Should I say something? A framework for understanding silence from a line manager’s perspective during an economic crisis

Journal article


Prouska, R and Psychogios, AG (2018). Should I say something? A framework for understanding silence from a line manager’s perspective during an economic crisis. Economic and Industrial Democracy. 40 (3). https://doi.org/10.1177/0143831X17752869
AuthorsProuska, R and Psychogios, AG
Abstract

The impact of the recent economic crisis on firms’ key employment priorities has been widely discussed in the literature. Although research has focused on how employee silence is manifested in times of economic crisis, less is known about how line managers experience voice and silence from their own perspective and organizational position. Line managers are an intriguing group to study because they act as both supervisors to their teams and as supervisees (employees) to senior managers/business owners. We draw on qualitative data gathered from line managers in 35 small non-unionized enterprises in Greece in two periods of time (2012 and 2014) during the economic crisis. We develop a framework for understanding line manager’s experience of silence in such contexts and, within this framework propose ‘cynical silence’ as a new type of silence relevant to an economic crisis context.

KeywordsEmployee silence; Cynical silence; Economic crisis; Line managers; Small enterprises; Greece
Year2018
JournalEconomic and Industrial Democracy
Journal citation40 (3)
PublisherSage
ISSN0143-831X
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1177/0143831X17752869
Web address (URL)https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0143831X17752869
Publication dates
Print13 Mar 2018
Publication process dates
Deposited11 Dec 2017
Accepted05 Dec 2017
Accepted author manuscript
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Open
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