Abstract
I offer a new cartography of ethical resistance. I argue that there is an uncharted interaction between managerial secrecy and organizational silence, which may exponentially increase the incidence of corruption in ways not yet understood. Current methods used to raise levels of moral conduct in business and government practice appear blind to this powerful duo. Extensive literature reviews of secrecy and silence scholarships form the background for an early stage conceptual layout of the co-production of secrecy and silence.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
M. Allars (1995) ArticleTitle‘Private Law but Public Power: Removing Administrative Law Review from Government Business Enterprises’ Public Law Review 6 IssueID1 44–76
Anonymous: 1990, ‘Keeping secrets: Congress, the Courts and National Security Information’, Harvard Law Review 103(4), 906–926
Argyres, N. and V. Mui: 1999, A Political-Economic Approach to Organizational Dissent, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California
E. Bakke (1959) Concept of the Social Organization M. Haire (Eds) Modern Organization Theory Wiley New York 16–75
T. Beamish (2000) ArticleTitle‘Accumulating Trouble: Complex Organizations, a Culture of Silence, and a Secret Spill’ Social Problems 47 IssueID4 473–498
Beer, M. and N. Nohria: 2000, ‘Cracking the Code of Change’, Harvard Business Review, May, 133–141
F. Bird (1996) The Muted Conscience: Moral Silence and the Practice of Ethics in Business Quorum Books New York
R. Bird E. Brandt (2002) ArticleTitle‘Academic Freedom and 9/11: How the War on Terrorism Threatens Free Speech on Campus’ Communication Law and Policy 7 IssueID4 431–459 Occurrence Handle10.1207/S15326926CLP0704_05
S. Bok (1982) Secrets: On the Ethics of Concealment Pantheon New York
F. Bowen K. Blackmon (2003) ArticleTitle‘Spirals of Silence: The Dynamic Effects of Diversity on Organizational Voice’ Journal of Management Studies 40 1393–1418 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1467-6486.00385
R. Box G. Marshall B. Reed C. Reed (2001) ArticleTitle‘New Public Management and Substantive Democracy’ Public Administration Review 61 IssueID5 608–619 Occurrence Handle10.1111/0033-3352.00131
M. Broscio J. Scherer (2003) ArticleTitle‘New Ways of Thinking about Career Success’ Journal of Healthcare Management 48 IssueID1 6–12
K. Brown N. Ryan R. Parker (2000) ArticleTitle‘New Modes of Service Delivery in the Public Sector: Commercializing Government Services’ International Journal of Public Sector Management 13 IssueID2/3 206–221 Occurrence Handle10.1108/09513550010345955
T. Bunyan (1999) Secrecy and Openness in the EU Kogan Page London
W. Colby (1976) ArticleTitle‘Intelligence Secrecy and Security in a Free Society’ International Security 1 IssueID2 3–14 Occurrence Handle10.2307/2538496
InstitutionalAuthorNameCorporate Europe Observatory (1999) ArticleTitle‘Ending Corporate Secrecy’ Corporate Europe Observer 3 2–6
W. Maria ParticleDe (2001) ArticleTitle‘Commercial-in-Confidence: An Obituary to Transparency?’ Australian Journal of Public Administration 60 IssueID4 92–109 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1467-8500.00244
De Maria, W.: 2005, ‘Single Voices – Silent Spaces. Auditing Whistleblower and Silence Research’. School of Business, The University of Queensland. Unpub, Manuscript
Doty, P.: 2004, ‘Government, Secrecy and Privacy: Dare we Frame the Fearful Asymmetry’? Address given at the 2004 Archives Week. Available at http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~saa/past_events/Doty_11-03-04.html (visited 16 September 2005).
D. Dupont (2002) ArticleTitle‘Staying Open’ Scientific American 287 IssueID3 23–24 Occurrence Handle10.1038/scientificamerican0902-23
I. Eagles M. Taggart G. Liddell (1992) Freedom of Information in New Zealand Oxford University Press Auckland
A. Edmondson (2003) ArticleTitle‘Speaking up in the Operating Room: How Team Leaders Promote Learning in Interdisciplinary Action Teams’ Journal of Management Studies 40 IssueID6 1419–1452 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1467-6486.00386
Eisendrath, C. (ed.): 2000, National Insecurity: I.S. Intelligence after the Cold War (Temple University Press, Philadelphia
European Commission: 2004, Commission Dismisses Ms Marta Andreason. 13 October. Available at http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference =IP/04/1208 andformat=HTMLandaged=0andlanguage=ENandguiLanguage=en (visited 20 September 2005).
Evans-Pritchard, A.: 2005, EC’s Sordid Accounting’ Damned in Email from top Auditor, Telegraph (UK). 15. March. Available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtmlxml=/money/2005/03/15/cnemail15.xmlandmenuld=242andsSheet=/money/2005/03/15/ixcity.html (visited 20 September 2005).
D. Farrell (1983) ArticleTitle‘Exit, Voice and Loyalty and Neglect as Responses to Job Satisfaction. A Multidimensional Scaling Study’ Academy of Management Journal 26 596–607 Occurrence Handle10.2307/255909
D. Farrell C. Rusbult (1992) ArticleTitle‘Exploring the Exit, Voice, Loyalty and Neglect Typology: The Influence of Job Satisfaction, Quality of Alternatives and Investment Size’ Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal 5 201–218 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF01385048
M. Freedland (1995) ArticleTitle‘Government by Contract and Public Law’ Public Law 6 86–104
W. Gordon D. Infante E. Graham (1988) ArticleTitle‘Corporate Conditions Conducive to Employee Voice: A Subordinate Perspective’ Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal 1 73–83
Graham, J.: 1986, ‘Principled Organizational Protest: A Theoretical Essay’. In B. Straw and L. Cummings (eds), Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 8 (JAI Press, Greenwich, CT), pp. 1–52
J. Greenaway (1995) ArticleTitle‘Having the Bun and the Halfpenny: Can Old Public Service Ethics Survive in the New Whitehall?’ Public Administration 73 357–374
D. Grimshaw (2002) ArticleTitle‘Going Privately: Partnership and Outsourcing in the UK Public Service’ Public Administration 80 IssueID3 475–503 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1467-9299.00314
H. Helms (2003) Inside the Shadow Government – National Emergencies and the Cult of Secrecy Feral Press New York
A. Hirschman (1970) Exit, Voice and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations and States Harvard University Press Cambridge MA
J. Hull (1998) Commercial Secrecy: Law and Practice Sweet and Maxwell London
M. Isikoff (2004) ArticleTitle‘A New Fight Over Secret 9/11 Docs’ Newsweek 143 IssueID7 5–8
T. Jones M. Gerrity J.-A. Earp (1990) ArticleTitle‘Written Case Simulations, do They Predict Physicians’ Behavior?’ Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 43 IssueID8 805–815 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0895-4356(90)90241-G
A. Jones (2001) ‘Secrecy or Freedom? Declaring War on Political Dissimulation ABJ Press Paradise CA
H. Kelman V. Hamilton (1989) Crimes of Obedience: Towards a Social Psychology of Authority and Responsibility Yale University Press New Haven, CT
D. Kettl (1993) Sharing Power: Public Governance and Private Markets Brookings Institute Washington DC
A. Krajewska (1995) ArticleTitle‘Education in Poland’ Eastern European Economics 33 IssueID4 38–54
R. Lardner (1996) ArticleTitle‘Behind Closed Doors’ Government Executive 28 IssueID4 33–36
R. Leger (2002) ArticleTitle‘New Congress Threatens Public Records’ The Quill 90 IssueID9 5
C. Lewis (2002) ArticleTitle‘Freedom of Information Under Attack’ Nieman Reports 56 IssueID2 84–86
B. McKelvey H. Aldrich (1983) ArticleTitle‘Populations, Natural Selection and Applied Organizational Science’ Administrative Science Quarterly 28 101–128 Occurrence Handle10.2307/2392389
P. Melanson A. Summers (2001) Secrecy Wars: National Security, Privacy and the Public’s Right to Know Brassey’s Washington, DC
C. Merrett (1995) A Culture of Censorship: Secrecy and Intellectual Repression in South Africa David Philip Cape Town
E. Morrison F. Milliken (2000) ArticleTitle‘Organizational Silence: A Barrier to Change and Development in a Pluralistic World’ Academy of Management Review 25 IssueID4 706–726 Occurrence Handle10.2307/259200
F. Milliken E. Morrison P. Hewlin (2003) ArticleTitle‘An Exploratory Study of Employee Silence. Issues that Employees Don’t Communicate Upwards and Why’ Journal of Management Studies 40 1453–1476 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1467-6486.00387
D. Moynihan (1998) Secrecy: The American Experience Yale University Press New Haven
C. Nemeth (1997) ArticleTitle‘Managing Innovation: When Less is More’ California Management Review 40 IssueID1 59–74
Neocleous, M.: 2000, ‘Against Security’, Radical Philosophy, 100
M. Neocleous (2002) ArticleTitle‘Privacy, Secrecy, Idiocy’ Social Research 69 85–112
L. Perlow S. Williams (2003) ArticleTitle‘Is Silence Killing Your Company?’ Harvard Business Review 81 IssueID5 52–58
R. Perrucci R. Anderson D. Schendel L. Trachtman (1980) ArticleTitle‘Whistleblowing Professional’s Resistance to Organizational Authority’ Social Problems 28 149–164
C. Peters T. Branch (1972) Blowing the Whistle: Dissent in the Public Interest Praeger New York
Perry, M.: 2003, Profile: Marta Andreason, Personality of the year. Accountancy Age, 27 November. Available at http://www.financialdirector.co.uk/accountancyage/features/2040268/profile-marta-andreasen-personality (visited 20 September 2005)
S. Petronio I. Altman (2002) Boundaries of Privacy, Dialectics of Whistleblowing SUNY Press New York
C. Ponting (1990) Secrecy in Britain Blackwell Oxford
S. Premeaux A. Bedeain (2003) ArticleTitle‘Breaking the Silence: the Moderating Effects of Self Monitoring in Predicting Speaking up in the Workplace’ Journal of Management Studies 40 IssueID6 1537–1562 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1467-6486.00390
G. Rasbult D. Farris G. Rogers A. Mainous (1988) ArticleTitle‘Impact of Exchange Variables on Exit, Voice, Loyalty and Neglect: an Integrative Model of Responses to Declining Job Satisfaction’ Academy of Management Journal 31 IssueID3 599–627 Occurrence Handle10.2307/256461
F. Reitman (2003) ArticleTitle‘The Promised Path: A Longitudinal Study of Management Careers’ Journal of Managerial Psychology 18 IssueID1 160–176 Occurrence Handle10.1108/02683940310459592
H. C. Relyea (2003) ArticleTitle‘Government Secrecy: Policy Depths and Dimensions’ Government Information Quarterly 20 IssueID4 395–418 Occurrence Handle10.1016/j.giq.2003.09.001
P. Rich (1992) ArticleTitle‘The Organizational Taxonomy: Definition and Design’ Academy of Management Review 17 IssueID4 758–781 Occurrence Handle10.2307/258807
A. Roberts (2000) ArticleTitle‘Less Government, More secrecy: Reinvention and the Weakening Law’ Public Administration Review 60 IssueID4 308–321 Occurrence Handle10.1111/0033-3352.00093
K. Robertson (1982) Public Secrets: A Study of the Development of Government Secrecy Macmillan London
M. Rotenberg (2002) ArticleTitle‘Privacy and Secrecy after September 11’ Minnesota Law Review 88 IssueID6 1115–1135
J. Rothschild T. Miethe (1999) ArticleTitle‘Whistle-Blower Disclosures and Management Retaliation’ Work and Occupations 26 IssueID1 107–128
M. Rozell (2002) Executive Privilege: Presidential Power, Secrecy and Accountability University Press of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
E. Russell (2001) ArticleTitle‘Alternative Service Delivery and Public Service Transformation in South Africa’ International Journal of Public Sector Administration 14 IssueID3 241–266 Occurrence Handle10.1108/09513550110390819
C. Schmitt E. Pound (2003) ArticleTitle‘Keeping Secrets’ US News and World Report 135 IssueID22 18–26
M. Shaw (1981) Group Dynamics: The Psychology of Small Group Behavior McGraw-Hill New York
E. Shils (1956) The Torment of Secrecy: The Background and Consequences of American Security Policies William Heineman London
G. Sjoberg P. Miller (1973) ArticleTitle‘Social Research on Bureaucracy: Limitations and Opportunities’ Social Problems 21 129–143
P. Smyth E. Hazelkorn (Eds) (1993) Let in the Light: Censorship, Secrecy and Democracy Brandon Books Dingle
F. Snepp (1999) Irreparable Harm: A Firsthand Account of how One Agent Took on the CIA in an Epic Battle over Secrecy and Free Speech Reed Publishing New York
D. Spencer (1986) ArticleTitle‘Employee Voice and Employee Retention’ Academy of Management Journal 29 488–502 Occurrence Handle10.2307/256220
F. Steele (1975) The Open Organization Addison-Wesley Reading, Mass
R. Steele (2000) On Intelligence: Spies and Secrecy in an Open World AFCEA International Press Fairfax, VA
A. Stevens H. Stevens (2001) Brussels Bureaucrats? The Administration of the European Union Basingstoke Palgrave
R. Stevenson (1980) Corporations and Information: Secrecy, Access and Disclosure John Hopkins University Press Baltimore
S. Tefft (1980) Secrecy: A Cross-Cultural Perspective Human Science Press New York
G. Terrill (2000) Secrecy and Openness: The Federal Government from Menzies to Whitlam to Beyond Melbourne University Press Melbourne
D. Thompson (1999) ArticleTitle‘Democratic Secrecy’ Political Science Quarterly 114 181–193 Occurrence Handle10.2307/2657736
Trautman, N.: 2000, Police Code of Silence: Facts Revealed. Paper presented to 107th International Association of Chiefs of Police, San Diego
United States Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy: 1997, Report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy before the Senate Committee on Government Affairs, 105th Congress
M. Vakola B. Dimitris (2002) Organisational Silence: A New Challenge for Human Resource Management Athens Greece
Van Buitenen, P.: 1998, Full text of van Buitenen’s Letter to Magda Aelvoet, Available at http://www.sdnl.nl/fraude. htm#verwijzing-1 (visited 20 September 2005)
P. Buitenen ParticleVan (2000) Blowing the Whistle. One Man’s Fight Against Fraud in the European Commission Politico’s Publishing London
Van Buitenen, P.: 2001, ‘The good European Commission’, The Ecologist, Available at http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2465/is_1_31/ai_70910930 (visited 10 November 2004)
D. Vaughan (1996) The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture and Deviance at NASA University of Chicago Press Chicago
B. Walker B. Walker (2000) Privatization: Sell off or Sell Out? The Australian Experience ABC Books Sydney
Weber, M.: 1968, Economy and Society. An Outline of Interpretive Sociology, in G. Roth and C. Wittich (eds), (Bedminster Press: New York, NY)
N. Wenger S. Korenman R. Berk H. Liu (1999) ArticleTitle‘Reporting Unethical Research Behavior’ Evaluation Review 23 IssueID5 553–570 Occurrence Handle10.1177/0193841X9902300504
White, A.: 1986, Public Administration in a Secrecy Setting: A selected Bibliography (Vance Bibliographies: Monticello Ill)
L. Zipparo (1999) ArticleTitle‘Factors which Deter Public Officials from Reporting Corruption’ Crime, Law and Social Change 30 273–287 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1008326527512
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Bill De Maria teaches ethics, change management and government-business relations in the Business School at the University of Queensland, Australia. He is recently internationally published in the areas of whistleblowing and organisational silence.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
De Maria, W. Brother Secret, Sister Silence: Sibling Conspiracies Against Managerial Integrity. J Bus Ethics 65, 219–234 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-005-4710-3
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-005-4710-3