Designing a Suggestion System Model with an Approach to Reducing Organizational Silence: A Meta-Synthesis Study

In today's complex organizational environments, silence is widely recognized as a critical barrier to innovation, productivity, and effective decision-making. This silence often stems from a fear of negative consequences, a lack of trust in leadership, hierarchical organizational cultures, and the absence of transparent and secure communication channels. Employees who refrain from speaking up may do so to avoid conflict, retaliation, or marginalization, which diminishes feedback loops, creativity, and active engagement within organizations. When strategically designed and well-executed, suggestion systems provide a structured, anonymous, and supportive mechanism for capturing employee voice. These systems play a vital role in disrupting the silence cycle and fostering a culture of participation. This study employed a qualitative meta-synthesis method to review and integrate findings from 35 scientific articles focused on organizational silence and employee suggestion systems. Articles were selected using rigorous screening criteria and assessed through CASP to ensure methodological soundness. The analysis revealed that silence arises due to managerial, individual, and cultural causes. It also highlighted how suggestion systems act not merely as feedback tools, but as strategic enablers of organizational learning and adaptive behavior.