Employees hide crucial ideas when they lack workplace security, KAIST study finds

Add ARY News on GoogleFollow on Google DiscoverImage: UnsplashAAResizeIf everyone in a meeting always agrees, organizations may overlook important warning signs and new ideas. A recent study from KAIST shows that when employees feel accepted by their group, they are more likely to share different opinions in a convincing way.

Professors Sujin Lee and Seungwon Jeong, together with Zoe Kinias from Western University, published their findings in Scientific Reports. They found that “group attachment security” helps people share and accept minority opinions at work.

Group attachment security means people see their team as a safe and supportive place. When this feeling is strong, members trust that sharing a different opinion will not lead to rejection or being left out.

People with minority views often hesitate to speak up because they fear backlash. This is even harder inside their own organization, where there is more pressure to agree with the majority.

To study this, researchers ran two experiments with made-up decision scenarios. In the first, people who felt group attachment security gave more detailed and convincing arguments because they focused on solving the problem.

In the second experiment, majority group members reviewed these dissenting arguments. They found the arguments from the secure group more convincing and were more willing to use those minority opinions.

The study showed that being part of the same organization does not make it easier to disagree. In fact, team members often feel more pressure to go along with group views, which makes it harder to give important negative feedback.

This research is important for companies that depend on outside audits because their own staff do not speak up. If employees who know the most about problems stay quiet out of fear, the company will miss early warning signs.

The findings show that workplace diversity works only when people can safely share different opinions without causing conflict. Leaders can help prevent groupthink by inviting counterarguments and valuing minority views.

“Simply giving members the opportunity to voice a different opinion is not enough,” Jeong and Lee explained. They said the majority must see these different opinions as helpful for making better decisions.

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