Research has long suggested that strong relationships between managers and employees lead to positive outcomes, including employees feeling safe to speak up and take risks.
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But new research from the University of 91吃瓜 shows that employees may not want to sacrifice social capital with their leader by voicing concerns.
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鈥淲ho Says There鈥檚 a Problem? Preferences on the Sending and Receiving of Prohibitive Voice鈥� is forthcoming in Human Relations from , assistant professor of management and organization, and , Edward F. Sorin Society Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations in 91吃瓜鈥檚 . The study examined when employees engage in prohibitive voice and when leaders listen.
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Voice refers to employees speaking up or making suggestions. Prohibitive voice reflects a concern about risk or an objection to how things are being done, while promotive voice calls attention to opportunities and benefits.
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鈥淲e expected that employees who felt they had strong relationships with their leaders would be more likely to speak up with challenging messages,鈥� Hurst says, 鈥渁nd that leaders would be more receptive to such messages from employees they felt they had a strong relationship with. Neither was true.鈥�
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Prior research has shown that when employees point out problems, it can threaten a manager鈥檚 ego, potentially resulting in lower employee performance evaluations. The study built on this research by observing both the employee and manager. On the employee side, the researchers looked at the quality of the employee-manager relationship, the employee鈥檚 rank in the organization and the employee鈥檚 work prevention regulatory focus (WPRF), which predicts an employee鈥檚 tendency to focus on risks and problems.
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鈥淲e found that employees with high-quality relationships with their supervisors were actually less likely to speak up with concerns about risks,鈥� Hurst says, 鈥渁nd employees high in WPRF and those who were higher-ranked were more likely to engage in prohibitive voice. We found that managers were more accepting of prohibitive voice from employees who they didn鈥檛 feel they had a strong relationship with but who were of higher rank.鈥�
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The researchers conducted experiments with 214 employees and 55 leaders.
The employees read scenarios in which they had to choose whether to speak up about a concern or highlight an opportunity related to a hypothetical decision. They also completed measures of their relationship with their leader and their WPRF, while managers had previously been asked to rate their relationships with all of their employees. The leaders then read the same scenarios, after which they were informed that two messages were available for them to view. Each was determined by the researchers but presented to the leader as though they were sent by two of the leader鈥檚 employees. Leaders were able to indicate how interested they were in the message from each employee by assigning points adding up to 100.
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Hurst says managers should not assume that having good relationships with their employees means those employees will be fully open.
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鈥淭he managers in our study seemed to be unaware of this dynamic,鈥� Hurst says. 鈥淪upervisors should convey that their approval is not contingent on employees agreeing with them all the time. It鈥檚 also important to make sure lower-ranked employees feel safe speaking up as well. They might have access to information that others don鈥檛. For instance, front-line employees might have better insight into customers鈥� attitudes and behaviors than employees who don鈥檛 interact with them directly.鈥�
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In follow-up analysis, the researchers found that most employees believed it鈥檚 important to frame things positively to one鈥檚 manager. Meanwhile, only about one-third of managers said they preferred positively framed messages. Half said they took into account the strengths and weaknesses of the employee giving the message rather than whether the message was framed in terms of opportunities vs. risks. They generally seemed to see themselves as open to all types of input.
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Co-authors of the study include Karen MacMillan, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada; Jane Howell, University of Western Ontario, Canada; and Yongsuhk Jung, Air Force Academy, Republic of Korea.
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Contact: Charlice Hurst, 574-631-9469,听