How do you create a corporate culture where workers have a voice, and if you are a worker how do you decide to speak up? Employees are the ones on the front lines, the ones who know what is going on in a organization and who could point out burgeoning problems before they become real trouble. That said, they often find it better to not speak up rather than raise their voices or they do raise their voices and they get ignored. There are so many examples, from alligators at Disney to planes at Boeing where workers did try to talk about issues, but did not make much headway.
Our guest today is Dr. Jana Raver wbo is a Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Smith School of Business at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. She  jons us to talk about  her research on employee voice and why leaders need to encourage that voice to be raised.
Guest:
Dr. Jana Raver
Professor of Organizational Behaviour at Smith School of Business, Queen’s University

Jana L. Raver is the E. Marie Shantz Professor of Organizational Behaviour at Smith School of Business, Queen’s University, and is also cross-appointed to the Department of Psychology. She is an authority on interpersonal relations and team dynamics at work, with a specific emphasis upon the ways in which employees build and sustain high-performance teams (e.g., helping, promoting learning) versus undermining each other (e.g., harassment, bullying, relationship conflicts).
Her research is motivated by an interest in social issues, and aims to equip people and organizations with resources to prevent adversity when possible, and to empower them to overcome it when it is inevitable. Her recent work has focused on ways for organizations to overcome adversity, including building resilience, bolstering teamwork, encouraging employees to voice concerns, and building positive environments for learning and prosocial action that enable employees to thrive.
She has also led an active program of research focused on uncovering the detrimental effects of exposure to interpersonal mistreatment and other stressors in organizations. Ultimately, her goal is to seek to improve people’s well-being – especially in work organizations – by finding ways that they can thrive despite the challenges they face.
Her research is international in its scope, addresses social problems, and carries implications across levels and disciplines (individuals, teams, organizations, societies). She has been awarded honors for her research, her work has been published in top-tier management journals, and it has been disseminated widely through media outlets such as the National Post, The Globe and Mail, and the Chicago Tribune. She has also consulted and conducted applied research in both the public and private sectors. She teaches courses in organizational behavior, leadership, and team processes that span academic programs (MBA, EMBA, MIB, PhD). She holds a Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from the University of Maryland.
Links:
https://theconversation.com/why-employees-hesitate-to-speak-up-at-work-and-how-to-encourage-them-154357