DEANS’ PERCEPTIONS OF UPWARD DISSENT MESSAGES FROM THEIR UNDERLINGS

Abstract

Organizational dissent, especially its overt, upward (namely articulated) form, is believed to hold positive potential in any organization. Universities, in turn, are widely expected to be the cradle of fundamental human rights, namely, freedom of speech and by that logic, it is plausible to think that, by their nature, universities are the scenes of articulated dissent. Considering these widely held perceptions, the aim of this phenomenological study is to understand the meaning of articulated dissent for those who have deanship experience. The participants consisted of 10 professors who were either serving or have served as deans of Turkish universities. The results from in-depth interviews were presented under the broad categories of: (a) reasons leading to dissent, (b) strategies, (c) dissenters’ characteristics, (d) feelings aroused by dissent expressions, (e) potential benefits, (f) proper conditions for the expression of dissent, and (g) how dissent should be. Implications for future research and application are also discussed.