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Women managers' definitions of, experiences with, and responses to abusive organizational communication
Abstract
Using as frameworks feminist standpoint and muted group theories, this study was conducted to better understand ways in which women managers define, experience, and respond to abusive organizational communication. Thirty women managers from throughout the United States were interviewed. The data were analyzed using a constant comparison thematic analysis with a phenomenological perspective, a method that allowed for themes to emerge from the women's own words and stories. Four defining dimensions of abusive organizational communication emerged: (a) intent, (b) frequency, (c) force, and (d) gender. The women experienced abusive organizational communication as: (a) danger, including violence, threats of violence, and threats to professional survival; (b) diminishment through treatment as children and/or as incompetent; (c) injustice; (d) pain, physical and emotional; and (e) integration of the personal and public. They further indicated that they respond to abusive communication by: (a) numbing themselves through alienation and rationalization; (b) self-blame; (c) silence; (d) learning; (e) reporting; (f) renegotiating relationships; (g) communicating with others; and (h) leaving the organization. These women managers are and have been aware of abusive communication, even if it has had no name, and they view sexual harassment as only one type of this broader process. They perceive organizational abusive communication as deliberate, forceful, organizationally embedded and decidedly gendered. These 30 women indicate that abusive organizational communication is filled with threats and danger—danger so strong that they become physically ill, emotionally outraged, and have even feared for their lives. Though they are managers, their standpoint does not protect them. They frequently report their abuse, but organizational support is missing. They are muted and either struggle to maintain their position or they leave, as 12 of the 30 did in this case. Finally, this study concludes that these managers experience their abuse in the isolation of silence and urges that consideration be given to networking for support and to break the silence about this destructive form of gendered communication.
Subject Area
Communication|Womens studies|Management|Labor relations
Recommended Citation
Sloan, Diane Kay, "Women managers' definitions of, experiences with, and responses to abusive organizational communication" (1999). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9942152.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9942152