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For organizations to reach their potential, they must leverage the expertise of their employees. However, research demonstrates that lower-status employees may not be heard because their "voices" are more likely to be ignored.
New research from the University of Notre Dame is the first to show that peers can help boost marginalized voices, and at the same time benefit their own status, all while helping their organization realize the potential of its employees' diverse perspectives.
Publicly endorsing -- or amplifying -- another person's contribution, while giving attribution to that person, enhances the status of both parties, according to "Amplifying Voice in Organizations," forthcoming in the Academy of Management Journal. Nathan Meikle, postdoctoral research associate in Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business, and co-lead authors Kristin Bain, Tamar Kreps and Elizabeth Tenney show that ideas that were amplified were rated as higher quality than when those same ideas were not amplified.