Suppressing Dissent: II

In some groups or teams, dissent can be personally risky wherever it occurs — hallway conversation, email, meetings, over lunch, wherever. last time we described general-purpose techniques some group Leaders use to suppress dissent. In meetings, though, leaders have a wide array of tools for effectively suppressing dissent.

I'm not advocating techniques for suppressing dissent, which is almost always unwise, and probably unethical. Rather, I offer this inventory as a guide to help people recognize patterns of abuse.

Controlling the time and place of meetings

Leaders acting in good faith try to schedule meetings to enable most people to attend. If schedule or location (real or virtual) must change, they announce changes to everyone as soon as possible. Leaders who are determined to create attendance obstacles for specific people, such as Dissenters, can choose times and places accordingly. And they can distribute change announcements accordingly, too.

Controlling invitation and distribution lists

By omitting Dissenters from meeting invitation lists or email distribution lists, Leaders can reduce the probability that Dissenters will receive important information, or be able to attend meetings, whether or not the information or meeting agenda is relevant to the substance of the dissent. These schemes can thus create what appear to be performance issues for Dissenters, which can affect their stature and credibility.

Abusing agenda responsibility

Leaders, who are typically responsible for meeting agendas, can adjust agendas to the disadvantage of Dissenters. Scheduling items so as to make Dissenters' own schedules more difficult, or allocating too little time to Dissenters' items, can create obstacles for Dissenters.

Abusing the parking lot

The Those who become accustomed to
suppressing dissent sometimes
experience expressions of
disagreement as challenges
to their personhood"parking lot" is a list of topics that arise during a meeting, but which aren't closely enough related to the agenda to warrant immediate attention. The Leader can arrange to "park" any points Dissenters raise, whether or not they're eligible for parking according to the usual criteria. And after the meeting, instead of dealing with the Dissenter's parked items, the Leader can arrange for them to be quietly ignored. For more about the parking lot, see "Using the Parking Lot," Point Lookout for September 12, 2007.

Abusing the facilitator's prerogatives

Many Leaders also facilitate their own meetings. As facilitators, they can influence the flow of their meetings by recognizing attendees who wish to comment or contribute to the discussion. They can decide what comments are germane, and they can interrupt contributors. When a contributor is speaking, and another attendee interrupts, Leaders can be selective about halting such interruptions. Although people generally frown upon arbitrariness in exercising the facilitator's prerogatives, in most organizations, attendees can't do much more. Objecting to a Leader's meeting management practices can be risky.

Although Leaders probably are best able to suppress dissent, just about anyone can take steps to do so. Watch for examples around you.   First issue in this series   Top    Next Issue

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Related articles

More articles on Devious Political Tactics:

Suppressing Dissent: I

In some groups, disagreeing with the majority, or disagreeing with the Leader, can be a personally expensive act. Here is Part I of a set of tactics used by Leaders who choose not to tolerate dissent.

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Narcissistic behavior at work is more damaging than rudeness or egotism. It leads to faulty decisions that compromise organizational missions. In this part of the series we examine the effects of constant demands for attention and admiration.

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Layoff Warning Signs: I

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Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Coming December 11: White Water Rafting as a Metaphor for Group Development

Tuckman's model of small group development, best known as "Forming-Storming-Norming-Performing," applies better to development of some groups than to others. We can use a metaphor to explore how the model applies to Storming in task-oriented work groups. Available here and by RSS on December 11.

And on December 18: Subgrouping and Conway's Law

When task-oriented work groups address complex tasks, they might form subgroups to address subtasks. The structure of the subgroups and the order in which they form depend on the structure of the group's task and the sequencing of the subtasks. Available here and by RSS on December 18.

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