Hanson, D. S.
(1996).
A Place to Shine: Emerging from the Shadows at Work.
"In the early 70s Rory O'Day shocked his readers with an article in The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science (O'Day, 1974). His research revealed a pattern of behaviors used by middle managers of large organizations to put down reformers who were perceived to be threats to the system or the career of the manager involved. O'Day called them intimidation rituals. The overriding concerns of these loyal managers were twofold. The fist concern was to control the reformer so that he or she was not successful at recruiting support. The second concern was to absolve themselves of any wrongdoing in the matter."
Hirschorn, L.
(1993).
The Psychodynamics of Organizations.
(
Howell S. Baum, Eric L. Trist, James Krantz, Carole K. Barnett, Steven P. Feldman, Thomas N. Gilmore, Laurence J. Gould, Larry Hirschorn, Manfred F.R. KetsDeVries, Laurent Lapierre, Howard S. Schwartz, Glenn Swogger, David A. Thomas, Donald R. Young, Abraham Zaleznik, Michael A. Diamond, Ed.).
"Finally, a managers ability to accept these projections, especially the negative ones of subordinates (e.g., dependency, hatred, envy), without retribution or retaliation helps to create what Winnicott terms a 'holding environment'—that is, an environment that provides a sense of psychological safety within which work can productively be accomplished and people can grow and develop in their roles." (p. 61)
Simmons, A.
(1999).
A Safe Place for Dangerous Truths: Using Dialogue to Overcome Fear & Distrust at Work.
"In a strict hierarchy, when someone in power has the reputation for retribution, it would be irresponsible to encourage the discussion of dangerous truths. One time I believed a manager's self-description as 'open-minded and empowering.' Introducing dialogue into her group was a mistake. She was not open-minded and had a reputation for shooting the messenger. The result was agony—two hours of people squirming in their seats, eyes darting longingly toward the door, and no one daring to tell the truth." (p. 194)
Ciulla, J. B.
(2001).
The Working Life: The Promise and Betrayal of Modern Work.
One of Deming's original fourteen essential points for quality managers was 'Drive out fear so that everyone may work effectively for the company.' But what are people afraid of at work? In their study of fear in the workplace, Kathleen D. Ryan and Daniel K. Oestreich found that people were usually afraid of retaliation, reprisals, and retribution." (p. 146)