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Given that staff‐management relationships are a core concern for communication management, upward feedback is emerging as a key theme in the literature. It is, however, most often associated with upward appraisal. This study looks at upward feedback in a more general sense, and in particular at whether such feedback is critical or positive in its response to senior management decisions. One hundred and forty‐six staff within a health care organisation (HCO) were surveyed, using a depth communication audit instrument. Fifteen staff were also interviewed in detail, and six focus groups each composed of six people were also convened. The results indicated that informal upward feedback was mostly absent; that where it occurred the feedback was inaccurately positive; that senior managers were unaware of such distortions and unwilling to contemplate the possibility that they did indeed exist; that they had an exaggerated impression of how much upward feedback they received; and that they discouraged the transmission of critical feedback. The implications for the practice of communication management, the development of upward influence within organisations and general theoretical reasons for distortions in feedback processes are considered.

To investigate the influence of participating in an upward feedback program on leadership behaviour, both as indicated be self‐ratings and subordinates' ratings.

The research design consisted of two measurement points within six months. The program included managers receiving an upward feedback report and a short workshop to facilitate interpretation. A sample of 45 managers and 308 staff members of a community health care organization took part.

The study showed three results. First, managers lack insight into the real impact of their behavior. Second, only a small positive effect was found of the upward feedback program on the leadership behaviour as rated by their staff in terms of valuing diversity. Third, the managers' self‐ratings of Presenting feedback, Fairness and Integrity & respect decreased between Time 1 and Time 2.

The study points towards the need for HRM professionals to carefully implement upward feedback programs in order to have a real impact on the development of managers.

The purpose of this paper is to present an exploratory study of employee voice and silence in international auditing firms. The authors examine two key questions: what is the propensity of employees in training to speak up on workplace problems and how would management react to employees in training speaking up on workplace problems?

The authors compare and contrast the views of employees on training contracts with management including partners. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with eight managers/partners and 20 employees working in six large auditing firms in Ireland.

The authors find that employees on training contracts have a high propensity to remain silent on workplace problems. Quiescent and acquiescent forms of silence were evident. Management expressed willingness to act on employee voice on workplace problems concerning business improvements and employee performance but were very resistant to voice in regard to a change in working conditions or a managers’ performance. Employees and management couched employee voice in terms of technical knowledge exchange rather than being associated with employee dissatisfaction or having a say in decision making.

The authors highlight how new professional employees are socialised into understanding that employee voice is not a democratic right and the paper provides insight on the important role of partners as owner/managers in perpetuating employee silence. Previous research on owner/managers has tended to focus on small businesses while the auditing firms in this study have large numbers of employees.

Leaders lack essential information about their performance from their followers. In light of the frequently encountered error avoidance climate in the police, leaders should actively seek feedback to fill this gap. The purpose of this paper is to explore organizational, personal and situational antecedents of police leaders' daily feedback-seeking behavior.

The authors used a diary study and examined error-management climate, feedback orientation and two situational characteristics, namely daily occasions for feedback-seeking and daily time pressure. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze the N = 188 daily entries from 27 leaders (minimum of three daily entries per leader).

Results show that police leaders seldom seek daily feedback from their followers. A positive (i.e. learning-oriented) error-management climate and occasions for feedback-seeking foster leaders' daily feedback-seeking, whereas no main effects of feedback orientation and time pressure were found. However, time pressure moderated the relationship between occasions for feedback-seeking and daily feedback-seeking, with higher time pressure leading to a weaker relationship.

This is the first study empirically examining feedback-seeking as a key leadership behavior on a daily basis. The results show that organizational conditions promote leaders' feedback-seeking behavior and indicate organizations should foster an error-management climate to promote feedback-seeking of their leaders.

Although decision makers and their superiors are obliged to be open to bad news, dissent, warnings, and problem signs, employees are often afraid to speak up. The purpose of this paper is to present a framework for the study of organizational dissent strategy used during the decision‐making phase of organizational change.

After identifying the components of the frame work, it is illustrated by examining two distinct and challenging dissent experiences. Propositions are set forth for further research.

It is argued that level of trust and sense of urgency will impel employees to voice opposition using four dissent strategies: organizational silence, organizational rumbling, organizational communication, and/or organizational blasting.

The paper is of value by showing that decision makers should be better equipped to identify and manage dissent strategies before they cause harm within their organizations.

In recent years, in research and policy circles, there is growing interest in the subject of speaking up (and silence) within the health sector, and there is a consensus that it is a major issue that needs to be addressed. However, there remain gaps in our knowledge and while scholars talk of a voice system – that is the existence of complementary voice channels designed to allow employees to speak up – empirical evidence is limited. We seek to explore the notion of a voice system in a healthcare organisation as comprising structures and cultures as seen from different stakeholder perspectives. What do they see and how do they behave and why? To what extent do the users see a voice system they can access and easily navigate?

Interviews and focus groups were conducted with a voice stakeholder group (e.g. designers of the system from senior management and HR, which comprised 23 staff members) as well as those who have to use the system, with 13 managers and 26 employees from three units within a metropolitan hospital: an oncology department, an intensive care unit and a community health service. Overall, a total of 62 staff members participated and the data were analysed using grounded theory to identify key themes.

This study revealed that although a plethora of formal voice structures existed, these were not always visible or accessible to staff, leading to confusion as to who to speak up to about which issues. Equally other avenues which were not designated voice platforms were used by employees to get their voices heard.

This papers looks at the voice system across the organisation rather than examining a specific scheme. In doing so it enables us to see the lived perceptions and experiences of potential users of these schemes and their awareness of the system as a whole.

The purpose of this paper is to gain a greater understanding of fear-based information withholding in project-manager-to-project-sponsor (PM2PS) communication and to propose future research directions.

The research consisted of a review of the literature related to the withholding of information in subordinate-to-superior communication and in PM2PS communication. Literature from project communication studies and literature from general communication theory was consulted.

Using defensive silence theory as a conceptual framework, five research propositions specific to fear-based information withholding in PM2PS communication are offered.

The study findings are limited to PM2PS communication based upon fear. The study provides a foundation for further research in this area within the conceptual framework of defensive silence theory.

The practical implication of this paper is that certain perceptions and behaviors of a project sponsor can be related to fear-based information withholding in PM2PS communication.

The originality of this paper is that it extends defensive silence theory into the realm of PM2PS communication. The value of this paper is to provide a catalyst for subsequent empirical-based research in order gain greater insight into fear-based information withholding in PM2PS communication.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how employees in a health board perceived and experienced information governance policies.

The approach was interpretive. A series of interviews was carried out and the transcripts were analysed using an interpretative phenomenological approach.

The authors discovered that staff often felt subjugated by policies, they experienced a lack of support, and experienced pressure to comply and to motivate the staff they managed to comply with policy directives. It was also obvious that all interviewees were highly motivated and concerned about information security. The authors conclude by proposing some mediation: a recognition and reward scheme to reward secure behaviour, the implementation of an incident response process, facilitated upward communication and development of a security culture in the organisation. Finally, the authors argue for the same rules to apply to all staff, so that procedures are fair, and seen to be so.

The authors make some recommendations for mediation, which should ensure that employees experience less pressure in complying with policy directives.

If the authors' recommendations are followed, information security is bound to improve, which would be an outcome greatly to be desired.

This paper empirically confirms recommendations made by other researchers working in this area.

This study aimed to examine how senior leadership influences corporate communication and employees' attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. Using two-way symmetrical communication model in public relations and leadership theory, it investigated the effects of CEOs' task- and relationship-oriented leadership on symmetrical internal communication, employees' organizational commitment and communicative behaviors.

An online survey was conducted with 417 full-time employees working in various industries in the United States.

The results showed that CEOs' relationship-oriented leadership significantly influenced symmetrical internal communication, which, in turn, increased affective commitment and employees' scouting behavior. CEOs' task-oriented communication had no significant effect on symmetrical communication.

This study advances theoretical understanding of two-way symmetrical communication in relation to senior leadership and provides practical insights for corporate leaders and public relations practitioners regarding how to improve employee outcomes through CEOs' strategic leadership and internal communication practices.

Renishaw Metrology launched a Total Quality Commitment Programme nearly three years ago. Every employee is responsible for quality. Emphasis is on getting it right the first time and prevention not detection.