Morality and Whistle Blowing

Whistle blowing does take courage. There is the risk of being bullied or harassed as a result, but anyone who whistle blows has the right to protection from the person they have raised concerns about. If you suffer as a result of a whistle blowing incident the UK Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 offers legal protection.

In today’s society, there are many things that make it hard for white collar crimes to be exposed. One of the main problem portrayed within this movie was how easily the media was able to manipulate exactly what people were allowed to see. Secondly, white collar crimes can be hard to prove because many times major corporations will hire external help to go out and find information that could ruin the whistleblowers reputation. By doing this the whistleblowers credibility can be jeopardized making it easier for the corporation to continue to be seen as a reputable organization (The Insider).

Whistleblowing has always been an important and controversial issue that employers and employees need to understand and stay up to date with. They need to make sure that they know what it means, what it involves, and what consequences are associated with whistleblowing. Whistleblowing is defined as, “…an employee of a company or government agency makes a protected disclosure to the public or authority regarding concerns for wrongdoing” (What is a Whistleblower?, n.d.). In short, a whistleblower is defined as a person who is concerned and discloses and divulges misbehavior in the workplace. This paper will focus on the pros and cons of being a whistleblower, the ethics behind it, the details of s specific whistleblowing situation, and reflect on my personal experience regarding whistleblowing.

The Act provides protection only for those matters that involve security fraud so whistleblowing of other kinds of wrongdoing remain unprotected under this Act. Some of the wrongdoings or unethical

Whistleblowing encourages and enables employees to raise serious concerns within the company rather than overlooking a problem or 'blowing the whistle' outside. Employees are advised to speak to their designated senior CareGiver or a member of the

The various forms of retribution that whistle-blowers endure at the hands of employers both financially and psychologically for attempting to correct mismanagement, fraud, and dishonesty are often too much for the whistle-blower to bear. Careers are in jeopardy because individuals with strong ethics decide to pursue law suits against their employers. One example is where the US Forest Service employees found their careers ruined by either demotions or loss of jobs when caught speaking out in favor of the environment or sound science, or when

Hayley, I absolutely agree with you. Each individual must make his or her own decision as to whether the disturbing unethical offense is worth the personal cost (Reece 2014, pg 111). When I was personal faced with trying to decide to whistle blow or keep quiet and do nothing at all; I had to tell. I tried to just keep my head down and be silent but, the silence was literally making me sick. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, and what I knew was constantly on my mind, I felt like I couldn’t function properly. The reason I was unable to function was because not being honest was not in my charter. I made the decision to be the whistleblower, and yes I did receive some back lash but for me that was better than the silence. Every individual is different,

The article I found by Thompson discusses risk and rewards of whistle blowing, the example used was from 1994 and the CEOs of the seven major American tobacco companies tested before Congress that nicotine was not addictive Shortly afterwards, Jeffrey Wigand, then head of research and development at Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., gave the lie to that, rest in a deposition in a lawsuit brought by the State of Mississippi and then in an interview on 60 Minutes. This resulted in the tobacco companies reaching a $246 billion multistate settlement in 1998. Wigand underwent a smear campaign and said that he and his family received death threats. Whistle blowing ended his marriage. The maverick doesn’t consider himself a hero. He has said, “People were dying. I was loyal to a higher order of ethical responsibility.” The 1999 movie The Insider depicts some of this saga and Wigand now lectures worldwide, offers expertise on tobacco issues, and runs the nonprofit Smoke-Free Kids, Inc.

There are those who profit from blowing the whistle, aside from that is the risk really worth it? The answer is yes. In spite of the negative employment aspect, whistle blowing shows that a person has enough

It is popularly believed, even by presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, that whistleblowers only break promises of the nation, and release critically secret information to the everyday public. Many believe that they should be punished for this violation of secrecy. Yet, perhaps what they release could be saving the country and government. Secrets in government of war and finances can be detrimental to the health of the United States of America from the spread of conspiracy theories and due to the fact that the government, which should be protecting the people, is sneaking behind citizen's backs and making their own worldwide decisions. Whistleblowers are needed to create a prosperous and stable country if our government is going to be this corrupt with their secrets.

Well, according to Miceli, Nearand and Dworkin (2008), whistleblowing is an act of revealing wrongdoings in an organization by the former or current employees of the very organization. As such, a whistleblower is an individual who reveals wrongdoings within an organization to the public or the senior management. The key characteristics of a whistleblower include, but are not limited to, dissent, accusation, breach of loyalty, altruism, sportsmanship courtesy, conscientiousness and civic culture (Miceli, Near & Dworkin, 2008).

addition, as a leader, when a whistleblower reports activity to you, first gather all of the

Introduction: Agree: “In too many organizations, those who speak unwelcome truths are fired or at least marginalized” (p.xxi). Rationale: I believe that leaders should be able to listen to everyone and everything, no matter how bitter the truth can be. Employees who try to stand against wrong are usually the ones put in trouble or easily fired for little things. I remember a nurse who always stood against the management because they would not listen to her regarding the short staff. When she finally threatened to report the facility, she was easily put in trouble over a small thing and fired. I believe leaders who are in power should not stoop so low and should respect others points of view and encourage others to unite to achieve the goals. Disagree: “One hard-won bit of advice he gives would-be whistle blowers—make sure you have another job lined up first” (p.xxi). Rationale: Whistleblowers play a vital role in exposing corruption, fraud, and mismanagement, and in preventing disasters that arise from negligence or wrongdoing. Whistleblowers who speak out about wrongdoing potentially save lives and resources. I believe that the treatment whistleblowers get is unfair and they should be treated better. Currently, US whistleblower law offers no protection. I believe that people should be able voice out their concerns when something is wrong and not have to worry about being reprimanded. The concept that might be particularly helpful in my personal development as a leader is to

As more companies become aware of public corruption, they have taken measures to prevent these crimes from happening. Some companies have put in place many policies to prevent corruption. Things such as codes of conduct, ethics rules, criminal statutes that prevent gift receiving and antifraud policies. Now more businesses and organizations are using the whistleblower system. This system allows anyone who witness an unethical act to report it without fear of retaliation. Sometimes, there is retaliation for being a whistleblower. For instance, a person may in fact receive poor treatment, changes in work hours and they may even experience working in areas or shifts that no one wants. It starts out as good thing but it doesn’t always seem to work in the favor of the whistleblower.

Whistleblowers perform in many careers and are found at all levels of an organization: scientists and secretaries, lawyers and paralegals, managers and staff, security personnel and computer specialists, etc. They are as varied in age, ethnic background, education, profession, sex, and income as the population at large.