The authors provide nine propositions regarding the function and effects of supervisor-subordinate communication to encourage business communication researchers to go beyond a unidimensional view of this workplace relationship. Taken together, these propositions represent an argument that connects and clarifies the associations between micro-level supervisor-subordinate communication behaviors and macro-level organizational learning. We explain how command structures produce relational contexts that create consequences for communication behaviors between subordinates and their supervisors. Specifically, we explain how subordinates’ reluctance to disagree with supervisors results in silence or equivocation—what the authors label the hierarchical mum effect. In turn, we describe how this organizational suppression of dissent produces a barrier to organizational learning and adaptation.
ArgyrisC. (2008). Learning in organizations. In CummingsT. G. (Ed.), Handbook of organization development (pp. 53-68). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
2.
AshcraftK. L.KuhnT.CoorenF. (2009). Constitutional amendments: “Materializing” organizational communication. Academy of Management Annals, 3, 1-64.
3.
AvolioB. J.ZhuW.KohW.BhatiaP. (2004). Transformational leadership and organizational commitment: Mediating role of psychological empowerment and moderating role of structural distance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25, 951-968.
4.
BassB. M. (1999). Two decades of research and development in transformational leadership. European Journal of Work and Occupational Psychology, 8, 9-32.
5.
BavelasJ. B.BlackA.ChovilN.MullettJ. (1990). Equivocal communication. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
6.
BeamishT. D. (2000). Accumulating trouble: Complex organization, a culture of silence, and a secret spill. Social Problems, 47, 473-498.
7.
BiselR. S. (2009). On a growing dualism in organizational discourse research. Management Communication Quarterly, 22, 614-638.
8.
BiselR. S.KelleyK. M.PloegerN. A.MessersmithJ. (2011). Workers’ moral mum effect: On facework and organizational ethics. Communication Studies, 62, 153-170.
9.
BoalK. B.SchultzP. L. (2007). Storytelling, time, and evolution: The role of strategic leadership in complex adaptive systems. Leadership Quarterly, 18, 411-428.
10.
BodenD. (1994). The business of talk: Organizations in action. Cambridge, England: Polity Press.
11.
BolinoM. C. (1999). Citizenship and impression management: Good soldiers or good actors?Academy of Management Review, 24, 82.
12.
BrownP.LevinsonS. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
13.
BrownA. D.StarkeyK. (2000). Organizational identity and learning: A psychodynamic perspective. Academy of Management Review, 25, 102-120.
14.
BurgelmanR. A.GroveA. S. (2004). Strategic dissonance. In StarkeyK.TempestS.McKinlayA. (Eds.), How organizations learn: Managing the search for knowledge (pp. 112-130). Cornwall, England: Thomson.
15.
CampbellK. S.WhiteC. D.DurantR. (2007). Necessary evils, (in)justice, and rapport management. Journal of Business Communication, 44, 161-185.
16.
CarsonC. L.CupachW. R. (2000). Facing corrections in the workplace: The influence of perceived face threat on the consequences of managerial reproach. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 28, 215-234.
17.
ChildJ.HeavensS. J. (2001). The social constitution of organizations and its implications for organizational learning. In DierkesM.AntalA. B.ChildJ.NonakaI. (Eds.), Handbook of organizational learning and knowledge (pp. 308-326). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
18.
ChovilN. (1994). Equivocation as an interactional event. In CupachW. R.SpitzbergB. H. (Eds.), The dark side of interpersonal communication (pp. 105-124). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
19.
CourtrightJ. A.FairhurstG. T.RogersL. E. (1989). Interaction patterns in organic and mechanistic systems. Academy of Management Journal, 32, 773-802.
20.
CyphertD. (2009). Who we are and what we do, 2008. Journal of Business Communication, 46, 262-274.
21.
DrewP.HeritageJ. (Eds.). (1992). Talk at work: Interaction in institutional settings. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
22.
FairhurstG. T.ChandlerT. A. (1989). Social structure in leader-member interaction. Communication Monographs, 56, 215-239.
23.
FairhurstG. T.PutnamL. (2004). Organizations as discursive constructions. Communication Theory, 14, 5-26.
24.
FletcherD.WatsonT. (2007). Voice, silence and the business of construction: Loud and quiet voices in the construction of personal, organizational, and social realities. Organization, 14, 155-174.
25.
GoffmanE. (1967). Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face behavior. Garolen City, NY: Doubleday.
26.
GreenS. G.AndersonS. E.ShiversS. L. (1996). Demographic and organizational influences on leader-member exchange and related work attitudes. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 66, 203-214.
27.
GronnP. C. (1983). Talk as the work: The accomplishment of school administration. Administrative Science Quarterly, 28, 1-21.
28.
HarveyM. G.NovicevicM. M.BuckleyM. R.FerrisG. R. (2001). A historic perspective on organizational ignorance. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 16, 449-468.
29.
HaslamA. S. (2001). Psychology in organizations: The social identity approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
30.
HigginsC.JudgeT. A.FerrisG. R. (2003). Influence tactics and work outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24, 89-92.
31.
InfanteD. A.AndersonC. M.MartinM. M.HeringtonA. D.KimJ. (1993). Subordinates’ satisfaction and perceptions of superiors’ compliance-gaining tactics, argumentativeness, verbal aggressiveness, and style. Management Communication Quarterly, 6, 307-326.
32.
JablinF. M. (1979). Superior-subordinate communication: The state of the art. Psychological Bulletin, 86, 1201-1222.
33.
JudgeT. A.PiccoloR. F. (2004). Transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analytic test of their relative validity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 755-768.
34.
KacmarK. M.WittL. A.ZivnuskaS.GullyS. (2003). The interactive effect of leader-member exchange and communication frequency on performance ratings. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 764-722.
35.
KassingJ. (2005). Speaking up competently: A comparison of perceived competence in upward dissent strategies. Communication Research Reports, 22, 227-234.
36.
KassingJ. (2006). Employees’ expressions of upward dissent as a function of current and past work experiences. Communication Reports, 19, 79-88.
37.
KeytonJ. (2005). Communication and organizational culture: A key to understanding work experiences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
38.
KingG. (1999). The implications of an organization’s structure on whistleblowing. Journal of Business Ethics, 20, 315-326.
39.
KingI. W. (2003). Making space: Valuing our talk in organizations. Journal of Management Studies, 40, 1205-1223.
40.
KoslowskyM.SchwarzwaldJ.AshuriS. (2001). On the relationship between subordinates’ compliance to power sources and organisational attitudes. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 50, 455-476.
41.
LimT. S.BowersJ. W. (1991). Facework: Solidarity, approbation, and tact. Human Communication Research, 17, 415-450.
42.
LovellA. (2003). The enduring phenomenon of moral muteness: Suppressed whistleblowing. Public Integrity, 5, 187-204.
43.
MayfieldJ. R.MayfieldM. R.KopfJ. (1998). The effects of leader motivating language on subordinate performance and satisfaction. Human Resource Management, 37, 235-248.
MengisJ.EpplerM. J. (2008). Understanding and managing conversations from a knowledge perspective: An analysis of the roles and rules of face-to-face conversations in organizations. Organization Studies, 29, 1287-1313.
46.
MiceliM. P.NearJ. P. (2005). Whistle-blowing and positive psychology. In GiocaloneR. A.JurkiewiczC. L.DunnC. (Eds.), Positive psychology in business ethics and corporate responsibility (pp. 85-102). Greenwich, CT: Information Age.
47.
MillikenF. J.MorrisonE. W.HewlinP. F. (2003). An exploratory study of employee silence: Issues that employees don’t communicate upward and why. Journal of Management Studies, 40, 1453-1476.
48.
MorandD. A. (2000). Language and power: An empirical analysis of linguistic strategies used in superior-subordinate communication. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21, 235-248.
49.
MorrisonE. W.MillikenF. J. (2000). Organizational silence: A barrier to change and development in a pluralistic world. Academy of Management Review, 25, 706-725.
50.
NapierB. J.FerrisG. R. (1993). Distance in organizations. Human Resource Management Review, 3, 321-357.
51.
NearJ. P.MiceliM. P. (1985). Organizational dissidence: The case of whistle-blowing. Journal of Business Ethics, 4, 1-16.
52.
PayneH. J. (2007). The role of organization-based self-esteem in employee dissent expression. Communication Research Reports, 24, 235-240.
53.
PenleyL. E.AlexanderE. R.JerniganI. E.HenwoodC. I. (1991). Communication abilities of managers: The relationship to performance. Journal of Management, 17, 57-76.
54.
PelzD. C. (1952). Influence: A key to effective leadership in the first-line supervisor. Personnel, 29, 3-11.
55.
PloegerN. A.KelleyK. M.BiselR. S. (2011). The hierarchical mum effect: A new investigation of organizational ethics. Southern Communication Journal, 76, 465-481.
56.
PowellW. W. (2003). Neither market nor hierarchy: Network forms of organization. In HandelM. J. (Ed.), The sociology of organizations: Classic, contemporary, and critical readings (pp. 315-330). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
57.
PutnamL. L.NicoteraA. M. (Eds.). (2009). Building theories of organization: The constitutive role of communication. New York, NY: Routledge.
58.
RahimM. A.AntonioniD.PsenickaC. (2001). A structural equations model of leader power, subordinates’ styles of handling conflict, and job performance. International Journal of Conflict Management, 12, 191-211.
59.
ReddingW. C. (1985). Rocking boats, blowing whistles, and teaching speech communication. Communication Education, 34, 245-258.
60.
RileyK. (1993). Telling more than the truth: Implicature, speech acts, and ethics in professional communication. Journal of Business Ethics, 12, 179-196.
61.
RosenS.TesserA. (1972). Fear of negative evaluation and the reluctance to transmit bad news. Journal of Communication, 22, 124-141.
62.
RousseauD. M. (1995). Psychological contracts in organizations: Understanding written and unwritten agreements. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
63.
SalterF. K. (1995). Emotions in command: A naturalistic study of institutional dominance. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
64.
ScheinE. (1993). On dialogue, culture, and organizational learning. Organizational Dynamics, 22, 27-38.
65.
SharbroughW. C.SimmonsS. A.CantrillD. A. (2006). Motivating language in industry: Its impact on job satisfaction and perceived supervisor effectiveness. Journal of Business Communication, 43, 322-343.
66.
ShoreL. M.BarksdaleK. (1998). Examining degree of balance and level of obligation in the employment relationship: A social exchange approach. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 19, 731-744.
67.
SiasP. M. (2005). Workplace relationship quality and employee information experiences. Communication Studies, 56, 375-395.
68.
SpitzbergB. H. (1994). The dark side of (in)competence. In CupachW. R.SpitzbergB. H. (Eds.), The dark side of interpersonal communication (pp. 25-50). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
69.
SpitzbergB. H.CupachW. R. (1984). Interpersonal communication competence. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
70.
StohlC.CheneyG. (2001). Participatory processes/paradoxical practices. Management Communication Quarterly, 14, 349-407.
71.
TataJ. (2002). The influence of managerial accounts on employees’ reactions to negative feedback. Group & Organization Management, 27, 480-503.
72.
TaylorJ. R.CoorenF.GirouxN.RobichaudD. (1996). The communicational basis of organization: Between the conversation and the text. Communication Theory, 6, 1-39.
73.
TesserA.RosenS. (1972). Similarity of objective fate as a determinant of the reluctance to transmit unpleasant information: The mum effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 23, 46-53.
74.
ThomasG.ZolinR.HartmanJ. (2009). The central role of communication in developing trust and its effect on employee involvement. Journal of Business Communication, 46, 287-310.
75.
TsahuriduE. E.VandekerckhoveW. (2008). Organisational whistleblowing policies: Making employees responsible or liable?Journal of Business Ethics, 82, 107-118.
Uhl-BienM.MaslynJ. M. (2003). Reciprocity in manager-subordinate relationships: Components, configurations, and outcomes. Journal of Management, 29, 511-532.
78.
WaldronV. R. (1991). Achieving communication goals in superior-subordinate relationships: The multi-functionality of upward maintenance tactics. Communication Monographs, 58, 289-306.
79.
WaldronV. R.HuntM. D.DsilvaM. (1993). Towards a threat management model of upward communication: A study of the influence and maintenance tactics in the leader-member dyad. Communication Studies, 44, 254-272.
80.
WayneS. J.KacmarM. K. (1991). The effects of impression management on the performance appraisal process. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 48, 70-88.
81.
WayneS. J.LidenR. C. (1995). Effects of impression management on performance ratings: A longitudinal study. Academy of Management Journal, 38, 232-260.
82.
WeickK. (1995). Sensemaking in organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
83.
WeickK. (2001). Making sense of the organization. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
84.
WeickK. E.AshfordS. J. (2001). Learning in organizations. In JablinF. M.PutnamL. L. (Eds.), The new handbook of organizational communication: Advances in theory, research, and methods (pp. 704-731). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
85.
WesolowskiM. A.MossholderK. W. (1997). Relational demography in supervisor-subordinate dyads: Impact on subordinate job satisfaction, burnout, and perceived procedural justice. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 18, 351-362.
86.
WrightG.HeijdenK.BradfieldR.BurtG.CairnsG. (2004). The psychology of why organizations can be slow to adapt to change. Journal of General Management, 29, 21-36.
87.
YarivE. (2006). “Mum effect”: Principals’ reluctance to submit negative feedback. Journal of Management Psychology, 21, 533-546.
88.
YuklG. (2006). Leadership in organizations (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
89.
ZornT. E.ViolantiM. T. (1996). Communication abilities and individual achievement in organizations. Management Communication Quarterly, 10, 139-167.
