Organizational Clarity: "Confidential Survey" article

After reading this article about not completing the “confidential employee” survey, I realized although I have never been in a situation of having two dual entities warring to have me complete a survey to prove their points. I realized that whenever I was given a “confidential employee” survey, I did not complete it because I was always hounded (like the person in the article) to complete the survey. My question then was how confidential was it, if everyone and their mother knew I did not complete it?

I always wondered why organizations would use a “confidential” survey to create an illusion that this process is secret when is not. When a one-on-one with supervisors and their employees would, in fact, increase morale, improve human performance, and communication wherever the concentration existed. Creating this falsehood only disillusions the stakeholders of the organization and creates a breakdown of communication and trust. This is reaffirmed in the Forbes article listed below.

Add to that my studies within an Organizational Development program you start to understand when surveys such as this should be used and how unfortunately, it is not how most organizations use this tool. Instead of employee development and integrating employees into the organizational culture surveys are used to root out the “troublemakers” and to dissuade dissenting opinions or voices for needed change.

Rooting out these “troubled voices” in the eyes of the organization is cheaper and far easier than creating actual organizational change, than retraining managers and maintaining an atmosphere of cooperation. The hierarchy structure of most organizations is highly prized no matter how the organization states it is closer to the Clan structure characteristics with a “family” type atmosphere; no organization wants the inmates running the asylum. So there is no reason that any of us will see an end to these “confidential employee” surveys anytime soon.

This is the Forbes article which discusses how this gentleman will NOT participate in “confidential employee” surveys:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2017/02/21/no-i-wont-complete-the-confidential-employee-survey/#38020e856187

Organizational Clarity: Having anonymous interactions can be a great thing when you need feedback for your organization.

Having an Online presence does give one a sense of online anonymity and gives one a sense of freedom this can enhance the interaction process between an organization and its employees by giving an open forum to discuss issues with a strong sense of truth than if the employees were asked face to face (Allen, 2011). 

One of the issues that faces the Organizational Development professional is the challenge of getting a major quantity of feedback that is mired in truth and has nothing held back. Using an unknown identity or alias for this purpose can take out the factors found in the workplace environment and the pressure to conform to socially and/or organizationally established norms.

This allows for active collaboration and the user to openly be creative in their expression upon subject matters cover during these interactions. This new Self-definition in where one can be themselves is in the end very helpful and meaningful for the OD professional with employees not hindered by necessary social graces and the fear of retaliation can get the data they so desperately need (Allen, 2011).

Employees completing anonymous surveys or using anonymous aliases on Organizational forums can expose issues that deal with possible unknown problems with productivity to inter-office lapses of communication between departments that are not uncovered for the fear of being ousted as a trouble maker by management or a snitch by fellow coworkers.

 In all, giving employees the option to express their voice(s) collectively in an anonymous way gives them the ability to be Autonomous and shows the organization trusts them enough to go the distance in giving feedback, that was not there before (Allen, 2011). Meanwhile, it also provides a way to learn express, and gain an increased amount of data that was not an option in the traditional sense and free of the constriction of the workplace environment.

Reference

Allen, M. W. (2011). Michael Allen's 2012 e-learning annual (Vol. 54). John Wiley & Sons.