The Importance Of Wikileaks And Its Effect On The Organization Of A Company By Releasing And Discussion Information

Steve Rigg and Richard Caruso were two corrections officers that discovered the unethical practices in Corcoran State Prison. In spite of the risk of being terminated and other retaliation, Rigg and Caruso made a decision to come to the defense of the prisoners by becoming whistle blowers. “Whistle blowing may be defined as the attempt by an employee or former employee of an organization to disclose what he or she believes to be wrong doing in or by the organization” (Callahan, 1988, p. 315). According to Dryburgh (2009) “the motives of a whistle blower can be classified as rational, normal based or affective” (p. 158). Rigg and Caruso’s motives for becoming whistle blowers are more in accordance with normal based motives as they “encompass a desire to serve the public interest and advance social equity while preserving an individual level of loyalty to the responsibilities of the position as well as a commitment to government” (Dryburgh, 2009, p. 158). A

Review “Just pucker and blow: An analysis of corporate whistleblowers” in Chapter 2. Please respond to the following:

The 1983 film Silkwood, was inspired by Karen Silkwood of the monumental Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee Nuclear Corp. (81-2159) whistleblowing case. Silkwood, a union activist and whistleblower, worked at the Cimarron Kerr-McGee Nuclear Fuel Processing facility in Oklahoma from August 1972 until November 1974. While the activist was investigating alleged corporate wrongdoing, specifically plutonium contaminations on her body and throughout her house, she was killed in a suspicious auto accident. The case portrayed in film shows implications for modern whistleblowers, set a precedent and was essential in creating proper protections for whistleblowers. This paper will gave background on union organization and the Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee Nuclear Corp. court case and then further analyze the context of the case in modern day whistleblowing.

The 1983 film Silkwood, was inspired by Karen Silkwood of the monumental Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee Nuclear Corp. (81-2159) whistleblowing case. Silkwood, a union activist and whistleblower who worked at the Cimarron, Oklahoma Kerr-McGee Nuclear Fuel Processing facility from August, 1972 through November 1974. While the activist was investigating alleged wrongdoing, specifically plutonium contaminations on her body and throughout her house, she was killed in a suspicious auto accident. The case portrayed in film shows implications for modern whistleblowers, set a precedent and was essential in creating proper protections for whistleblowers. This paper will analyze the context of Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee Nuclear Corp. in modern day whistleblowing.

According to Harvard Law School’s article, approximately two-thirds of companies in the U.S. are affected by fraud. However, whistleblower Hotline can be as defense against management overrides. The article noted that whistleblower could be more effective if it become as apart of the corporate compliance programs and a reward of any monetary sanctions collected to motivate the employees Also, the article mention that the employees

What is the explanation of the standard view on whistleblowing presented by Sissela Bok and reported by Robert Larmer in his article?

Duska argues that whistleblowing is always justified. He claims that employees do “not have an obligation of loyalty to a company, even a prima facie one, because companies are not the kind of things that are properly objects of loyalty” (Duska, pg. 424). Duska denies one of Bok’s key conditions to blow the whistle, loyalty. This is because Duska sees the purpose of business is to produce goods and services and to make a profit. Duska’s view of a business’s purpose prevents the company, or in Case C the university, from becoming an object deserving of loyalty.

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

advantageous information, and the abuse by the government and lack of legal protection provided to these whistleblowers.

1. Describe the key characteristics of a whistleblower, and briefly summarize one (1) researched instance of whistleblowing in one (1) publicly traded company within the last 12 months. Include the details of the issue that the whistleblower reported and the effect of the whistleblower’s actions on both the whistleblower himself and the company.

Unfortunately, as an employee of an organization several years ago I was involved in a whistle blowing the case. I can personally vouch for the fact it is unpleasant at best and quit a headache. My “employer” was violating multiple OSHA and PEOSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) codes and requirements for training and personal protection. My colleague and I brought these issues to management in a written form on more than one occasion, and we both were promptly removed from the personnel roster without cause. The next several months were meetings, interviews, letters and legal correspondence to prove our case which was ultimately decided in our favor, reinstating us and led to a hefty fine for the agency. This was a volunteer

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,

Jackson and Raftos (1997) referred to whistle blowing as an avenue of last resort. Employees find themselves in these situations when the authorities at their organisations have failed to take actions on reported issues affecting that organisation. Wimot (2000) likened whistleblowing to a spectrum. At one end of this spectrum whistleblowing would only cause minimal pain and scars on the stakeholders and organisation while on the other end is the worst scenario where the whistleblowing effects are turbulent and often experienced to be negative to all those involved (ibid).

In an age when accelerated communications contribute to growing perceptions of organizational improprieties, the ethical and legal implications of whistleblowing have become a major topic of discussion. According to Lawrence and Weber (2014), whistleblowing is an employee disclosing apparent organizational misconduct to the government or media; however, this reporting of information should come after attempts at going through proper channels in order to persuade the organization to take appropriate actions has been ineffective.

2. What measures can and should be taken to make it easier for corporate employees to ‘‘blow the whistle’’ on a fraudulent scheme they uncovered within the firm?