Differences in perceived effectiveness of upward dissent strategies between employees and managers.

• Main Authors: Tan, Yanyu., Seow, Yen Nie., Chia, Hui Jun.
• Other Authors: Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business::Management::Communication; DRNTU::Business::Management::Conflict management
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/49917
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The way employees communicate dissents in workplaces effectively is one of the keys to successful internal communication. Previous literature on organizational dissents primarily identified different upward dissent strategies and compared the perceived competencies of these strategies only through employees’ self-report. This study, however, compared the perceived effectiveness of upward dissent strategies from both managers’ and employees’ point of views, specifically in Singapore’ context. A survey was conducted among managers and subordinates to investigate if these two groups perceive the effectiveness of dissent strategies differently through a scenario-based questionnaire, where participants were asked to rate how each dissent strategy would bring about a specific desired outcome in that scenario. While managers and employees rated factual appeal and presentation of solution as effective dissent strategies in different scenarios, both groups consistently rated threatening resignation as the weakest strategy. Managers, in particular, rated all dissent strategies higher than employees suggesting that management seemed to take employees’ dissent seriously. These findings provide implications for internal communication that facilitates employees’ dissent.