The effect of workplace hierarchy on the acceptance and implementation of employee ideas : quantitative study

Abstract

Communication failures and lack of structured organization patterns may lead to the neglecting of good ideas coming from employees and the management of an organization. The current research focused on communication in the workplace and how communication or lack-there-of may have implications on ideas proposed for improvement in the workplace. The main hypothesis was that employees’ creative ideas are not verbalized as a result of a lack of communication between managers and subordinates. 50.9% of the target sample were males and 49.1% were females. The ages of the participants ranged from 18-61, with the majority of participants (9.8%) being 29 years old. All of the participants were of Maltese nationality, and of the total sample, 16.1% were managers, and 83.9% were subordinates. Utilization of quantitative techniques and analysing self-report questionnaires led to the rejecion of the original hypothesis and acceptance the null hypothesis that employees’ creative ideas are verbalized and there is accurate communication between managers and subordinates in these particular organizations.