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Self-Censorship in Contexts of Conflict pp 41–60Cite as

Self-Censorship in Organizations

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Part of the book series: Peace Psychology Book Series ((PPBS))

Abstract

This chapter discusses self-censorship in organizations, defined as a decision to withhold information and opinions from others in the absence of formal obstacles to express them. The information mostly is expected to be addressed to people who are in a position to initiate remedial actions. It is the phenomenon often named in the organizational context as “silence,” which is understood as an obstacle to the proper functioning of the organization and development of trust and loyalty. In contrast to most of the chapters of this book, this chapter does not consider narratives of political violence, but of self-censorship of other topics that are more relevant to the organizational context, such as organizational problems, unjust treatment, and transgressions or irregularities in the strategic. Silence in organization refers to the employee’s decision not to speak up even though the individual is convinced that something should be said. It is assumed that silence is one of the forms of self-censorship.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In real life, business organizations, governmental institutions, and NGOs pursue different goals.

  2. 2.

    Organizational contexts are characterized also with conflicts based on the contradiction of the goals of individuals, but because self-censorship is not so common in these contexts, these conflicts are not addressed in the chapter.

  3. 3.

    The literature uses various terms to address the phenomenon when the self-censorship stops, such as “Breaking the Silence” or “Voice.”. This chapter uses the latter term because it is the one that is more often used in the literature on organizations.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland

    Krystyna Adamska

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  1. Krystyna Adamska
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Correspondence to Krystyna Adamska .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Daniel Bar-Tal

  2. International Summer Program in Conflict Resolution, Bar Ilan University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Rafi Nets-Zehngut

  3. Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Keren Sharvit

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Adamska, K. (2017). Self-Censorship in Organizations. In: Bar-Tal, D., Nets-Zehngut, R., Sharvit, K. (eds) Self-Censorship in Contexts of Conflict. Peace Psychology Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63378-7_3

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