The Great Unheard at Work: Understanding Voice and Silence in Organisations

ISBN-13: 9781032284026 / Angielski / Miękka / 2023 / 248 str.

Mark Cole; John Higgins

Opis

Silence always has something to say – it’s never neutral and speaks volumes if people are willing to hear. Our response to silence is often to dismiss or end it, to block it out with noise. Instead, silence needs to be taken seriously. This book explores the importance of understanding silence and shows how we can move from merely listening to truly hearing those around us.

The interplay of voice and silence in organisational life is not straightforward. We can feel pressured to speak and compelled to keep our silence. Knowing how to read silence, to make sense of its generative and degenerative capacity, is a rarely developed skill among managers and leaders at all levels – who have been brought up to see silence as evidence of compliance or a weakness to be addressed. But it is a critical skill for managers and employees alike. Written by two experts in organisational development, this book explores different types of silence and their implications for organisational practice, digging into the theoretical roots and engaging with real stories and voices. It provides everyone at work with an understanding of the different meanings of silence and how to engage well with it. When to stay with it, when to join in with it, and when to be struck by what’s not being said and do something about it.

The Great Unheard at Work is essential reading for corporate leaders, HR professionals in all sectors, business students, professionals, and anyone interested in leadership development.

Spis treści

Part I. Seven shades of workplace silence  1. An introduction to the seven shades of silence  2. The seven shades of silence in action  Part II. Creating and sustaining climates of silence and voice  3. On silence  4. The meaning of silence  5. Silence as ritual  6. Self-silencing  7. Silence at work  8. Silence is a password  9. Lessons for corporate life (on sustaining climates of silence and voice)  10. Silence descends  Part III. Thirty-five voices… and beyond  11. Thirty-five voices  12. Some notes on method and practical application  Part IV. Dialogue retethered  13. Putting dialogue to work