Strategic silence has emerged as an important concept in organisational studies, challenging traditional views that silence in the workplace is primarily negative or dysfunctional. This study explores the concept of strategic silence as a deliberate communication behaviour and examines its implications for organisational communication and employee interaction. Strategic silence is the purposeful withholding or timing of communication to achieve specific interpersonal or organisational objectives. Unlike passive silence, which may result from fear or disengagement, strategic silence reflects a conscious decision to regulate communication based on situational awareness and anticipated outcomes. The study adopts an exploratory approach to examine key dimensions of strategic silence, including information withholding, nonreactive silence, disclosure timing, and strategic listening. These dimensions highlighted how employees and organisational actors manage communication processes to improve decision quality, protect sensitive information, and enhance interpersonal relationships within the workplace. Existing literature and empirical findings suggest that strategic silence can enhance the effectiveness of employee voice by ensuring that ideas are communicated at the most appropriate time and in the most constructive manner. The findings contribute to organisational communication and management research by re-conceptualizing silence as a potentially strategic resource rather than merely a barrier to communication. The study concludes that understanding strategic silence can provide valuable insights into communication dynamics, leadership practices, and knowledge management within modern organisations.
Keywords: Strategic silence, Organisational communication, Information withholding, Disclosure timing, Organisational performance
