Voice Flow to Managers or Voice Flow Around Managers: Voice From the Shopfloor in Iran

ABSTRACT The extant voice literature is largely Anglo‐American and often assumes formal, management‐designed or union voice channels, which may not always be accessible to employees in non‐Western, autocratic developing countries where silence is often forced upon employees. Given this unfavorable context for voice, how do employees navigate managerial constraints to assert their agency? Drawing on ethnographic research in a multi‐site manufacturer of auto parts in Iran, we show how formal voice channels are set up by employers, how voice flows through these management mechanisms, the employee experience of the process, and how employees respond by developing their own informal channels. The findings highlight the importance of viewing voice through a dynamic, context‐bound lens, and how, if voice does not flow to managers, it can flow around them. We show how management's espoused effort to promote voice resulted not only in less voicing but also counterproductive work behavior. These findings advance a contextualist perspective of employee voice, highlighting how local contexts shape worker agency in articulating their voices, and offering key insights for HRM practices, especially in designing strategies that account for cultural and organizational dynamics.