Fundamentals of Management, 11/e

How Do We Have Civil Conversations in the Workplace?

Tech giant Google has always encouraged a workplace where groups of employees who disagree can engage in debates about social and political beliefs. A healthy debate over issues can be a good way to figure out the best way to do things and to be creative and innovative. However, when coworkers have the perspective that “you’re entitled to your opinion but my opinion is far more important than yours, especially if your opinion doesn’t agree with mine,” trouble is brewing. Although Google’s organizational culture of “opinion entitlement” might be an important reflection of its corporate values, it has led to a workplace of nonstop, unhealthy, ineffective debate.55 The “cacophony of voices” is ...