Kassing (1998) defines organizational dissent as the “expression of disagreement or contradictory opinions about organizational practices and policies”. Since dissent involves disagreement it can lead to conflict, which if not resolved, can lead to violence and struggle. As a result, many organizations send the message – verbally or nonverbally – that dissent is discouraged. However, recent studies have shown that dissent serves as an important monitoring force within organizations. Dissent can be a warning sign for employee dissatisfaction or organizational decline. Redding (1985) found that receptiveness to dissent allows for corrective feedback to monitor unethical and immoral behavior, impractical and ineffectual organizational practices and polices, poor and unfavorable decision making, and insensitivity to employees’ workplace needs and desires. Furthermore, Eilerman (Jan. 2006) argues that the hidden costs of silencing dissent include: wasted and lost time, reduced decision quality, emotional and relationship costs, and decreased job motivation. Perlow (2003) found that employee resentment can lead to a decrease in productivity and creativity which can result in the organization losing money, time, and resources. A policy is a plan of action for tackling political issues. ... Dissent is a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to an idea (eg. ... Consensus has two common meanings. ... For other uses, see Conflict (disambiguation) In political terms, conflict refers to an ongoing state of hostility between two or more groups of people. ... For other uses, see Violence (disambiguation). ... For the journal, see Linguistics (journal). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Dissent is a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to an idea (eg. ... Dissent is a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to an idea (eg. ... Alternative meaning: Organisation (band). ... A traffic warning sign is a type of traffic sign that indicates a hazard ahead on the road. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Feedback loop. ... For other uses, see Ethics (disambiguation). ... Morality (from the Latin manner, character, proper behaviour) has three principal meanings. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Decision making is the cognitive process of selecting a course of action from among multiple alternatives. ... For the IBM collaboration software product, see IBM Workplace. ... Look up time in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up decision in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For the Talib Kweli album Quality (album) Quality can refer to a. ... In psychology and common terminology, emotion is the language of a persons internal state of being, normally based in or tied to their internal (physical) and external (social) sensory feeling. ... Look up relationship in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about work. ... Look up Motivation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Resentment is an emotion, from ressentiment, a French word, meaning malice, anger, being rancorous. The English word has the sense of feeling bitter. ... Look up Creativity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Money (disambiguation). ... Look up time in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Classical economics distinguishes between three factors of production which are used in the production of goods: Land or natural resources - naturally-occurring goods such as soil and minerals. ...

Types of dissent

There are three types of dissent: articulated, latent, and displaced (Kassing, 1998). Articulate is a board game manufactured by the company Drumond Park. ... Latent can mean hidden, presently inactive or potentially existing but not yet realized. In specific contexts, it can mean: Latent heat, the amount of energy released or absorbed by a substance during a change of phase Latent geologic fault Latent medical condition, a condition that is present but not active... Look up displacement in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Articulated: Involves expressing dissent openly and clearly in a constructive fashion to members of an organization that can effectively influence organization adjustment. This may include supervisors, management, and corporate officers This article is about the Atlas Supervisor computer program. ... For other uses, see Management (disambiguation). ... Publicly and privately held for-profit corporations often confer corporate titles or business titles on company officials as a means of identifying their function in the organization. ...

Latent: Employees resort to expressing dissent to either their coworkers or other ineffectual audiences within the organization. Employees employ this route when they desire to voice their opinions but lack sufficient avenues to effectively express themselves. For other uses, see Audience (disambiguation). ... The word voice can be used to refer to: Sound: The human voice. ... Opinion is a persons ideas and thoughts towards something. ...

Displaced: Involves expressing dissent to external audiences, such as family and friends, rather than media or political sources sought out by whistle-blowers. a family of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 1997 Family is a Western term used to denote a domestic group of people, or a number of domestic groups linked through descent (demonstrated or stipulated) from a common ancestor, marriage or adoption. ... For other uses, see Friendship (disambiguation). ... Politics is the process by which decisions are made within groups. ...

Factors influencing dissent expression

Kassing (1997) states there are three factors that influence which dissent strategy an employee will decide to use:
1. Individual
2. Relational
3. Organizational
Influence Science and Practice (ISBN 0321188950) is a Psychology book examining the key ways people can be influenced by Compliance Professionals. The books authors is Robert B. Cialdini, Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University. ... A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, most often winning. Strategy is differentiated from tactics or immediate actions with resources at hand by its nature of being extensively premeditated, and often practically rehearsed. ... Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... As commonly used, individual refers to a person or to any specific object in a collection. ... In the contexts of sociology and of popular culture, the concept of interpersonal relationships involves social associations, connections, or affiliations between two or more people. ... An organisation (or organization — see spelling differences) is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals, which controls its own performance, and which has a boundary separating it from its environment. ...

Individual influences

Individual influences concern qualities that employees bring to the organization, expectations they have acquired, and behaviors they enact within organizations. Quality refers to the inherent or distinctive characteristics or properties of a person, object, process or other thing. ... This article is about the concept of expectation as a thought or belief. ... Behavior (U.S.) or behaviour (U.K.) refers to the actions or reactions of an object or organism, usually in relation to the environment. ...

Preference to Avoid Conflict
Roberto (2005) claims that employees may have a preference for avoiding conflict. Therefore, they find confrontation in a public setting uncomfortable. Individual’s sense of powerlessness and senses of right and wrong are contributing factors (Kassing & Avtgis, 1999). For other uses, see Conflict (disambiguation) In political terms, conflict refers to an ongoing state of hostility between two or more groups of people. ... Look up Power in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In mathematics, a divisor of an integer n, also called a factor of n, is an integer which evenly divides n without leaving a remainder. ...

Verbal Aggressiveness & Argumentativeness
Kassing and Avtgis (1999) demonstrated that an individual’s verbal aggressiveness and argumentativeness influence the manner in which an individual will approach expressing dissent. Verbal aggressiveness involves attacking another person’s self concept. This may include character attacks, competence attacks, ridicule, and threats. Argumentativeness, on the other hand, is when an individual argues about controversial issues. In psychology and other social and behavioral sciences, aggression refers to behavior that is intended to cause harm or pain. ... Argumentative is an evidentiary objection raised in response to a question which prompts a witness to draw inferences from facts of the case. ... A persons self image is the mental picture, generally of a kind that is quite resistant to change, that depicts not only details that are potentially available to objective investigation by others (height, weight, hair color, nature of external genitalia, I.Q. score, is this person double-jointed, etc. ... Look up competence, incompetence in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up Ridicule on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Ridicule is a 1996 French film set in the 18th-century at the decaying court of Versailles. ... A threat is an unwanted (deliberate or accidental) event that may result in harm to an asset. ... A controversy is a contentious dispute, a disagreement over which parties are actively arguing. ...

Individuals will choose their strategy for expressing dissent based on the strength of their arguments. Kassing & Avtgis (1999) found an individual who is more argumentative and less verbally aggressive is prone to use articulated dissent. On the other hand, an individual who lacks argumentative skills will resort to using a less direct and more aggressive strategy, latent dissent. A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, most often winning. Strategy is differentiated from tactics or immediate actions with resources at hand by its nature of being extensively premeditated, and often practically rehearsed. ... Argument may refer to: (in logic) a logical argument, that is, an attempt to prove a demonstration of the truth of a conclusion based on the truth of a set of premises (in mathematics) at least three different things: a parameter or independent variable that is the input to a...

Work Locus of Control
Work locus of control can also be a contributing influence. An individual with an internal locus of control orientation believes that they have control over their destiny. They feel the only way to bring about a desired outcome is to act. Individuals who see their lives as being controlled by outside forces demonstrate an external locus of control (Robbins, 2005). Kassing’s (2001) study demonstrated that employees with an internal locus of control used articulated dissent whereas an employee with an external locus of control preferred to use latent dissent. This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... For other uses, see Destiny (disambiguation). ...

Relational influences

Relational influences include the types and qualities of relationships people maintain within their organization.

Employee Relationships
Employees develop and maintain various relationships within organizations. These relationships can influence the choices employees make about expressing dissent. Employees may feel uncomfortable voicing their dissenting opinions in the presence of others because they feel the best way to preserve relationships is to keep quiet. Homogenous groups also place pressure on individuals to conform. Since many people fear being embarrassed in front of their peers, they can easily be lulled into consensus. (Roberto, 2005). Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... Opinion is a persons ideas and thoughts towards something. ... Homogeneous is an adjective that has several meanings. ... Conformity is the act of consciously maintaining a certain degree of similarity (in clothing, manners, behaviors, etc. ... Embarrassment is an unpleasant emotional state experienced upon having a socially unacceptable act witnessed by or revealed to others. ... A peer group is a group of people of approximately the same age, social status, and interests. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Superior-Subordinate Relationship
The superior-subordinate relationship is an important relational factor. Employees who perceive they had a higher-quality relationship with their supervisors are more often to use articulated dissent. They feel their supervisors respect their opinions and that they have mutual influence and persuasion over the outcome of organizational decisions. Conversely, employees that perceive their relationship with their supervisor as low-quality will resort to latent dissent. They feel that there is no room to voice their opinions (Kassing, 2000). Look up superior in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A hierarchy (in Greek hieros = sacred, arkho = rule) is a system of ranking and organizing things. ... This article is about the Atlas Supervisor computer program. ... For other uses, see Persuasion (disambiguation). ... This article or section should be merged with Decision_making. ...

Management which models the use of articulated dissent contributes to the use of articulated dissent among its employees (Kassing & Avtgis, 1999). Subordinates who witness their supervisors successfully articulating dissent may be more likely and more willing to adopt similar strategies. However, a supervisor must keep in mind that expressing dissent can be very difficult and uncomfortable for lower-level managers and employees. Therefore, supervisors should not only take actions to encourage dissent, they must be willing to seek out individuals willing to say no to them. (Roberto, 2005). For other uses, see Management (disambiguation). ... A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. ...

Organizational influences

Organizational influences concern how organizations relate to their employees.

Organizational Norms
Once an employee joins an organization, it is through assimilation that they learn the norms of the organization. Perlow (2003) states that organizations placing “high value on being polite and avoiding confrontation” can cause employees to be uncomfortable expressing their differences. Employees make assessments about motives and restraints when others dissent and use this knowledge to inform their own decisions about when and how to use dissent (Kassing, 2001). Furthermore, some corporate assumptions are accepted without questioning. For example, employees will defer to the expert’s opinion (Roberto, 2005). Cultural assimilation (often called merely assimilation) is an intense process of consistent integration whereby members of an ethno-cultural group, typically immigrants, or other minority groups, are absorbed into an established, generally larger community. ... The word norm coming from the latin word norma which means angle measure or (lawlike) rule, has a number of meanings: A social or sociological norm; see norm (sociology). ... Politeness is best expressed as the practical application of good manners or etiquette. ... For other meanings of motive see motive (algebraic geometry) and (alternate spelling of) motif (music). ... Wrist cuffed to chain Physical restraint refers to the practice of rendering people helpless or keeping them in captivity by means such as handcuffs, shackles, straitjackets, ropes, straps, ball locks or other forms of physical restraint. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... This article or section should be merged with Decision_making. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ...

Organizational Identification
Organizational identification and workplace freedom of speech has an effect on an individual’s choice of expressing dissent (Kassing, 2000). If an individual highly identifies itself with the organization they are more likely to use the dissent strategy that mirrors the organization’s values. If the organization demonstrates it values dissent and promotes workplace freedom of speech, the highly identified employee will demonstrate articulate dissent. This article is about the general concept. ... Value is a term that expresses the concept of worth in general, and it is thought to be connected to reasons for certain practices, policies or actions. ...

Openness
An organization that limits the opportunities for employees to voice their opinion, demonstrates contradictory expectations, and gives the perception that openness is not favored, will lead to employees to select latent dissent strategies (Kassing & Avtgis, 1999). Openness is related to open source and is a philosophy that is being used as the basis of how various groups and organizations operate. ...

Perceptions of organizational dissenters

The perceptions of supervisors and coworkers can be used to further determine an individual’s choice of dissent strategy. Employees will take notice of other dissenters and the consequences of their actions and will use this information to refine their “sense of organizational tolerance for dissent, to determine what issues merit dissent, and to inform their future dissent strategy choices” (Kassing, 2001). In psychology and the cognitive sciences, perception is the process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting, and organizing sensory information. ... The term dissenter (from the Latin dissentire, to disagree), labels one who dissents or disagrees in matters of opinion, belief, etc. ... Consequence can refer to:a good or a bad result of your actions. ...

Kassing (2001) found that articulated and latent dissenters were perceived differently. People perceived articulated dissenters to be more satisfied, more committed, possess higher quality relationships with their supervisors, and seen as employees who believed they have influence within their organizations than latent dissenters. Furthermore, articulated dissenters, compared to latent dissenters, were perceived to be less verbally aggressive. Look up commitment in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For the Talib Kweli album Quality (album) Quality can refer to a. ... Influence Science and Practice (ISBN 0321188950) is a Psychology book examining the key ways people can be influenced by Compliance Professionals. The books authors is Robert B. Cialdini, Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University. ... Aggression is defined as The act of initiating hostilities or invasion. ...

Triggering events

Organizational dissent begins with a triggering event. This triggering event is what propels individuals to speak out and share their opinions about organizational practices or politics. An individual will consider the issue of dissent and whom it concerns before deciding what dissent strategy to use. The types of issues that cause employees to dissent vary. The majority of employees expressed dissent due to resistance of organizational change. Other factors include employee treatment, decision making tactics, inefficiency, role/responsibility, resources, ethics, performance evaluations, and preventing harm (Kassing, 2002). Opinion is a persons ideas and thoughts towards something. ... Look up practice, practise in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Politics (disambiguation). ... Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Decision making is the cognitive process of selecting a course of action from among multiple alternatives. ... A tactic is a method employed to help achieve a certain goal. ... The term inefficiency has several meanings depending on the context in which its used: Economic inefficiency refers to a situation where we could be doing a better job, i. ... A function is part of an answer to a question about why some object or process occurred in a system that evolved or was designed with some goal. ... Look up responsibility in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Classical economics distinguishes between three factors of production which are used in the production of goods: Land or natural resources - naturally-occurring goods such as soil and minerals. ... For other uses, see Ethics (disambiguation). ... Performance management may mean: Performance measurement is the process of assessing progress toward achieving predetermined goals, while performance management is building on that process adding the relevant communication and action on the progress achieved against these predetermined goals (Bourne, M.,Franco, M. and Wilkes, J. (2003). ... This article is about characterizing and appraising something of interest. ... Harm can be defined as causing physical or psychological/emotional damage or injury to a person, animal or other entity. ...

In addition to the dissent-triggering event, the focus of the issues can be relevant to how one expresses dissent. Kassing (2002) believed individuals may focus on improving matters within the organization that affect themselves(self-focused), they may focus on the welfare of the organization of the whole (other-focused) or they may focus on issues concerning their co-workers (neutral).

Articulated Dissent
An individual will use upward articulate dissent in response to functional and other-focused dissent-triggering events. Organizations are more attractive to upward articulate dissenting when it is in regards to functional aspects. This type of dissent gives the perception that dissenters are being constructive and are concerned with issues of “principle rather than personal-advantage”. It allows the employee to signal their commitment to cooperative goals. Generally, functional refers to something with and able to fulfill its purpose or function. ... Alternative meaning: Organisation (band). ... Look up signal, signaling in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Coop. ... In Organizational Development, goals represent desired future states of organizations. ...

Latent Dissent
Individuals may also express latent dissent in response to functional and other-focused dissent-triggering. They determine to use latent instead of articulate when they believe that management is not receptive to employee dissent. This indicates that individuals would use articulate dissent if they feel those channels are not available and accessible. Latent dissent is also used in protective dissent–triggering events. Generally, functional refers to something with and able to fulfill its purpose or function. ... For other uses, see Management (disambiguation). ...

Displaced Dissent
Individuals will readily used displaced dissent regardless of the focus or triggering event. External audiences provide individuals with a low risk alternative to express dissent. The downfall for organizations, however, is the loss of employee feedback. If an employee expresses their dissent to outsiders, the organization will not hear about it and will assume that less dissent exists within the organization. When an organization fails to address potential issues, employees may then view the organization as discouraging dissent and will resort to using either latent or displaced dissent in the future. An audience is the/a group of people who participate in and experience or encounter a work of art, literature, theatre, music or academics in any medium. ... Lets talk about risk control strategies, anyone with more information and willing to share, please do so. ... there is noo armenian language!! O u dumbb ppl!! ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Feedback loop. ...

Benefits of upward dissent

In 2002, Kassing’s research found upward dissent can be beneficial to both the organization and the individuals involved.

Organizational Benefits
Upward dissent serves as an important monitoring force and allows the organization to identify problems and issues before they become damaging.

Individual Benefits
Employees who express upward dissent seem more satisfied, to have better work relationships, and to identify with their organization.

Upward dissent strategies

Not all organizations are designed to recognize and respond to employee dissent. Furthermore, employees consider expressing upward dissent as a “risky proposition”. In several studies Kassing (1997, 1998,) found that employees decided to express dissent by considering whether or not they will be perceived as constructive or adversarial, as well as the risk of retaliation associated with dissenting. In 2002, Kassing found that once an individual decides to strategically express dissent, they use five different categories: direct-factual appeal, repetition, solution presentation, circumvention, and threatening resignation. Alternative meaning: Organisation (band). ... See also the category disambiguation page. ... In law, an appeal is a process for making a formal challenge to an official decision. ... Look up Repetition in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Making a saline water solution by dissolving table salt (NaCl) in water This article is about chemical solutions. ... Street preacher in Covent Garden using a presentation style Presentation is the process of presenting the content of a topic to an audience. ... A resignation is the formal act of giving up ones office or position. ...

Direct-Factual Appeal
When an employee uses factual information derived from physical evidence, knowledge of organizational policies and practices, and personal work experience, they use the direct-factual appeal strategy. This strategy is considered active and constructive due to the fact that the employees seek evidence and base their assumptions on facts, evidence, and first-hand experience. Employees avoid using verbal attacks and unsupported data. Physical evidence is any evidence introduced in a trial in the form of a physical object, intended to prove a fact in issue based on its demonstrable physical characteristics. ... Work experience is the experience that a person has working, or working in a specific field or occupation. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... Facts may refer to: fact, an incontrovertible truth Flexible AC transmission system, abbreviated FACTS Facts (newspaper), a Swiss newspaper Category: ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Look up Experience in Wiktionary, the free dictionary This article discusses the general concept of experience. ... For the band, see Verbal Abuse. ... For other uses, see Data (disambiguation). ...

Repetition
Repetition involves expressing dissent about a topic/issue repeatedly at different points in time. This strategy is often used when an employee feels nothing is being done to correct the original articulated problem/issue and feel that the issue warrants being repeated. The problem with this strategy is that repetition in a short period can be seen as destructive. Especially if the abbreviated time frame does not allow the supervisor enough time to respond. However, if repetition is used over an extended time period it may be considered active-constructive since it may serve as a reminder to the supervisor. Look up Repetition in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up Problem in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Solution Presentation Strategy
The solution presentation strategy is deemed as active-constructive since an employee will provided solutions, with or without supporting evidence. This allows the supervisor to be receptive to the expressed dissent and indicates that you have put effort into solving the problem/issue. This article or section should be merged with solvent, soluble, and solubility equilibrium Dissolving table salt in water In chemistry, a solution is one or more substance (the solute) dissolved in another substance (the solvent) forming a homogenous mixture. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Circumvention
If an employee feels their immediate supervisors are not responsive to dissent, they may employ the circumvention strategy. This entails the employee choosing to dissent to an audience higher in the organizational hierarchy. If an employee uses this strategy before giving their supervisor they opportunity to handle the situation first, this strategy can be deemed active-destructive. However, when used to express dissent regarding unethical practices it is considered active-constructive since the dissent is issue driven. A hierarchy (in Greek: , derived from — hieros, sacred, and — arkho, rule) is a system of ranking and organizing things or people, where each element of the system (except for the top element) is a subordinate to a single other element. ... Ethics is a general term for what is often described as the science (study) of morality. In philosophy, ethical behavior is that which is good or right. ...

Threatening Resignation
Threatening resignation can also be seen as both active-constructive and active-deconstructive. This strategy involves the employee threatening to resign as a “form of leverage for obtaining responsiveness and action from supervisors and management”. When used to express your concerns about unsafe and intolerable work conditions it is deemed constructive. However, this strategy will appear to be deconstructive when the managers view the threat as “antagonistic and unprincipled”. A resignation is the formal act of giving up ones office or position. ... Antagonistic Bending and straightening of the arm requires antagonistic muscle movement. ...

Encouraging dissent in the workplace

There are some “tricks” that leaders can utilize to develop their employees attitudes, knowledge, and skills that are needed to foster constructive dissent. For other uses, see illusion (disambiguation). ... See: Aircraft attitude Attitude (magazine) Attitude (album) Attitude (psychology) Propositional attitude This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Skill is human (usually learned) ability to perform actions. ...

Change Decision-Making Focus
Leaders should focus on “How I should make the decision” instead of “What decision should I make”. In the end, if they perform the following steps the decision the leader should make will be obvious.

Encourage Constructive Conflict
Leaders need to ensure that conflict remains constructive. That is, they must stimulate task-oriented disagreement and debate while trying to minimize interpersonal conflict. Eilerman (2006) claims that the way conflict is handled will determine whether the outcome is constructive or destructive. According to Roberto (2005) leaders can create constructive conflict by taking concrete steps before, during, and after a critical decision process. For other uses, see Conflict (disambiguation) In political terms, conflict refers to an ongoing state of hostility between two or more groups of people. ... Consensus has two common meanings. ... Debate (North American English) or debating (British English) is a formal method of interactive and position representational argument. ... This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... Decision making is the cognitive process of selecting a course of action from among multiple alternatives. ...

Establish Ground Rules
Before the process begins, leaders can establish ground rules for how people should interact during the deliberations, clarify the role that each individual will play in the discussions, and build mutual respect. Asking individuals to role play or to become the devil’s advocate ahead of time can help reduce affective conflict while also stimulating constructive conflict (Roberto, 2005). Macy and Neal (1995) claim that since the role of the devil’s advocate is to present convincing counterarguments and to challenge the main position, its benefit lies in the fact that it automatically builds conflict into the decision-making process. Rule has several meanings: A rule in mathematics is something which is always true. ... This article refers to legal deliberation; for other meanings of the word refer to its Wiktionary entry. ... A function is part of an answer to a question about why some object or process occurred in a system that evolved or was designed with some goal. ... This article is about the emotion. ... In role-playing, participants adopt characters, or parts, that have personalities, motivations, and backgrounds different from their own. ... For other uses, see Devils advocate (disambiguation). ... In reasoning, a counterargument is simply an argument that opposes another argument. ...

Intervene When Necessary
During deliberations, leaders can intervene when debates get heated. They might redirect people’s attention and frame the debate in a different light, redescribe the ideas and data in novel ways so as to enhance understanding and spark new branches of discussion or may revisit ideas in hopes of finding common ground (Roberto, 2005). Deutsch and Coleman (2000) explain that reframing allows conflicting parties to see themselves as being in a collaborative, while producing a positive atmosphere that is conductive to creativity and one that increases the potential solutions available. This article refers to legal deliberation; for other meanings of the word refer to its Wiktionary entry. ... Debate is a formalized system of (usually) logical argument. ... Look up understanding in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Debate is a formalized system of (usually) logical argument. ... Collaboration, literally, consists of working together with one or more others. ... Look up Creativity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Reflect on the Process
After a decision process ends, leaders should reflect on the process and try to derive lessons learned regarding how to manage conflict constructively. Since reflections can lead to new insight, individuals must take time to critically assess the experience. They also must address and repair any hurt feelings and damaged relationships that may not have been apparent during the process itself. If these relationships are not repaired, trust could be lost which could negatively affect the effort of the next collaboration. Additionally, leaders should celebrate constructive conflict management and help others to remember the success of the process (Roberto, 2005). A lesson is a structured period of time where learning occurs. ... Reflections may refer to: the plural of reflection Reflections Interactive, a video game developer Reflections (Manos Hadjidakis album) Reflections (Rick James album) Reflections - A Retrospective, a 2006 album by Mary J. Blige Reflections (B.B. King album) Reflections (Paul Van Dyk album) Reflections (Apocalyptica album) Reflections (Supremes album) Reflections (The... Look up Insight in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up Experience in Wiktionary, the free dictionary This article discusses the general concept of experience. ... See: relational model personal relationship mathematical relationship, including: inverse relationship direct relationship relation (mathematics). ... Look up trust in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Establish a Supportive Climate
Bennis (2004) emphasizes that corporate leaders must promise their followers that they will never be devalued or punished because they express dissent. All too often in the past, organizations would marginalize or terminate any employee who voiced an opposing view. Additionally, leaders should reward dissent and punish conflict avoiders. Anyone who clearly withholds a dissenting view only to obstruct the implementation later should be held responsible. Devaluation is reduction in the value of a currency. ... Look up Punishment in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In physics, the term renormalization refers to a variety of theoretical concepts and computational techniques revolving either around the idea of rescaling transformations, or around the process of removing infinities from the calculated quantities (see also regularization). ... Terminate (terminat. ... A bounty is often offered by a group as an incentive for the accomplishment of a task by someone usually not associated with the group. ... In society, punishment is the practice of imposing something unpleasant on a wrongdoer. ...

When leaders establish a climate of openness, they make constructive conflict a habit in the organization and develop behaviors which can be sustained over time. Kassing’s (2000) research found that when leaders emphasize workplace freedom of speech, employees openly and clearly express dissent to audiences that are responsible for “organizational adjustment”. However, for leaders to ensure this type of sustainability, they need to not only change the way they make decisions, but they must develop a pipeline of leaders who approach decision making differently (Roberto, 2005). Openness is related to open source and is a philosophy that is being used as the basis of how various groups and organizations operate. ... This article is about the general concept. ...

Situations that may undermine a leader's efforts

Even if a leader takes all the steps indicated above they must be aware of four situations that can undermine their efforts (Roberto, 2005).

Crowding Out Response Time
Leaders should avoid crowding out response time. Overloading an agenda can decrease the amount of time that is available for an individual to express their view. In technology, response time is the time a system or functional unit takes to react to a given input. ... In computer science, overloading is a type of polymorphism where different functions with the same name are invoked based on the data types of the parameters passed. ... Look up Agenda in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Appointing the Same Devil’s Advocate Every Time
Employing the same person as devil’s advocate can cause the view that it is an “empty ritual”. It is seen as being done for procedural reasons instead of seeking dissenting views. For other uses, see Devils advocate (disambiguation). ... A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value, which is prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. ...

Allowing Too Much Time for Subgroups
Leaders should not allow employees subgroups to have too much time before coming together as a group. Doing so can cause the employees to become attached to an argument and as a result they may not be open to other ideas. In mathematics, given a group G under a binary operation *, we say that some subset H of G is a subgroup of G if H also forms a group under the operation *. More precisely, H is a subgroup of G if the restriction of * to H is a group operation... Look up group in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up argument in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Focusing on Qualitative Data
Leaders should avoid focusing on qualitative data. The employees may become more focused on the data than the real issue(s). For other uses, see Data (disambiguation). ...

Whistle-blowing

Whistle-blowing is a subset of dissent. It involves the expression of dissent to external organizations such as media and political avenues that have the power to take corrective action. Kassing (2000) believes that the whistle-blowing process begins at the superior-subordinate relationship. If a superior response to an employee’s effort to dissent is negative this may cause the employee to seek other avenues of dissent. In fact, evidence indicates that only as a last resort do the dissendents finally go public with their tales (Bennis, 2004, Kassing, 2000). “Superset” redirects here. ... Dissent is a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to an idea (eg. ... Politics is the process by which decisions are made within groups. ... Look up Power in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The term Last Resort usually refers to an action that is used only when no other option remains. ...

Whistleblowers are often high-performing employees who believe they are doing their job (Martin, 2005). They just want to bring people’s attention to a problem that is potentially harmful or unethical. Despite this, whistleblowers are perceived negatively and suffer grave consequences. They are often ostracized, harassed, and attacked by their superiors and coworkers. They face termination, financial losses, stress, relationship breakdown, and health problems. Even worse, few whistleblowers seem to bring about any change. The organization seems to put all their efforts into destroying the whistleblower while ignoring the original problem. The organization will take great measures to cover-up the problem, devalue the target, reinterpret the events, and intimidated and/or bribe the whistleblowers (Martin, 2005). Ethics is a general term for what is often described as the science (study) of morality. In philosophy, ethical behavior is that which is good or right. ... In modern parlance, to ostracize means to exclude someone from society or from a community, by not communicating with or even noticing them, similar to shunning. ... Harassment refers to a wide spectrum of offensive behavior. ... This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... Fired and Firing redirect here. ... Finance studies and addresses the ways in which individuals, businesses, and organizations raise, allocate, and use monetary resources over time, taking into account the risks entailed in their projects. ... Stress has different meanings in different fields: Look up stress in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about a short-lived television series. ... Bribery is the practice of offering a professional money or other favours in order to circumvent ethics in a variety of professions. ...

Organizations need to realize that internal dissent is not itself a crisis, but rather priceless insurance against disaster. Until the ugly headlines appear and the consequences are unavoidable, companies too often forget that they will suffer far more for ignoring their principled dissendents than by giving them a hearing (Bennis, 2004). A crisis (plural: crises) is a turning point or decisive moment in events. ... Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss. ...

See also

For other uses, see Conflict (disambiguation) In political terms, conflict refers to an ongoing state of hostility between two or more groups of people. ... Conflict management refers to the long-term management of intractable conflicts. ... Dissent is a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to an idea (eg. ... The term dissenter (from the Latin dissentire, to disagree), labels one who dissents or disagrees in matters of opinion, belief, etc. ... Groupthink is a type of thought exhibited by group members who try to minimize conflict and reach consensus without critically testing, analyzing, and evaluating ideas. ... This article is about human resources as it applies to business, labor, and economies. ... In organizational development, succession planning is the process of identifying and preparing suitable employees through mentoring, training and job rotation, to replace key players — such as the chief executive officer (CEO) — within an organization as their terms expire. ... Organizational communication, broadly speaking, is: the transactional, symbolic process in which the activities of a social collective are coordinated to achieve individual and collective goals. ... Organizational effectiveness is the concept of how effective an organization is in achieving the outcomes the organization intends to produce. ... Organizational learning is an area of knowledge within organizational theory that studies models and theories about the way an organization learns and adapts. ... Organizational studies, organizational behaviour, and organizational theory are related terms for the academic study of organizations, examining them using the methods of economics, sociology, political science, anthropology, and psychology. ... Professional development often refers to skills required for maintaining a specific career path or to general skills offered through continuing education, including the more general skills area of personal development. ... Workplace democracy is the application of democracy in all its forms (including voting systems, debates, democratic structuring, due process, adversarial process, systems of appeal, and so on) to the workplace. ...

References

Bennis, W. (2004, Jan 23). Truth or consequences. Center for Public Leadership. Retrieved September 22, 2007 from John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University Web site: http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/leadership/Pdf/TruthOrConsequences.pdf

Deutsch, M. & Coleman, P.T. (Eds.) (2000). The handbook of conflict resolution: Theory and practice. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Eilerman, D. (2006, January). Conflict: Cost and opportunity. Retrieved September 17, 2007 from http://www.mediate.com/articles/eilermanD1.cfm

Eilerman, D. (2006, February). Conflict: Personal dynamics and choice. Retrieved September 17, 2007 from http://www.mediate.com/articles/eilermanD2.cfm

Macy, G. & Neal, J.C. (1995). The impact of conflict-generating techniques on student reactions and decision quality. Business Communication Quarterly, 58:4, 39-45.

Martin, B. (2005). Bucking the system: Andrew Wilkie and the difficult task of the whistleblower. Overland, 180, 45-48.

Perlow, L.A. (2003, May 26). When silence spells trouble at work. Harvard Business School Working Knowledge. Retrieved September 20, 2007 from the Harvard Business School Web site: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/3494.html

Redding, W.C. (1985). Rocking boats, blowing whistles, and teaching speech communication. Communication Education, 34, 245-258.

Roberto, M.A. (2005). Why great leaders don’t take yes for an answer. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Robbins, S. P. (2005). Organizational Behavior. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

External links

• Conflict Management Articles – A Collection of Conflict Management Articles
• Organization Development Institute
• The Organization Development Network
• Society of Human Resources Management