between money and the level of silence in organization. This is because money, the financial side of success is actually connected to everything. Money is unavoidably present everywhere. Every idea, every plan, every dream, every act has financial consequences. There is always a monetary side lurking somewhere. This is unavoidable - it is a fact of life. At the same time it can be, of course, true that people in different situations do not think about money. Perhaps they do not need to care about money, they may feel (without stopping to think) that there is enough money for their needs or for some other reasons money is not part of their thinking.

The point here is not raise money on a high pedestal, surely I wish to leave the appreciation of money for each of us to decide.  In fact, in order balance the effect which the start of this article may have created, we must remember what has been often said and what also seems pretty profound and it is the following wisdom:  wisest and happiest people are those who think that what they have right now is quite enough. In that thinking the money is also there but its role is modest. Also it can be said that most valuable things are those which you cannot buy with money.

Yet, money seems to be somehow linked to everything.  And there are very special human activities where the role of money has an enhanced role. I would claim that organizational life is that kind of special sphere of human activity where it both makes sense and where it is necessary to focus on money with a very special way. Again let us not raise money on any kind of the sublime pedestal, that is not the point here. Clearly organizations have their missions which can be closely or remotely connected to money. In fact, it is rarely a way to succeed that some organization just wants more money for itself. Clearly in order to succeed one - be it organization or any person - has to provide something valuable to others and from that kind of activity can also the faucets of money open.

Consequently organizations have to pay attention to these monetary flows, because organizations need to be effective and productive in order to survive in a competitive market environment. Many organizations also wish to grow and constantly develop themselves and in order to fulfill these aspirations “the good old money “ is needed. Also it is fact of life that if any organization wants to continue its very existence in the first place it must be able to somehow acquire more money in the long run than what it is compelled to use for various necessary expenses.

At this point you, dear reader, may wonder where to this all will lead us. Well, the point is to establish a connection with silence and accounting. It will be suggested here that one important factor for the success of any organization is the level of silence. It is critical success factor in any organization that how people choose to act in relation to silence in everything what they think, experience and perceive. It is both important and valuable to understand that when and why people may choose silence; or when and why they decide to share instead.

 It is proposed here that in the knowledge economy silence is almost like an item which could added to liabilities, because silence is not a success factor in organizations. Yes, there are exceptions which are discussed later but as a general rule silence can be viewed as an element which reduces success potential for any organization. Does this mean that the opposite ie. non-silence is an asset? The claim here is that this is actually the case, perhaps not always but often. Hence it can be proposed that almost all those actions which reduce silence can be viewed as ways increase a possibility for organization to succeed.

How this all relates to accounting discipline and practice?  Clearly we have to define that what the scope of accounting actually is in the first place. Do we think that accounting is mainly book entries,  posting and handling documents, calculating numbers and producing reports? Or do we think that the scope of accounting is much wider?  Here we advocate the idea that accounting is not just numbers, reports and documents but also very much people in action, people making actions which have financial consequences, people thinking what kind of decisions and actions would financially wise.  Hence we suggest here that accounting should provide information for those executives who are interested to understand what are the key elements which eventually will determine whether organization is financially successful or not.

From this perspective we are approaching the conclusion that silence is a topic which may also interest accounting, ie. those accounting people who have vested interest in the financial success of an organization and who wish to engage dialogue with those executives who wish to understand the underpinnings of financial success of their organization. Therefore, in particular strategic accounting and accounting in action kind of approaches of accounting discipline may also wish to understand better what kind of critical success factor silence actually is.  Also it is important to study how we could and should approach silence and in particular from the managerial point of view, ie, what to do with silence as an executive. It is valuable to understand how we could reduce the level of silence in our organization and how much silence may actually cost - also money wise.

...be continued