Organizational behaviorists define voice as a means for employees to communicate dissatisfaction with their work situations in an effort to make their work environments more congruent with their self-interests and goals.
Progressive leaders, not surprisingly, are encouraged to welcome their employees’ voices with open-door eagerness and gratitude.
However, studies reveal that employees intentionally distort the information they convey to their bosses to avoid reporting bad news. In one study, 85 percent of respondents said that – on at least one occasion – they were hesitant to give undesirable information to their superiors despite the issue’s importance.
Experts call the reluctance to pass bad news upward the “MUM effect.”
Reasons for Keeping Mum
Employees are most likely to withhold bad news when they have:
- High career aspirations
- Low trust in their supervisors
- Limited experience with their current employer
- Perceptions that the organization does not tolerate passing problems upward
- Weak relationships with their bosses
- Insecurity about their standing in the organization
The most frequently cited reason for staying mum is the fear of being labeled or viewed unfavorably by others. In other words, employees are afraid of becoming outcasts within their organizations. Other employees are concerned with upsetting or humiliating their co-workers, or being punished for disclosing bad news.
Most alarming, perhaps, is that many employees believe that it’s simply not worth taking the risks associated with telling management that something has gone wrong. In fact, 20 percent of workers believe that management will fail to act on the problems and issues they report.
So why bother?
Getting More Voice
Fortunately, there are things leaders can do to encourage upward communication. First, managers must refrain from assuming that employees know, or should know, that they want to hear bad news.
Leaders must demonstrate to workers that reporting problems and issues is encouraged and, indeed, expected.
Next, leaders should provide a vehicle for employees to use for openly sharing concerns. Simply put, employees must understand the procedures involved in elevating bad news. Who do I tell? How do I tell them? A formal reporting process should be spelled out in the employee manual.
In addition, management should consider balancing the costs of reporting to not reporting bad news. Employees should face repercussions for failing to report serious problems (harassment, theft, violence, etc.). As a result, workers who fear punishment for telling the boss bad news would need to weigh the consequences of keeping quiet.
Finally, leaders must make it easy for people to tell them bad news. Despite the common proclamation that “my door is always open,” few workers are courageous enough to walk into a senior manager’s office to report an issue. Therefore, leaders must make themselves available to employees where they work – in others words, bosses should “manage by walking around” and ask workers about their concerns.
Because most employees withhold bad news, positive information reaches management much more readily than negative information. The prevalence of good news might distort the knowledge on which leaders base their decisions. Therefore, leaders must encourage workers to raise their voice.
So what are you doing to encourage a healthy environment where bad news can flow through proper channels at your organization? How do you personally deal with unpleasant information from your team? Do you encourage open and professional dialog with your teams? What have you done recently to reward someone who reluctantly came forth with honest bad news? I would love to hear your comments!
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George Brymer is the creator of The Leading from the Heart Workshop®
He delivers Leadership Workshops that help leaders at all levels evolve
Email | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter | Web | Blog | Skype: allsquareinc | (419) 265-3467
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