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The Silent and the Silenced in Organizational Knowing and Learning

University of Canberra, Australia, Deborah.Blackman{at}canberra.edu.au

Eugene Sadler-Smith

University of Surrey, UK, e.sadler-smith{at}surrey.ac.uk

Research on silence within organizations and learning is sparse. This article is concerned with exploring the concept of silence in organizational settings, delineating its various forms (silent and silenced) and critically examining the relevance of these various manifestations for management and organizational learning. Following a brief review of the concept of the Polanyian notion of tacitness and how it relates to our conceptualization of silence, we offer a taxonomy of silence comprised of several ways of knowing (tacit, intuitive, insightful and pre-conscious) and voice (repressed, withheld and suppressed). The theoretical and practical implications of the taxonomy for management education, training and development are discussed.

Key Words: silence • tacitness • voice

Management Learning, Vol. 40, No. 5, 569-585 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1350507609340809


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