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New Paper in Press at Frontiers in Psychology

Mona Weiss publishes new study on the effects of voice in health care teams.

News vom 23.03.2023

Management scholars and practitioners frequently emphasize the importance of "speaking up at work" and "contributing ideas and suggestions to the team" but often times such suggestions and input may backfire--in particular when organizational contexts are hierarchially structured. Even though speaking up (also called voice) is crucial for organizational functioning and employee well-being, researchers have rarely investigated the conditions under which voice is likely to be received positively by others. In this research, together with Elizabeth Morrison (New York University) and Demian Szyld (Boston Medical Center), I investigated healthcare teams as a prime example for an hierarchically-organized team context in which speaking up or remaining silent may directly affect patient safety. We conducted an experimental study with emergency care teams, in which a nurse either spoke up or remained silent with treatment-related concerns. Our results reveal that nurses' voice was only considered as helpful for the team when team members felt psychologically safe (i.e., felt that the team allows for divergent thinking and interpersonal risk-taking). This research advances theoretical models on receptivity to voice and entails important practical implications: It is not sufficient to invite employees to speak up, it is also imperative to build a psychologically safe work context to ensure that others respond well to it. 

The paper is currently in press at Frontiers in Psychology. For more information please visit: 

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1129359/abstract

Reference:

Weiss, M., Morrison, E.W., Szyld, D. (2023, in press). I like What You're Saying But only if I Feel Safe: Psychological Safety Moderates the Relationship between Voice and Perceived Contribution to Healthcare Team Effectiveness. Frontiers in Psychology, 14. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1129359 

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