The Whistleblowers
The Whistleblowers
What is “Whistleblowing”?
The term whistle-blower was initially used to describe government employees who went public with complaints of corruption or mismanagement but it is now applied to employees in the private sector as well.
Whistle-blowing is ethically problematic because it involves a conflict between an employee’s obligation to his or her company and a general obligation to the public. Employees are required not only to do the work they are assigned but also to be loyal to their employer, preserve the confidentiality of company information, and work in the best interest of the company. Deciding when whistle-blowing is morally justified and when it is not requires a balancing of many different obligations.”
John Boatright , The Ethical Conduct of Business
What Are the Risks?
Conflict of interest
Loyalty to employer
Moral
Legal (contractual)
Abuse of whistle-blowing by Whistle-Blowers
Retaliation by Stakeholders
Misinformation by Whistle-Blowers
Many Conflicts Arise In Business
Conflict of Interest
Employees interests
Employer interests
Social interests
Conflict of Obligation
Employee Obligations
Self and Family
Employer
Society
Employer Obligations
Stakeholders (stockholders, employees, suppliers etc..)
Employee
Conflicts of Loyalty
Conflicts Re: Liberty
Criteria for Whistle-Blowing
A whistle-blower is a member or former member of an organization and not an outsider.
The information that is revealed by the whistle-blower is non-public information and not already-known facts.
The information concerns some significant misconduct by the organization or some of its members.
The information is revealed outside of the normal channels of corporate communication within an organization.
The information is revealed voluntarily and not by a legal mandate.
The information is revealed as a moral protest in order to correct some perceived wrong.
Components of a Whistle-Blowing Policy
An effectively communicated statement of responsibility.
A clearly-defined procedure for reporting.
Trained personnel to receive and investigate reports.
A commitment to take appropriate action.
A guarantee against retaliation.
Existing Legal Protections
The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 prohibits retaliation against federal employees who report waste and corruption in government. The Merit System Protection Board was set up by this act to receive and act on complaints of retaliation.
The Whistle-Blower Protection Act of 1989 further strengthened this protection with the creation of the Office of Special Counsel for processing whistle-blower reports.
Anti-retaliation provisions in various pieces of federal legislation protect whistle-blowers in both the private and public sectors, and some statutes even encourage whistle-blowing in fraud cases by awarding a percentage of the funds recovered.
More than 35 states have laws that protect whistle-blowers (although most of these apply only to government employees), and many state courts are limiting the grounds on which employees may be fired.
An ethical person is one who posses strong character traits built on courage and informed by the belief that integrity is the backbone of ethical decision-making. A would-be-whistleblower is willing to stand her ground even in the face of pressure from higher-ups to stay silent. It’s not because of the possibility of receiving a whistleblower’s award. Instead, the whistleblower believes in principled behavior and leads her life in accordance with ethical values.
Steven Mintz, PHD
Please answer these questions and send your replies to me by Friday, May 1st at midnight
Many companies now sponsor ethics hotlines. Do you think they are helpful to creating socially responsible organizations?
Could they ever be harmful?