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Article
Publication date: 6 June 2016

Sean Donovan, Michelle O'Sullivan, Elaine Doyle and John Garvey

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…

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Abstract

Purpose

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?

Design/methodology/approach

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.

Findings

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.

Originality/value

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.

Details

Employee Relations, vol. 38 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Abstract

Details

The Emerald Handbook of Work, Workplaces and Disruptive Issues in HRM
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-780-0

Book part
Publication date: 17 September 2021

Bandana Purkayastha

Many feminist scholars have challenged West-centric epistemologies and offered concepts such as multiple modernities and decoloniality as appropriate frames for understanding and…

Abstract

Many feminist scholars have challenged West-centric epistemologies and offered concepts such as multiple modernities and decoloniality as appropriate frames for understanding and challenging knowledge hierarchies. Much of these challenges have come from the two-thirds world, though some emanated from scholars located in the one-third world. This chapter presents two related discussions. First, the challenge of moving beyond binaries such as the Global North and South, or one- and two-thirds worlds, even though every region, nation-state, and locale is marked by many discussions, debates, and challenges between the privileged and marginalized within the realms, currently and historically. Second, our scholarly ability to consider a broader knowledge production process, especially evident through the productions through virtual spaces. I examine efforts to include indigenous knowledge by feminists, and reflect on the continuing challenges of dismantling knowledge hierarchies.

Details

Producing Inclusive Feminist Knowledge: Positionalities and Discourses in the Global South
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-171-6

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 July 2021

Grace Inae Blum, Keith Reyes and Eric Hougan

The purpose of this study was to identify and understand the experiences of teacher candidates and alumni of color within a multi-campus teacher preparation program at a large…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to identify and understand the experiences of teacher candidates and alumni of color within a multi-campus teacher preparation program at a large public institution in the northwest region of the USA.

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative study used focus group methodology. Four semi-structured interviews of participants were conducted to investigate the opportunities, challenges, resources and supports experienced by participants in the teacher preparation program.

Findings

The findings indicate that while participants had varied individualized experiences within the teacher preparation program, many of them had common experiences that impacted their overall success within the program. These shared experiences include finding their voices silenced and seeking out experiences of authentic care.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the growing body of research focused on the recruitment and retainment of students of color within teacher education. The suggested implications offer important considerations for practitioners and policymakers regarding the recruitment and retention of students of color in teacher preparation programs.

Details

Journal for Multicultural Education, vol. 15 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2053-535X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 August 2019

Hyo Sun Jung and Hye Hyun Yoon

Drawing on social identity theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether social undermining significantly influences employee voice (or silence) and organizational…

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Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on social identity theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether social undermining significantly influences employee voice (or silence) and organizational deviant behavior in the hotel industry regarding three types of social undermining: by supervisor, coworker and customer.

Design/methodology/approach

The study provided a self-administered questionnaire to 344 five-star hotel employees in South Korea. SPSS (version 22.0) and AMOS (version 20.0) were used to analyze the data.

Findings

Being undermined by customers negatively affects employee voice and positively affects employee silence. Supervisor and coworker undermining also negatively affects employee voice and positively affects employee silence. Employee voice does not significantly affect organizational deviant behavior, but employee silence significantly affects deviant employee behavior. This was also verified by the potential mediating effect of supervisor undermining on silence as a form of deviant employee behavior.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the development of long-term manager-centered measures to combat the effect of social undermining among frontline employees in the hotel industry. It can be difficult to differentiate clearly between the conflicts and stress experienced by employees at the service frontline and the social undermining they experience during diverse social interactions. In confirming the effects of social undermining on employees at a five-star hotel, the study also found no clear organizational provisions or legal recourse for victims. The findings suggest that hotel employees are easily exposed to social undermining as a result of the industry culture and socialization process.

Details

Journal of Service Theory and Practice, vol. 29 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2055-6225

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 March 2021

Leanne J. Morrison and Alan Lowe

Using a dialogic approach to narrative analysis through the lens of fairytale, this paper explores the shared construction of corporate environmental stories. The analysis…

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Abstract

Purpose

Using a dialogic approach to narrative analysis through the lens of fairytale, this paper explores the shared construction of corporate environmental stories. The analysis provided aims to reveal the narrative messaging which is implicit in corporate reporting, to contrast corporate and stakeholder narratives and to bring attention to the ubiquity of storytelling in corporate communications.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper examines a series of events in which a single case company plays the central role. The environmental section of the case company's sustainability report is examined through the lens of fairytale analysis. Next, two counter accounts are constructed which foreground multiple stakeholder accounts and retold as fairytales.

Findings

The dialogic nature of accounts plays a critical role in how stakeholders understand the environmental impacts of a company. Storytelling mechanisms have been used to shape the perspective and sympathies of the report reader in favour of the company. We use these same mechanisms to create two collective counter accounts which display different sympathies.

Research limitations/implications

This research reveals how the narrative nature of corporate reports may be used to fabricate a particular perspective through storytelling. By doing so, it challenges the authority of the version of events provided by the company and gives voice to collective counter accounts which are shared by and can be disseminated to other stakeholders.

Originality/value

This paper provides a unique perspective to understanding corporate environmental reporting and the stories shared by and with external stakeholders by drawing from a novel link between fairytale, storytelling and counter accounting.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 34 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 August 2023

Yi Zhu

This study explores the politics of ideology in the process of sensegiving and sensemaking at a Japanese retailer in Hong Kong. Studies on power and politics are scarce despite…

Abstract

Purpose

This study explores the politics of ideology in the process of sensegiving and sensemaking at a Japanese retailer in Hong Kong. Studies on power and politics are scarce despite key role of power and politics in understanding the factors behind the conflict between the management's policy legitimization (sensegiving) and employees' policy interpretation (sensemaking). By using the three dimensions proposed in the critical sensemaking approach (discourse, rules and contexts), this paper explores the complex mechanism of power and politics in sensemaking and sensegiving.

Design/methodology/approach

Using 15 months of participant observation as a salesperson, this paper discusses how the Japan-centric customer service philosophy (dominant discourse), customer service policies and practices (organizational rules) and asymmetric power structure between the Japanese global headquarters and Hong Kong subsidiaries (formative contexts) are presented and perpetuated through the sensegiving–sensemaking process.

Findings

Dominant discourse was observed in the management's sensegiving, which placed the Japanese style of customer service over others. This ethnocentric dominant discourse informed the creation of customer service policies, although the realization of the discourse was determined by the employees' conflicting interpretations of the organizational rules. As a formative context, an asymmetric power structure was present that positioned the Hong Kong subsidiary as subservient to the global headquarters in Japan. This shows that the political process of sensegiving and sensemaking deeply implicates the dominant discourse, organizational rules and power structure as central forces that determine the level of perpetuating ideology.

Originality/value

This research illustrates the wider implications of power and politics in sensegiving–sensemaking studies and provides a complex picture of ethnocentric management.

Details

Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, vol. 18 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5648

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2004

Tricia Hiley

This paper explores the discipline, study and practice of management through the “current voice of management” and through four different voices. The four different voices are…

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Abstract

This paper explores the discipline, study and practice of management through the “current voice of management” and through four different voices. The four different voices are those of: a one‐person business, a PhD researcher in a school of management, a co‐ordinator of an articulated inter‐disciplinary Masters program in the Leadership and Management of Change, and a management consultant. The paper first introduces some implications of our current management voices and then explores aspects of each voice, concluding with a short reflection on the message drawn from them.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 42 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 16 July 2018

Shane Connelly and Brett S. Torrence

Organizational behavior scholars have long recognized the importance of a variety of emotion-related phenomena in everyday work life. Indeed, after three decades, the span of…

Abstract

Organizational behavior scholars have long recognized the importance of a variety of emotion-related phenomena in everyday work life. Indeed, after three decades, the span of research on emotions in the workplace encompasses a wide variety of affective variables such as emotional climate, emotional labor, emotion regulation, positive and negative affect, empathy, and more recently, specific emotions. Emotions operate in complex ways across multiple levels of analysis (i.e., within-person, between-person, interpersonal, group, and organizational) to exert influence on work behavior and outcomes, but their linkages to human resource management (HRM) policies and practices have not always been explicit or well understood. This chapter offers a review and integration of the bourgeoning research on discrete positive and negative emotions, offering insights about why these emotions are relevant to HRM policies and practices. We review some of the dominant theories that have emerged out of functionalist perspectives on emotions, connecting these to a strategic HRM framework. We then define and describe four discrete positive and negative emotions (fear, pride, guilt, and interest) highlighting how they relate to five HRM practices: (1) selection, (2) training/learning, (3) performance management, (4) incentives/rewards, and (5) employee voice. Following this, we discuss the emotion perception and regulation implications of these and other discrete emotions for leaders and HRM managers. We conclude with some challenges associated with understanding discrete emotions in organizations as well as some opportunities and future directions for improving our appreciation and understanding of the role of discrete emotional experiences in HRM.

Details

Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-322-3

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 October 2022

Danielle A. Morris-O'Connor, Andreas Strotmann and Dangzhi Zhao

To add new empirical knowledge to debates about social practices of peer production communities, and to conversations about bias and its implications for democracy. To help…

Abstract

Purpose

To add new empirical knowledge to debates about social practices of peer production communities, and to conversations about bias and its implications for democracy. To help identify Wikipedia (WP) articles that are affected by systematic bias and hopefully help alleviate the impact of such bias on the general public, thus helping enhance both traditional (e.g. libraries) and online information services (e.g. Google) in ways that contribute to democracy. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned objectives.

Design/methodology/approach

Quantitatively, the authors identify edit-warring camps across many conflict zones of the English language WP, and profile and compare success rates and typologies of camp edits in the corresponding topic areas. Qualitatively, the authors analyze the edit war between two senior WP editors that resulted in imbalanced and biased articles throughout a topic area for such editorial characteristics through a close critical reading.

Findings

Through a large-scale quantitative study, the authors find that winner-take-all camps exhibit biasing editing behaviors to a much larger extent than the camps they successfully edit-war against, confirming findings of prior small-scale qualitative studies. The authors also confirm the employment of these behaviors and identify other behaviors in the successful silencing of traditional medicinal knowledge on WP by a scientism-biased senior WP editor through close reading.

Social implications

WP sadly does, as previously claimed, appear to be a platform that represents the biased viewpoints of its most stridently opinionated Western white male editors, and routinely misrepresents scholarly work and scientific consensus, the authors find. WP is therefore in dire need of scholarly oversight and decolonization.

Originality/value

The authors independently verify findings from prior personal accounts of highly power-imbalanced fights of scholars against senior editors on WP through a third-party close reading of a much more power balanced edit war between senior WP editors. The authors confirm that these findings generalize well to edit wars across WP, through a large scale quantitative analysis of unbalanced edit wars across a wide range of zones of contention on WP.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. 79 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Keywords

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