‘Persistence and Silence: A Narrative Analysis of Employee Responses to Organisational Change’

Abstract

This article is concerned with how employees talk about organisational change and focuses specifically on how employees discuss reactions and responses to change through the construction of narratives. Employees included in this study suggest that the use of voice as an attempt to inform managers of their discontent, or remaining silent and passive are the most common responses to organisational change. Within sociology and management literature, voice has been considered as a constructive response to change, providing invaluable feedback to managers about declining conditions or performance lapses. Alternatively, remaining silent or passive has been documented as a weak strategy in which the individual renounces control and forms a dependency relationship with powerful groups such as managers. The primary aim of this paper is to challenge the argument that voice is a constructive response to change and suggest that voice is likely to be perceived as destructive, thus leading to the removal of responsibilities and career opportunities. Furthermore, this paper argues that silence is the more constructive response to change, which is documented in this research as leading to the advancement of careers. Relationships between the way employees respond to organisational change and the type of narrative that they construct is also discussed. Those who report remaining silent construct ‘conversion stories’ suggesting that organisational change provided a turning point in which employees could embrace management practices and gain career advancement. Alternatively, those who reported using voice construct ‘atrocity tales’ in which change is associated with stories of workplace bullying, removal of career opportunities and workplace violence. These narratives suggest that the use of voice as a response to change is more complex than its original intent and explanation in the literature, providing challenges for researchers in understanding where voice as a constructive response ends and where resistance to change begins.