A Study of the Nature of the Deaf Effect Response to Bad News Reporting

The escalation of commitment to a failing course of action is a well-known phenomenon in IT project management. Much work has been done in researching why managers continue to commit resources in the face of negative signals about the status of projects (Keil 1995; Keil 2000; Keil et al. 2000; Keil et al. 2003; Staw 1976). Information systems project failures typically exhibit ample warning signs of impending failure, and in some cases, these warning signs are frequently ignored. (Computer.Business.Review 2006). In many cases, there are team members or even a single individual that seek to call attention to critical issues and ask for a delay or change of course in the project direction. In those cases, it is important to know why senior management did not heed the “bad news reporter” who warned them that the project was in danger of failing. This failure to heed the bad news reporter has been called the “Deaf Effect” (Keil et al. 2001).