HBR Women at Work Series Collection (3 Books)

8

Why Open Secrets Exist in Organizations

by Insiya Hussain and Subra Tangirala

When the New York Times broke the scandal of media mogul Harvey Weinstein’s apparent decades-long pattern of sexual abuse and harassment, the story came as a shock to the public. However, as details emerged, it became clear that Weinstein’s transgressions were not unknown to Hollywood insiders. They were, in fact, an “open secret.”

This raises the question: Why do issues remain open secrets in organizations where multiple employees know about a problem or a concern, but no one publicly brings it up? We explore this in a set of studies published in the Academy of Management Journal.1

We found that as issues become more common knowledge among frontline employees, the ...