Events

Mr. Trevor Spelman
Ph.D. candidate in Management & Organizations
Kellogg School of Management
Northwestern University

Political polarization is on the rise around the world, and organizations increasingly find themselves on the front lines of managing divisions that spill into the workplace. This talk examines the interpersonal and organizational consequences of political disagreement in two parts.

Part 1 investigates ingroup dissent: Why do people self-censor political views that diverge from their group’s consensus? Across a series of experimental studies, I find that individuals consistently overestimate the social backlash they would face for expressing dissent. This miscalibration leads to unnecessary self-censorship that undermines information exchange, with implications for group learning and decision-making.

Part 2 turns to the workplace, drawing on field surveys, archival analyses, and experimental evidence to demonstrate that political conflict in the workplace is on the rise, that it contributes to employee attrition processes, and that organizations are often ill-equipped to respond to these challenges.

Together, these findings illuminate how political disagreement not only stifles communication within groups but also threatens retention and inclusion at work. More broadly, they underscore the need to understand political conflict as a pressing challenge for organizations navigating an era of deepening societal divides.