The purpose of this paper is to explore why executives participating in a top management team meeting avoid speaking up when they experience the goal as unclear or the discussion as wandering off track.
A total of 21 executives (CEOs and level 2 managers) from seven top management teams were interviewed, and the interviews analyzed according to the principles of Grounded Theory.
The executives’ silence was primarily governed by a core belief that to speak up about miscommunication is a negative act, which will probably elicit undesirable consequences. This assumption was reinforced by how the executives perceived themselves, other persons and relationships in the group, group norms, and the issue discussed in the meeting. In addition, three other basic beliefs prevented the level 2 managers from speaking up: “We have no tradition for speaking up in this group”, “It's futile to speak up”, and “It's not part of my role to speak up in this group”.
The data were collected from executives representing only seven top management teams from the public sector in Norway, limiting the generalizability of the findings. Future research should increase the number and types of top management teams from which informants are drawn.
Executives should be aware of how their beliefs and perceptions prevent them from voicing their concerns when experiencing miscommunication during the TMT meeting, and how remaining silent in these matters represents an important barrier to team effectiveness in the meetings.
The study shows that even among executives at the top of the organizational hierarchy, people refrain from speaking up when experiencing miscommunication, and that there are more reasons for not voicing concerns than fear of consequences and feelings of futility.
