Investigation of Organizational Silence from the Perspective of Imam Ali (AS)

Stressing on the sermons and letters of Imam Ali (AS), this paper was to investigate the concept of organizational silence in a comparative study between Islamic perspective and Western views. Based on the findings of this study two types of silence including positive silence and negative silence can be introduced. In the Western sense of this term, obedient and inactive organizational silence, i.e. employees refrain from expressing opinions and ideas for the sake of organization’s interest, is considered as faulty and implausible. But according to the Islamic definition, refraining from enjoining the good and forbidding the evil, refusing to defend the oppressed, avoiding from advising others, consulting and expressing the truth is abominated. In contrast, there is altruistic silence which insists on refusing to express ideas, Information or comments related to the work with the aim of benefitting others in the organization. But from an Islamic perspective positive silence is to preserve the unity and secrecy of organization’s information as well as silence when someone is not well informed is recommended. Each of these concepts, inferred through this study, are widely used in Organizational Behavior; using them can help to define better relations among employees in relation to each other and between highly ranked managers of an organization and its employees.