Managerial Silencing of Employee Voice

Breaking the Managerial Silencing of Worker Voice in Platform Capitalism: The Rise of a Food Courier Network

“…The findings presented in this study advance novel theoretical insights into managerial silencing of worker voice and provide a considerable contribution to the worker voice and silence literatures. First, we address the call for an exploration of managerial silencing of worker voice in variable contexts (Donaghey et al ., 2019; Hickland et al ., 2020), namely food couriers in platform capitalism, to extend the silence concept to reveal how employers curtail the function of voice, and how workers respond to managerial silencing. Theoretically, this paper contributes to current debates on trajectories of voice (Barry, Dundon and Wilkinson, 2018) by arguing that the detailed examination of the intersection between sectoral dynamics and organizational outcomes, which are rooted in technological advances, are key to understanding the factors influencing worker voice and silence.…”

“…Worker voice and silence are two concepts that have attracted much focus in organizational behaviour (OB), human resource management (HRM) and industrial relations (IR) literatures (Donaghey et al ., 2019). Both are linked to debates about their effect on organizational performance and development, and about worker rights and human dignity at work (Barry and Wilkinson, 2016).…”

“…Other scholars find that organizations can be intolerant of dissent and criticism and as a result, employees might choose to remain silent in order to avoid creating conflict or ‘rocking the boat’ (Kougiannou, 2019; Redding, 1985). Despite the recognition that employers have the capacity and the incentive to withhold information from and/or avoid dialogue with their workers (Hickland et al ., 2020), the literature has overlooked management's role in silencing worker voice (Donaghey et al ., 2019). Moreover, changes in employment patterns and work arrangements, coupled with the emergence of platform capitalism, can disrupt our traditional understanding of work (Duggan et al ., 2020) and how worker voice is managed.…”

How Provisional Improvement Notices Influence Employee Voice and Silence

“…The degree of management influence on communication could be improved if management provides common goals or integrative tasks that can lead to positive outcomes [46]. This case study builds on the existing literature by providing an understanding of the reluctance of workers to voice their concerns and why they may continue to exercise employee silence even though they have legislative powers to improve health and safety in the workplace [18,20,21,47].…”

Violation and lack of awareness of employment rights in the United Kingdom's hotel industry: Isolation, fragmentation and barriers to labour enforcement

“…Following Bales et al (2018) argument, current employment regulation in the United Kingdom relies on an individualistic and decontextualised approach to workers' voice that does not consider power inequality in the workplace. Similarly, current research has identified increasing employers' policies and practices leading to managerial silencing of workers' voice (Donaghey et al, 2019;Hickland et al, 2020). In this context, this article analyses the existing barriers for workers to bring forward complaints by identifying the different processes challenging the exercise of their voice.…”