Frances J. Milliken
Elizabeth W. Morrison
Patricia F. Hewlin

The objective of this study was to better understand why employees often remain silent about problems in their workplace. We interviewed 40 employees working in a variety of organizational contexts, and asked them about situations where they had not spoken up about an organizationally-relevant issue despite being concerned about this issue. 85% of respondents indicated that they had been in situations where they failed to speak up. Many of their reasons related to fear: fear of concrete punishment, fear of being labeled as a troublemaker, fear of upsetting someone. Using our data as a guide, we build a model outlining the psychological and social forces that drive the decision to remain silent.