Voice and Silence in Organizations

Voice and silence have been employed in organizational studies to shed light on how individuals and groups achieve representation and exert meaningful communicative influence within organizations. However, scholars have tended to treat the two concepts separately, since voice has been defined as the opposite of silence. On the basis of a review of relevant literature and a case study of African-American faculty and staff at Texas A&M University, I argue for a re-conceptualization of voice and silence as thoroughly interrelated and intertwined forms of strategic and communicative interaction which denote either expressing or withholding ideas, opinions or aspects of identity in an active, purposeful and relational manner. Voice and silence presuppose each other and social actors present both voice and silence because they deal with multiple issues and multiple levels at different moments in time. Such a redefinition provides conceptual benefits for future research, and practical benefits for both organizations facing diversity related problems, and minority groups seeking representation and voice in organizational settings.