Fear is a prominent reason for corporate silence. It is possible that employees keep their opinions and ideas to themselves because they believe that it is a waste of time to speak up. As a manager, do not expect automatically that your employees will open up to you. If the staff does not believe that management is interested in what they have to say or that management cannot do anything about it, employees may conclude that speaking up is not worth their time. Studies show that people are silent because of a sense of futility rather than a fear of personal consequences. This is mainly the case in large multinational corporations.
A sense of futility mostly derives from the perception that management does not even want to hear comments/opinions/ideas from employees. If management sends signals to employees that they are already overwhelmed or even totally satisfied with the situation as it is, then it is not surprising that employees doubt if management even wants to hear about their ideas for improvement. Another reason that employees touch upon, is that due to the broader organizational and economic conditions, they do not want to speak up, because the company is in tough times. Actually, this might be the best time for corporations to receive new ideas from their employees!
The desire to speak up is fundamentally about the wish to change something and make a difference. But, if management continuously cements employees' belief that speaking up is a waste of time, they'll save their breath.
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