Communication · Executive Insight Brief · 214
The dissent did not disappear
Distinguish upward, lateral, and displaced expression without confusing reported routes with loyalty, openness, or voice effectiveness
Premise
Organizational dissent becomes actionable only when its audience is visible. Jeffrey W. Kassing’s Organizational Dissent Scale measures where employees report directing disagreement about policies and practices: upward toward supervisors or management, laterally toward coworkers, or outside the organization toward family and nonwork friends.
For executives, this shifts diagnosis from whether employees “speak up” to where disagreement travels. Two organizations may contain similar concerns but route them differently. The scale can reveal an expression pattern worth explaining. It does not establish whether the concern is correct, management is receptive, or the chosen route is effective.
What the model is: Organizational Dissent Scale in Knowledge →
Continue in the series
- The essential model
- Why this matters
- Risks and limits
- Executive takeaway
- Key questions
- Selected sources
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- FamilyTool
- CategoryMeasurement & Assessment Instruments
- DomainVoice, Silence & Power
What these mean
Editorial orientation · Family
Tool
In this series, Tool names the editorial family primarily used to act on, examine, measure or organize communication. It includes instruments, methods, practices, protocols, codes and institutional arrangements. Membership does not certify effectiveness, portability or safe use in every setting.
Editorial orientation · Category
Measurement & Assessment Instruments
Produces measures, scores, profiles or assessments through defined items, observations or measurement rules. The entry identifies what is measured and the conditions governing interpretation.
- KnowledgeOrganizational Dissent Scale