Minority Rules!

Have you ever heard the saying "majority rules"? In my experiences as a nurse, I cannot always say this is a reality. I have been in situations, working as a staff nurse in the past, where I did not voice my views/opinions about a situation that I clearly disagreed with, and when it was approved I somehow felt as if "they" should have known we couldn't do that. Now I see the opposite end, I have witnessed situations where a particular person or groups presented an idea related to an interest or passion that they had and as they went through the proper channels for seeking approval, things continued to progress even though it did not seem to be what was best for the whole. Some concerns are voiced to management, but as feedback was sought from frontline nurses, it appeared to be no real opposition. Later, when nurses are questioned as to why they had not spoke up, they voiced things like “it wasn't worth it”, “we didn’t know we needed to”, “we were just too busy”, or “upper management should know that it was not feasible to being done as part of our already demanding work processes”. I understood where they were coming from, because I too have been on both sides of the table, as a staff nurse and management, and as a result I have shared with them the importance of taking an active role in the decision making process, especially when they were being asked and to find other ways to give feedback when they are not being asked directly. In my experiences over the years, I have learned that silence is more likely seen as approval or support versus disapproval. Silence has the potential for allowing the ideas of the minority to become the work of a majority. As nurses we are great advocators for others, but we have got to carry that over to ourselves. My challenge to nurses is not to assume that "they" will be able to provide the support what we need when we don't give the feedback that "they" need. 

Have there ever been instances where minority ruled in your work environment but it was not in the best interest of the majority?