Determining teachers' perception of organizational silence

Özerbaş Mehmet Arif Doctor of Pedagogy Professor, Department of Pedagogy, Kyrgyz-Turkish University of Manas 720040, Kirgiziya, Chuiskaya oblast', g. Bishkek, ul. Prospekt Chyngyza Aitmatova, 56 marif.ozerbash@manas.edu.kg

Almazbekova Aizirek PhD in Pedagogy Department of Pedagogy, Kyrgyz-Turkish University "Manas" 720040, Kirgiziya, Chuiskaya oblast', g. Bishkek, ul. Moskovskaya, 73, kv. 103 aizirewka@gmail.com

Introduction

Organizations expect their employees to take on more responsibility, share creative and diverse ideas, and take initiative when appropriate, for reasons such as rising consumer expectations, rapid technology development, and the complexity of competition, with the concept of boundaries being eliminated by globalization. Communication, which is one of the integral parts of life, forms the basis of human relations. Communication plays an important role in the formation of social values, attitudes and behaviors that people demonstrate in their relationships with each other ^[25]. Through communication, people have the opportunity to explain their ideas, share them with other people, evaluate and comprehend them. Thus, since people can share their ideas and opinions, they feel strong and protected and can get information about other people. From this point of view, many activities are considered as communication. At the organizational level, when employees talk to each other, silence, inability to object, and accepting some information without approval can also be another way of communicating ^[1].

Within the cyclical conditions in which we find ourselves, interpersonal communication is an indispensable phenomenon for the continuity of modern organizations. People are in contact with other people in everyday life, at work and in society. However, people may feel constrained during communication due to many environmental, individual or organizational reasons. It is necessary to try to eliminate factors that may hinder communication in organizations for more effective communication ^[23]. When we look at the management literature, human relationships are seen as unimportant, and in accordance with classical management theories, a strict approach to management is adopted; this understanding has changed with the books he wrote as a result of the research of Elton Mayo and his friends. Today, communication, opinions and suggestions of people have become considered important in organizations thanks to new management theories. Communication and interpersonal cooperation are considered as phenomena that can move the organization one step further. We can say that in organizations where communication problems arise, employees are people who are unhappy and dissatisfied with their work. ^[22].

In this century, the ability of employees to express their thoughts, suggestions, complaints or wishes, whether positive or negative, is considered an important phenomenon, especially from the point of view of the development of the organization. In organizations, people who can express their opinions feel more involved with this organization. The main question that any organization seeking to learn and develop should ask is: "How can we create a business environment in which people can speak freely?". The reason this question is being asked is because of the idea that the situations of failure that can occur within an organization are due to a lack of communication. Silence is just as important as sound in communication. This problem is also reflected in our proverbs. "The word is silver, silence is gold." Looking at this proverb, one can understand that it asserts the importance of silence ^[25]. Organizational silence is a state of misunderstanding that can arise in organizations where employees are intentionally and purposefully silent. In organizations where they are deliberately silent, the soil of a dark organizational environment is formed, reaching organizational cynicism. Organizational silence, which can also be defined as the unwillingness of employees to express their thoughts for various reasons, can also influence the formation of opinion in the organization. When everyone in the community is silent, someone will come out and say, "No one is saying anything, so it shouldn't feel like there is a negative." An example of this dilemma is the case of action with thinking. Because voice and silence are two pillars of communication established for the continuity of the organizational structure. As a result, in order for a dialogue to take place, a person must remain silent, and the other party must demonstrate vocalizing behavior as a speaker. Sometimes silence can be an organizational behavior that speaks more than communication.^[8].

The active participation of the members of the organization plays an important role in order to be a healthy, creative, innovative, compassionate and productive organization. Therefore, voicing behavior based on communication can also be related to the spiritual structure of the organization and how it makes them feel. Silence causes a little more introversion; loneliness, depression and withdrawal can manifest themselves as another facet of their behavior. The fact that an organization has spirituality in the workplace can cause people working in this organization to have positive emotions towards their organization. The concept of spirituality is an important concept because it can eliminate negative emotions and give strength to endurance to a person and an institution. In this case, the climate of silence within the organization is likely to be a factor that can affect the levels of spirituality in the organizational and individual context. For this reason, it is considered important that employees express their ideas and feelings in their institutions, and the predominance of open and versatile communication in terms of concepts leading to spirituality, such as meaningfulness in the workplace and passion for work ^[5]. Silence is a difficult concept to understand because it has multidimensional and ambiguous variables ^[6]. Silence in social relations is a form of behavior used to avoid trouble, suffering or problems that may arise when using verbal expression. When studying research on this topic, the concept of silence is attributed different meanings in different disciplines. While silence in psychology is used to describe situations such as introversion and self-doubt, the concept of silence in sociology is used to describe negative behavior such as social silence and inaction. In philosophy, silence; not as the absence of conversation, but the conscious non-proliferation of information, in other words, it is defined as the preservation of secrecy. Calmness is often equated with a model of behavior, for example, being pleasant and not creating problems. It is considered correct to remain silent in all cases that occur in our daily lives, and this behavior is encouraged by people ^[5].

The concept of silence is used to describe a situation of silence and lack of conversation in the most general sense. In addition to being an expression of closeness to communication, this concept can sometimes be the best way to convey something to the other side. In everyday and working life, people can remain silent and transmit messages to society, their colleagues, superiors and organizations ^[12]. Organizations have begun to demand more quality of services from their employees for reasons such as increased competition, the desire to provide a higher quality of service and meeting high customer expectations. Because employees are seen as the main source of change in a developing and globalizing world. Employees can notice any problem that occurs in the organization before other members of the organization. This situation has increased the importance of communication, when employees talk about problems that arise in organizations, as well as their suggestions for solving them ^[18].

When different definitions of organizational silence are considered, it can be said that they are united by the fact that employees intentionally hide their ideas, concerns and suggestions on organizational issues, and in general this can be considered as a negative reaction for organizations. Employees who are satisfied with their working conditions and know that their working environment is created for them, feel happy, valuable and perform their work on a voluntary basis with high productivity. Thus, the tendency of employees to display organizational civic behavior will increase, and silence and burnout, which are considered a disadvantage for the organization, will significantly decrease ^[25]. In general, people who prefer to remain silent think that even if they do not benefit from silence, they will not lose. Some authors have studied silence in human thought processes, language, meaning, and cultural development. Because silence is a multidimensional concept, and one person gives meaning to the silence of another person. For example, Kish-Gephart, Detert, Trevi?o, and Edmondson (2009) describe organizational silence as abstaining from ideas, suggestions, and concerns about people, products, or processes in the work environment ^[11]. While Vocola and Buradas (2005) define organizational silence as a phenomenon that affects an organization's ability to learn and recognize mistakes that negatively affect the organization's performance, Henriksen and Dayton (2006) defined organizational silence as the collective expression of feelings, thoughts and ideas in the face of important problems faced by an organization, or not their expression in general ^[15].

Especially in educational organizations, the basis of which is a person, this situation is becoming increasingly important, and the main problem is increasing teacher satisfaction. Because teachers who work in a peaceful environment with good interpersonal relationships are more sensitive to their work, they perform their work more selflessly and thereby improve the quality of education ^[17]. From this point of view, it is important to strengthen the organizational civic behavior of teachers working in schools where a more peaceful and free working environment is provided, and their successes are rewarded by the administration, and to reduce their silence in decision-making ^[13].  When people realize that their ideas are compatible with the prevailing opinion in society, they are more willing to express them openly. On the other hand, if they consider their own ideas incompatible with the ideas of others, they will not want to speak out. When these trends are viewed in a broad social context, it is less likely that minority opinions will be heard. These ideas either remain unspoken or are eventually removed from the public pool altogether. In addition, it can be said that teachers who are ready to openly express their thoughts usually have an opinion similar to their friends and family ^[10]. Literature reviews on organizational silence show that employees do not express their opinions on organizational issues as a result of their doubts on the part of managers and prefer to remain silent in the face of organizational problems. For this reason, the formulation of the research problem is as follows: what are the situations of organizational silence in terms of various variables, according to teachers?

The purpose of the study

The overall goal of the study is to study organizational silence in terms of various variables according to teachers. To achieve this overall goal, the following questions were answered.

1. What are the demographic variables of teachers?

2. How do teachers perceive organizational silence?

3. Does the perception of organizational silence change depending on the age of teachers?

4. Does the perception of organizational silence change depending on the gender of teachers?

5. Does the perception of organizational silence change depending on the marital status of teachers?

6. Does the perception of organizational silence change depending on the experience of teachers at the school where they work?

7. Does the perception of organizational silence change depending on the entire experience of teachers?

Method

Research model

The study was conducted using a descriptive survey model. Survey models are research approaches whose purpose is to describe the past or present situation as it is. The subject of the study tries to determine in its own conditions and as it is ^[21]. The research team of the study consists of 111 teachers working in the 2020-2021 academic year.

Data Collection Tool

The "Scale of Organizational silence for Teachers" developed by Kahvechi and Demirtas was used as a data collection tool ^[20]. The validity analysis was used to verify the validity of the scale. The table concerning the validity analysis is shown below. As a result of the validity analysis, the value of Cronbach's Alpha is denoted as Alpha = ,655. The found value shows that the scale is valid enough.

Data analysis

The collected data were processed, analyzed and interpreted in the SPSS program in such a way as to offer theoretical or practical solutions to the research problem, as well as to make suggestions. The average value and standard deviation of the responses to the statements were determined by compiling descriptive statistics. The T-test and univariate Anova analysis, mean, standard deviation and percentage analysis were performed in order to determine the change in the responses given according to demographic factors. A posteriori tests were used to check for differences. In tests for differences and relationships, the level of p<0.05 was accepted as sufficient for significance.

Results

1. Conclusions regarding the demographic characteristics of the teachers who participated in the study

The results of demographic variables of teachers, which is the first subtask of the study, are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics on demographic variables

The study of Table 1 shows that 24.3% (27) of teachers are aged 20 to 30 years, 44.1% (49) — aged 31 to 40 years, 21.6% (24) — aged 41 to 50 years and 9.9% (11) — in the age group 51 a year and older. As for age groups, teachers aged 31 to 40 years took the largest part in the study. 59.5% (66) of teachers are women and 40.5% (45) are men. The number of female participants is greater than the number of male participants. According to marital status, 45.9% (51) of teachers are married and 54.1% (60) are not married. The number of unmarried participants is higher than the number of married participants. Participants were asked to mark the appropriate option according to their work experience at the school where they work. 20.7% (23) of teachers have less than 1 year of experience, 16.2% (18) 1-5 years, 24.3% (27) 6-10 years, 20.7% (23) work 11-15 years and 18% (20 ) of them have been working for 16 or more years. The largest number of participants were teachers who worked in the same school from 6 to 10 years, and the least — those who worked from 1 to 5 years. Participants were asked to mark the appropriate option according to their overall work experience. 7.2% of teachers (8) are less than 1 year old, 9% (10) are 1-5 years old, 25.2% (28) are 6-10 years old, 36.9% (41) are 11-15 years old and 21.6% (24) have been working for 16 years or more. The largest number of participants were teachers with 11-15 years of work experience, and the smallest number of participants were teachers who worked for less than 1 year.

2. Conclusions about teachers' perception of organizational silence

The average values and standard deviations of responses given by teachers to points in the scale to measure their perception of organizational silence are shown in Table 2.

Table 2.

Average and standard deviations of teachers' responses to statements in the scale

            When considering Table No. 2, 5 expressions with the highest and lowest average values of the answers given by the teachers were interpreted. The questions in the scale were directed to measure their perception of organizational silence. The expressions with the highest average value are "Values in school are similar to the dominant values in the family and society." = 3.85), "Teachers easily understand and interpret the goals of the school." = 3.70), "Everyone contributes to the success of the school." =3.69), "Innovations and changes related to the program are easily accepted by teachers." =3.65) and "The school administration provides all possible assistance to solve problems that teachers have in matters related to their duties" =3.62). When the statements for which teachers gave the highest score are considered, it is clear that teachers and administrators working at the school contribute, teachers easily adapt to changes, and the values of society and the values of the school are similar. Expressions with the lowest average value are, respectively, "Mistakes made by teachers when performing tasks are allowed." =2.19), "Every teacher at school performs his duties in a strict, uncontrolled environment." = 2.31), "Successful teachers are rewarded financially or morally." =2.46), "Among teachers working at the school, competitions on professional knowledge are held." = 2.58) and "The school administration takes care of both the teacher's social life and his/her work." =2,76). When considering the average with the lowest scores of teachers, it is clear that mistakes are not perceived with understanding, control at school is strict, teachers' successes are not encouraged, and the school administration is not interested in the public life of teachers.

3. Data on the perception of organizational silence by teachers by age.

Data on the age of teachers were studied, which is the third subproblem of the study. A significant difference in factors depending on the age of teachers was revealed for the emotional factor of the Scale of organizational silence (p<0.05). As can be seen from the Anova table, p>0.05 is in the 95% confidence interval for the school environment, the source of silence, the official and isolation factors. The results of the analysis of the ages of teachers are presented in Table 3.

Table 3. AnalysisAnova by age of teachers

When looking at Table No. 3, it can be seen that there is a significant difference in the emotional factor between the average values of the answers given depending on the age of the teachers. To understand this difference, the Tukey test, one of the a posteriori tests, was studied. The responses of employees 20-30 and 31-40 years old and teachers 51 years and older differ from each other. Employees over the age of 51 reported a more negative attitude to the emotional factor than teachers aged 20 to 30 and 31 to 40 years. Employees over the age of 51 believe that school officials provide less support and friendly feelings than teachers aged 20-30 and 31-40 years.

4. Conclusions about the perception of organizational silence on the gender of teachers.

A significant difference in indicators depending on the gender of teachers was revealed for the emotional factor of the scale of organizational silence (p<0.05). For the school environment, the source of silence, the official and isolation factors, p>0.05 corresponds to a 95% confidence interval. The results of the analysis of the T-test of the gender of teachers are presented in Table 4.

Table 4. Results of the T-test by gender of teachers

            The responses of the teachers who participated in the study differed depending on the gender of the teachers. Teachers' views on organizational silence varied depending on whether they were male or female. Female teachers have a more negative perception of the emotional factor than male teachers. Compared to male teachers, female teachers believe that there is less friendship and support from the school administration.

5. Data on the perception of organizational silence by teachers by marital status.

A significant difference in factors depending on the marital status of teachers was found for the emotional factor of the Scale of organizational silence (p<0.05). For the school environment, the source of silence, officials and isolation factors, p>0.05 corresponds to a 95% confidence interval. The results of the t-test of the marital status of teachers are shown in Table 5.

Table 5. Results of the T-test of the marital status of teachers

            Teachers' views on organizational silence varied depending on whether they were married or not. Married teachers have a more negative perception of the emotional factor than unmarried teachers. Married teachers believe that there is less friendship at school and support from the school administration than single teachers. The responses of the teachers participating in the study to the statements in the scale of organizational silence differed in emotional factor from the marital status of the teachers. In the evaluation carried out on 5 parameters, it was not possible to obtain significant results for all sub-parameters. However, when assessed on average, "married" teachers have a more negative perception of the emotional factor. Married teachers believe that there is less friendship at school and less support from the school administration.

6. Conclusions about the perception of organizational silence depending on the experience of teachers in the school in which they work.

A significant difference was found for the emotion factor of the organizational scale of silence (p < 0.05) in terms of factors depending on the experience of teachers at the school in which they work. As can be seen from the Anova table, p>0.05 is in the 95% confidence interval for the school environment, the source of silence, the official and isolation factors. The results of the analysis of teachers' experience at the school where they work are presented in Table 6.

Table 6. Anova analysis based on teachers' experience at the school where they work

When studying Table 6, a significant difference in the emotional factor is found between the average values of the answers received in accordance with the experience of teachers at the school in which they work. To understand this difference, the Tukey test, one of the a posteriori tests, was studied. The answers of teachers working in the same school for 6-10 years and teachers working in the same school for 16 or more years differ from each other. Those who had worked for 16 years or more reported a more negative attitude to the emotion factor compared to teachers who had worked for 6-10 years. Teachers who have worked in the same school for 16 or more years believe that there is less friendship and support from the school administration than teachers who have worked in the same school for 6-10 years.

7. Conclusions about the perception of organizational silence by teachers depending on their general professional work experience

A significant difference was revealed for the emotionality factor of the Scale of organizational silence (p<0.05) by factors corresponding to the total professional experience of teachers in life. As can be seen from the Anova table, p>0.05 is in the 95% confidence interval for the school environment, the source of silence, the official and isolation factors. The results of the analysis are presented in the table below. The results of the Anova analysis of the general professional experience of teachers are presented in Table 7.

Table 7. Anova analysis on the general experience of teachers in life

When studying Table 7, it can be seen that there is a significant difference in the emotional factor between the average values of the answers given in accordance with the general professional experience of teachers. To understand this difference, the Tukey test, one of the a posteriori tests, was studied. The responses of teachers with a total work experience of 6-10 years and teachers with a total work experience of 16 years or more differ from each other. Employees with a total work experience of 16 years or more expressed a more negative opinion about the emotional factor than teachers with a total work experience of 6-10 years. Those with a total work experience of 16 years or more believe that there is less friendship at school and support from the school administration than teachers with a total work experience of 6-10 years.

Conclusions

With the help of descriptive analysis, information about the demographic characteristics of teachers was evaluated. As for the age groups, the greatest participation in the study was taken by teachers aged 31 to 40 years. The number of female participants participating in the study is greater than the number of male participants. According to the marital status of teachers, the number of single participants exceeds the number of married ones. Most of all, the study involved teachers who had worked in the same school for 6 to 10 years, and least of all those who had worked for 1 to 5 years. According to professional experience, teachers with 11-15 years of work experience made up the most of the participants, and teachers who worked for less than 1 year made up the least of the participants.

The average values of responses given by teachers to statements sent to them to measure their perception of organizational silence were evaluated. When the statements for which teachers gave the highest score are considered, it is clear that teachers and administrators working at the school contribute, teachers easily adapt to changes, and the values of society and the values of the school are similar. When considering the average with the lowest scores of teachers, it is clear that mistakes are not perceived with understanding, control at school is strict, teachers' successes are not encouraged, and the school administration is not interested in the public life of teachers. Teachers' perception of the Scale of Organizational Silence as a whole turned out to be moderate. This situation shows that teachers are afraid to express their opinions on organizational issues, officials do not involve teachers to solve problems, and therefore teachers sometimes prefer to remain silent. The status of differentiation of responses of teachers participating in the study to statements in the scale of organizational silence by demographic variables of teachers was checked. A significant difference in factors depending on the age of teachers was found for the emotional factor of the Scale of organizational silence. Employees over the age of 51 believe that the friendship and support of the school administration is less than teachers aged 20-30 and 31-40 years. Yarmac? ^[27] concluded that there is no significant relationship between the behavior of silence in the organization and the age variable in his study entitled "The impact of employees' perception of organizational isolation on their tendency to report organizational silence and negative situations: an example of the hotel business." Similarly, in studies conducted by Af?ar ^[3], ?zdemir and U?ur ^[24], as well as Kahveci and Demirta? ^[20], no significant association was found between silence in the organization and the age variable.

A significant difference in terms of factors depending on the gender of teachers was found for the emotional factor of the Scale of Organizational Silence. Compared to male teachers, female teachers believe that there is less friendship and support from the school administration. Lepin and Van Dyne (1998) in their study found that it is more convenient for men to express their thoughts, and women speak less in the presence of men. Similarly, in studies conducted by Kahveci ^[19] and Alio?ullar? ^[7], it was concluded that women were more silent than men and expressed their problems less. A significant difference in factors depending on the marital status of teachers was found for the emotional factor of the Scale of organizational silence. Married teachers believe that there is less friendship at school and support from the school administration than single teachers. In general, the variable of marital status did not cause a significant difference between the representations on the scale of organizational silence. Yarmac? ^[27] concluded in his research that there is no significant connection between silence in the organization and the variable of marital status. Ayd?n ^[9], on the other hand, did not find a significant difference in the parameters "Source of silence" and "Emotion" between organizational silence and the family status variable, but found significant differences in the parameters "Official", "Isolation" and "School environment".

A significant difference was found for the emotion factor of the scale of organizational silence, depending on the experience of teachers at the school in which they work. Teachers who have worked in the same school for 16 or more years believe that there is less friendship and support from the school administration than teachers who have worked in the same school for 6-10 years. A significant difference in factors was found for the emotional factor of the Scale of organizational silence according to the general professional experience of teachers in life. Those with a total work experience of 16 or more years believe that friendship at school and support of the school administration is less than teachers with a total work experience of 6-10 years. In the Scale of organizational silence, professional experience did not cause significant differences in perception. ?zdemir and U?ur ^[24] achieved similar results in their study of public and private sector employees and found no significant relationship between the perception of silence in the organization and the variable of professional experience. This shows that the results of both studies support each other. On the other hand, Alg?n ^[6] concluded in his research that there is a significant difference between organizational silence and professional experience and that teachers with 1 to 5 years of experience demonstrate more silent behavior than those with longer experience.