Innovation: Are Feds Afraid of Their Own Shadows?

I recently read a fascinating article in the Academy of Management Journal with the slightly daunting title “Implicit Voice Theories: Taken-for-Granted Rules of Self-Censorship at Work.” The article, by James Detert of Cornell University and Amy Edmondson of Harvard Business School, is about how employees decide whether or not to speak up about problems in their workplaces. The authors are not only interested in whistle-blowing but also in cases in which someone could point out inefficiencies or opportunities for improvement. The article is very relevant to a government management context — and not just for what it says about why employees often don’t speak up about problems.