Speaking up and feeling empowered?

By Alistair Jones

SMU Office of Research – In the corridors of British power, former prime minister Margaret Thatcher was quoted as saying: "Don't give me problems, give me solutions." The so-called Iron Lady, who died in 2013, had no truck with fault-finding negativity: she wanted actionable pathways.

The dynamics between power and action in the workplace is at the heart of new research co-authored by Shereen Fatimah, an Assistant Professor of Organisational Behaviour & Human Resources at Singapore Management University (SMU). 

"We want this research to inform employees on how they may use voice behaviours – that is, their efforts to speak up at work – to gain and maintain a sense of power," Professor Fatimah says.

A sense of power, or the perception of influence or control in social relations, is known to affect, and be affected by, individuals taking action and exerting an impact on their environment. Extant research suggests a positively reinforcing cycle, such that taking action leads to power, which in turn leads to subsequent actions.

But things may not be so simple. By viewing action and power through the lens of regulatory focus theory, the researchers reveal that the reinforcing cycle does not always occur.

A sense of power

So, what is regulatory focus theory?

"It is a theory of motivation that posits two forms of self-regulation: promotion, motivated towards attaining positive outcomes; and prevention, motivated towards preventing negative outcomes," Professor Fatimah says.

And how does this connect to power and action?

"Power is not limited to one’s hierarchical position in an organisation," Professor Fatimah says. "Employees may strategically use proactive behaviours to harness power and drive positive changes. 

"Specifically, we find that when employees speak up with improvement-oriented ideas – that is, a promotive voice – it boosts their sense of power which further motivates them to voice ideas. 

"Conversely, when employees with trait prevention focus speak up about problems – that is, a prohibitive voice – it deflates their sense of power and reduces their motivation to voice ideas subsequently. 

"By unpacking these positive and negative cycles, our research explains how employees may leverage their actions to gain and maintain power at work."

The researchers note that these cycles may exert long-term implications.

"How you choose your words when proposing changes can lead to greater influence, or silence and withdrawal in the long run. Thus, strategically framing issues in a positive tone, vs. a negative tone, makes a difference for employees’ ability to cultivate power and exert influence in the workplace," Professor Fatimah says.

"In general, employees’ efforts to proactively initiate change are often a double-edged sword. Although these proactive changes may benefit work processes, it also poses costs for employees who may be seen as 'rocking the boat'. 

"Through this research, we hope to provide employees with insights on how to maximise the benefits and minimise the costs of their proactive efforts by being strategic about how they speak up and call attention to workplace issues."

 Unequal actions

The research challenges an existing notion that action and power positively reinforce each other. 

"In the power literature, there is an underlying assumption that when individuals take action, it is going to boost their sense of power and that feeling powerful will spur individuals to take action in their environment. We challenge this notion, as not all forms of action are equal," says Professor Fatimah. 

"When employees take action in ways that highlight problems it can, in fact, decrease their sense of power and we find that power does not motivate people to speak up on problems. 

"From a practical standpoint, if the assumption underlying the dynamics of action and power goes unchecked, then it may result in misguided takeaways for employees. 

"For example, to gain power, or advance the social hierarchy at work, employees may indiscriminately take action on opportunities or problems as they arise in work processes. However, these actions do not equally engender a sense of power. 

"As we demonstrate, prevention-oriented actions, [such as] a prohibitive voice, not only reduce one’s sense of power for those with a strong trait prevention focus, but also exert negative spillover consequences for subsequent promotion-oriented actions, [such as] a promotive voice. 

"Hence, absent a theoretically guided differentiation between actions that facilitate power and actions that curtail power, employees’ efforts to gain power will not only backfire but also lead to unintended, detrimental outcomes for their subsequent voice behaviours," Professor Fatimah says.

 Critical evaluation

Wharton professor Adam Grant has said that solution-only thinking creates “a culture of advocacy instead of one of inquiry". Is this an inherent danger in adopting a promotion voice?

"While it is useful to inculcate a culture where employees engage in critical evaluation, how these critiques are expressed also matters. Extant research documents that when employees engage in prohibitive voice, it tends to hurt their performance evaluations, paints them as troublemakers and creates more frustration for supervisors. 

"Thus, at the end of the day, employees often have to bear the negative consequences for playing the devil’s advocate. Hence, employees need to be more judicious about how they express ideas or concerns."

 Data for the research was drawn from full-time employees enrolled in a part-time MBA-style course at a leading US university, as well as other full-time employees from across a range of industries. Would the research also apply to lower-income, working-class employees? 

"We expect our findings to be applicable across the spectrum as we encourage employees to frame the need for change using positive language to foster a sense of power," Professor Fatimah says.

"As working-class employees may encounter more hurdles in enacting change if they occupy a lower rank in the power or status hierarchies, using promotive voice may allow these employees to gain more recognition for their ideas." 

Next up, the researchers will be "adopting a longitudinal perspective to explore how these dynamics may lead to more influence or silence in the long term", Professor Fatimah says.

Back to Research@SMU November 2024 Issue