‘Good Workers’ and the Moulding of Employee Voice and Silence in Big 4 Firms

Brendan McCarthy, Michelle O'Sullivan, Elaine Doyle and Joan Ballantine

Industrial Relations Journal, 2025, vol. 56, issue 6, 451-460

Abstract: This article examines voice and silence on workplace problems in Big 4 professional service firms. Based on interviews in Ireland, workers reported problems in relation to workload and hours, underperforming colleagues, mistreatment, pay, leave time, and promotion. Silence was the dominant response reflecting workers' implicit understanding of organisationally desired worker attributes. Where voice occurred, it was individual and informal. Our analysis places voice as a site of antagonistic worker‐management relations, and we contribute to the emerging labour process critique of employee resilience as a tool of management control.

Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:indrel:v:56:y:2025:i:6:p:451-460

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