"Afraid of being singled out for opposing?"... There was a real reason employees kept quiet

[Financial News] It has been confirmed that people who are confident that "I am accepted in this organization" are more likely to express views that differ from the majority in a specific and persuasive manner. Other members are also more likely to regard those views as information necessary for decision-making rather than as a source of conflict. On the 27th, KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) said that a research team led by Professors Lee Su-jin and Seungwon Jeong of its Department of Technology Management, in collaboration with Professor Zoe Kinias of Ivey Business School at Western University in Canada, had found that group attachment security promotes the expression and acceptance of minority opinions within groups.
Group attachment security refers to a psychological state in which people experience the group to which they belong as a secure foundation for relationships. The research team theorized that group attachment security would allow people to focus on which opinion would produce better results, rather than on how others might respond. To test this, the researchers conducted two experiments from the perspectives of people expressing minority opinions and the majority members receiving them.
First, participants were prompted to feel group attachment security and then asked to express their views while holding a minority opinion within the group. Participants whose group attachment security had been induced used more words to elaborate on their views and expressed them more persuasively than those in the control group. The researchers also confirmed that this difference arose because the participants focused more on the issue at hand and the substance of their opinions than on concerns about their relationships with others.
Next, participants were asked to evaluate arguments written by minority opinion holders from the perspective of majority members. On average, they rated the arguments of minority opinion holders whose group attachment security had been induced as more persuasive. They were also less likely to feel that the opinions defied group expectations and showed a greater willingness to use them in actual decision-making.
The research team also distinguished between minority opinions expressed by members of the group and those expressed by members of an outside group. The overall interaction between group attachment security and the distinction between in-group and out-group members was not statistically significant. However, the process through which group attachment security increased task focus and led to the expression and acceptance of minority opinions was consistently observed for opinions expressed by in-group members. These findings show that simply being members of the same organization does not necessarily make it easier for people to voice opposing views.
The study is also considered to have practical implications for organizations that do not receive enough criticism or suggestions for improvement from within and therefore rely on outside consultants or audits. It further shows that simply bringing together people from diverse backgrounds is not enough to fully realize the benefits of diversity. Diversity can lead to better decision-making and innovation only when members can safely express views that differ from those of the majority and other members can accept them as useful information rather than as conflict or a challenge to the organization.
Professor Seungwon Jeong said, "Simply giving members an opportunity to voice opposing views is not enough. They need to feel confident that they will not be excluded from the organization for expressing a different opinion. Only then can they communicate their thoughts in greater detail and more persuasively, while the majority can accept them as useful information for making better decisions rather than as a source of conflict."
The findings were published online on August 4 in the international academic journal Scientific Reports.
[email protected] Yeon Ji-an Reporter