While open door policies intend to encourage and instill a sense of transparency and openness, some employees hesitate to speak their mind or be honest, for fear of intimidation, criticism, and censure. Management personnel may tend to communicate the willingness to hear suggestions, while belittling the suggestions when unaccompanied by solutions.
Open door policies have also been seen as a way for companies to discourage the formation of labor unions. Formal, written policies may encourage openness, however, the response received in attempts to engage are often seen as threats to the authority or management style of the individual working in a supervisory or management capacity.[4] The policy, in essence, allows employees to forgo meeting with their immediate supervisors, choosing rather to engage in communication with their senior managers to discuss their employment or personal issues.
A process of open communication and transparency allows employees to bypass their supervisors to engage with senior management. This may inadvertently lead to tension and strife between employees and middle management. Supervisors may either see this as an implication that they are the primary issue of concern, or they may feel threatened, suspecting the employee of undermining him in an attempt to cause problems between him and senior management.[3]