واکاوی مفهومی مولفه‌های سکوت سازمانی و عوامل موثر بر آن (رویکرد آمیخته)

سکوت سازمانی از عوامل موثر و البته مانعی بزرگ در مسیر بروز و ظهور آرا و ایده‌های تازة کارکنان برای سازمان محسوب می‌شود. آنچه امروزه سازمان‌ها بدان بها می‌دهند استفادة بهینه از دیدگاه‌های کارکنان است؛ زیرا کارکنان با درک شکایات مشتریان، قادر خواهند بود راه‌حل‌های مناسبی مطرح کنند تا مدیران، با تحلیل هزینه‌ منفعت این نظرها را عملیاتی کنند؛ اما چگونه می‌توان سکوت سازمانی را تشخیص و چه شاخصه‌ها و مولفه‌هایی را علامت ظهور آن دانست؟ اگرچه مقالات متعددی در این زمینه تدوین، ولی کماکان در خصوص ویژگی‌ها و نحوه اندازه‌گیری آن ابهاماتی وجود دارد؛ بنابراین پژوهش حاضر مولفه‌های سکوت سازمانی و عوامل موثر بر آن را شناسایی کرده است. از نظر هدف، پژوهش توسعه‌ای است و از لحاظ ماهیت و روش اجرا، در زمرة پژوهش‌های آمیخته (کیفی‌ کمّی) قرار دارد. پس از تحلیل ادبیات موجود در زمینه سکوت سازمانی، پنل پژوهش با 10 نفر از استادان مدیریت رفتار شکل گرفت و ‌تملق و چاپلوسی، بله‌قربان‌گویی، بی‌تفاوتی نسبت به وظایف محوله، کاهش تمایل به شرکت در فعالیت‌های غیر اجباری و غیر رسمی در سازمان، احساس نااُمیدی و بی‌حوصلگی، نق‌زدن‌های دائمی و گله‌مند بودن از شرایط به‌عنوان مولفه‌های سکوت سازمانی شناسایی گردید. درنهایت، به پشتوانة ادبیات و پیشینة تحقیق و نظر خبرگان 6 عامل تعهد سازمانی پایین، سبک رهبری آمرانه و پدرمآبانه، فرهنگ‌سازمانی سرکوب‌کننده، ویژگی‌های شخصیتی محافظه‌کارانة مدیران، ساختارسازمانی بلند، قوانین و رویه‌های بوروکراتیک به‌عنوان مهم‌ترین عوامل موثر بر سکوت سازمانی احصاء گردید که بر همین اساس مدلی با رویکرد سیستمی طراحی شد. همچنین جهت سنجش مولفه‌های سکوت سازمانی پرسشنامه‌ای محقق ساخته طراحی و اعتبارسنجی گردید.

Exploring the Conceptual Components of Organizational Silence and their Affecting Factors: a Mixed-methods Study

Extended abstract1 INTRODUCTIONAlthough employees’ voice than their silence is more valuable to organizations in today’s competitive and changing world, many employees prefer silence. Therefore, the organization is not capable of investigating and correcting its errors, which refers to a problem called organizational silence. In the experts’ opinion, if employees’ mouths are silenced the minds of organizations producing organizational knowledge will be fossilized. Determining the organizational silence is much more complicated than identifying behaviors such as absenteeism or sabotage. Therefore, the question is that how the organizational silence is determined and what factors are considered signals for organizational silence. In this regard, the present study identifies the components of organizational silence and factors affecting these components.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKDespite a 50year time period of interest in identifying the concepts of organizational silence and voice, investigations indicated that most studies had focused on how employees’ silence is formed and its causes. However, the organizational silence is beyond these concepts and more indepth studies are needed to be understood. Organizational silence is a social phenomenon in which employees refuse to express their views and concerns about organizational problems. Silence does not mean not talking, not writing, or the like, but fleeting speeches and writings of no identity, trust, and authority. This phenomenon has destructive consequences for organizations, such as employees’ worthlessness, reduced trust, motivation, satisfaction, commitment, and creativity, job turnover, lack of efficiency in organizational change processes, and flattery and distortion of reality. Organizational silence has diverse indices such as employees’ reluctance to talk about work issues, lack of sharing work information, fear of misunderstanding, absenteeism, not listening, having a negative approach, indifference to the organization affairs, constant negligence at work, unwillingness to convey bad news to top management, and Hiding problems due to fear of being victimized.3 METHODOLOGYThis research is a mixedmethods study. In the qualitative phase, by conducting a content analysis on literature, the most important signs of organizational silence and its affecting factors were extracted. These signs were provided to 10 Delphi members for identifying the components of organizational silence. Among the eight identified characteristics, according to the experts’ opinions, six characteristics were finally selected as components of organizational silence. A 24item Items questionnaire was designed for these components. Lavache’s content validity ratio (CVR) was used to evaluate the questionnaire’s validity. Since the calculated CVR values for all the items were greater than 0.62, the questionnaire’s validity was satisfactorily confirmed. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.731 also indicated its adequate reliability.4 RESULTS DISCUSSIONOut of eight characteristics identified for organizational silence, six components were finally selected as its components: Flattery, constant nagging and complaining about the situation, yesmanship, indifference to assigned tasks, decreased willingness to participate in nonecompulsory activities, feeling frustrated and bored. In the second phase of Delphi, out of 11 identified factors, six were selected as the affecting factors: authoritarian and patriarchal leadership style, repressive organizational culture, low organizational commitment, bureaucratic and cumbersome rules and procedures, conservative personality of managers, tall organizational structure. In addition, five important consequences of organizational silence were identified to be the reduced effectiveness of organizational decisions, resistance to change, blocking the path of providing feedback, lack of analysis of ideas, increased dissatisfaction, and decreased organizational motivation. According to these findings and back to the research literature, adopting a systemic approach, the conceptual model of organizational silence was proposed.5 CONCLUSIONS SUGGESTIONSWhat the clear is that, contrary to many people’s beliefs, organizational silence has adverse effects on both the organization and employees. Indifferent employees resulted from ignoring their silence promote the mindset of being indifferent. As a result of such an attitude, employees will suffer from depression and other wellbeing problems. Organizational silence increases their stress and makes them feel guilty and overwhelmed by psychological problems.