When Is Whistleblowing Ethical

For many whistleblowers, fear of persecution and retaliation has prevented them from speaking out against improper behaviors at their institutions. Because of the dangers that whistleblowers are exposed to, many companies have become proactive in promoting and protecting whistleblowing. As a case and point, we need to look no further than the banking giant, Barclays.

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

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

Unfortunately, even though the events of the film are based on real life, the reality is that most whistleblowers are not seen in a positive light. Take, for example, Edward Snowden. Many people believe he is a traitor, while others see him as a patriot standing up for people’s rights. In the business world, whistleblowing is generally regarded as a bad thing. That is unless you are in a position of authority.

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,

As seen recently with Theranos to Edward Snowden. Edward Snowden is in a different country under aslyum and regardless of political views, there was no safety for him. With Theranos, Tyler Shultz has experienced up to $400K in legal fees for whistleblowing and separation with his grandfather. His parents were debating selling their home to cover the legal fees. These two situations prove that there is little to no protection for whisteblowers. Overall, there is nothing that would make more individuals feel safe exposing a company. This should be a huge concern, as preventing unethical behavior should be a huge priority. When companies are damaged by unethical behavior or even close, a lot of harm is caused that more than likely could have been prevented. Corporate America needs to decide if ethics and achieving profit can have synergy and be achieved, or if pleasing shareholders has created a conflict of interest with

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.

Ms. Williams is a typical of a whistle-blower in the sense that whistle-blowers are willing to face retaliation from their employer. Janet P. Near, a professor at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University who has studied whistleblowing since 1980 stated that “If they [whistle-blowers] cannot suffer retaliation from their employer, we don’t count them” (Melnick, 2014, para 6). In many specialized industries, everyone knows each other so it is not unusual for whistle-blowers who get fired to have trouble finding work within the same industry. Near indicates that whistle-blowing is less about the psychology of an individual, but more about the severity of the situation unmasked (Melnick, 2014). C. Frederick Alford, political psychology professor and author of Whistleblowers: Broken Lives and Organizational Power stated whistle-blower arrive late at the realization that what people do and what they say are two different things so they are naïve in a certain sense (Melnick, 2014). As a result, they are shocked when they realize people lie, cheat, steal, and whatever (Melnick, 2014). Therefore, Near insists “What seems to predict whether someone will actually blow the whistle is: how serious the wrongdoing is, if they are very sure it happened and so on ... Situational characteristics rather

In many cases, the whistle-blower will want to leave the workplace. They may have difficulty seeking future employment due to their working history and publically displayed identity. This may leave them in financial hardship or without work. My plan would dictate that while the investigation takes place, the whistle-blower shall receive minimal financial compensation. Once proven that the claims are true, the individual will be guaranteed a position as a public servant providing comparable status and pay to that which they were previously

The Whistle-blower Policy is a concept that organizations encourage their employees and external clients to report any improper activities such as fraud, corruption, or any other illegal actions. (UC Berkeley, 2017) The Whistle-blower policy is from the 1960s, but it is nor effective policy.((Santa University, 2017) Most of the employees cannot raise their issues. Usually, the problem is concealed rather than solve, due to the lake of protection of privacy of whistle-blower, until the authorization

Whistleblowers are typically just normal American citizens that find out maybe something they shouldn’t. An example is after the 911 attacks, a employ of the NSA was trying to prove a theory he had about the attacks. But instead he found out that the NSA was going against the right of privacy. The NSA was tapping into phone conversations and listening to people's phone calls. So the employee, Thomas Drake, started telling a news reporter of his findings after his boss dismissed his findings. The government was going to far and invading citizens privacies. They knew it was wrong too yet they still did it. But that's not the only case. Many people have found out things and gave it out because citizens have a right to know. There is now laws that protect whistleblowers against corporations so that

The point can be made that “whistleblowing” within a firm, large or small can be encouraged by putting in place policies and a process within a firm that will protect the employee’s and benefit the organisation by:

The definition of a whistleblower is a past or pesent employee or member of an organization, who reports misconduct to people or entities that have the power and presumed willingness to take corrective action, or to notify the general public of wrongdoing. In most cases, whistleblowers are employees of the ogranization but can be employees of government agencies as well. Normally the misconduct being reported is a violation of law, rule, regulation and/or a direct threat to public interest such as fraud, health, safety violations, and corruption. The word whistleblower originates from the old practice of English bobbies who would blow their whistle when they noticed a crime that was being committed. The blowing

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.

What is a whistle blower, what probably comes to mind is a person pulling a device that sounds an alarm altering everyone its break time or time to quit work. Barnett defines Whistleblowers as those individuals who call attention to possible wrongdoing within their organizations, are the subjects of much controversy (1992). No longer are employees standing by and letting companies get away with corporate wrong doing. More morally and ethically minded employees are risking their jobs by speaking out. They are three conditions necessary to effectively manage whistleblowing. First, employees must be informed of the appropriate steps to take in the communicating their ethical concerns internally. Employees should not live in fear of reprisal by speaking out. They need to know they have a safe place they can turn to when they feel something is wrong. Second, employees must believe that their concerns will be taken seriously and will be investigated. An employee needs to believe that they are being taken seriously and not simply brushed aside. Employees will not come forward if they feel they are not going the proper time of day. Third, an employee must feel confident that they not suffer personal reprisals of using internal channels to report perceived wrongdoing. If a worker lives in fear they are going to lose their job, they will not report it through internal channels. A