MNGT 513 Business Ethics, Ambika Godavarti

8/6/2019 MNGT 513 Business Ethics, Ambika Godavarti

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Are whistleblowers traitors or heroes

Origin of whistleblowing.

The origin of the metaphor whistleblowing is uncertain. According to Michael Davis,2005 the term

whistleblowing is derived from three possible sources: a train sounding a whistle to warn people to get off

the track , a referee blowing a whistle to indicate a foul or a police officer blowing a whistle to stop

wrongdoing. However, these explanations portray whistleblower as outsider, whereas whistleblower is

moreover like a team player who declares a foul play on his own team. In more modern terms related to the

business world, whistleblowing can be defined as a release of information by a member or former member

of an organization that is evidence of illegal and/or immortal conduct in the organization or conduct in the

organization which is not in the public interest. (Boatright, j.r)

This suggests two characteristics of a whistleblowing.

1) An Individual who reveals information that organization would never want to disclose it to public/

right authority. or

2) An Individual who seeks proper or approved channels to deliver this information to the right

person/public.

There is a clear distinction between internal and external whistleblowing. Internal whistleblowing is

something which alarms about the wrongdoing within the organization and the whistleblower may ignore

reporting to his immediate superiors, especially if they are involved in the unethical act. Whereas an external

whistleblower goes out of organization and informs to press or a regulatory authority. (Michael j. Robbins)

There are some more categories as well, some are anonymous and some are open. An anonymouswhistleblower would never reveal his identity but an open whistleblower decides to disclose his/her name to

the public. Whether internal or external, anonymous or open, these insiders take risk to expose the core


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unethical facts of an organization. Nevertheless the question of integrity and loyalty towards the

organization always arises. So for this reason, Whistleblowing needs a justification and it should be properly

examined that they are not taking advantage of the situation by violating the organization laws.

The dissection (Peter B. Jubb, 1999)

Element Descriptor Elaboration

1 ACTION Whistleblowing . . deliberate

Is a disclosure non-obligatory

2 OUTCOME On public record

3 ACTOR By a person with privileged . . present or former

access to an organizations

data or information

4 SUBJECT About illegality or . . non-trivial,actual,

Wrongdoing ... suspect, potential

under organization control

5 TARGET Which implicates the

organization

6 RECIPIENT To an external entity . . having potential to

remedy the wrong

The Justification of Whistleblowing?

According to Boatright, J.R (1993) it is naturally accepted that whistleblowing is a noble act performed by

whistleblowers and an ethical justification might seem to be obvious, however whistleblower has also got

the potential to do great harm to both Individuals and organization.

This view of ethical justification is given a vigorous expression in a widely cited passage from a 1971speech by James M Roche, who was chairman of the board of General motors corporation at the time:

Some critics are now busy eroding another support of free enterprise- the loyalty of a management team,

with its unifying values of cooperative work. Some of the business now encourages an employee to be

disloyal to the enterprise. They want to create suspicion and disharmony, and pry into the proprietary

interests of the business. However this is labeled- industrial espionage, whistle blowing, or professional

responsibility- it is another tactic for spreading disunity and creating conflict.

More or less similar views are been shared by another identity, Sissela Bok(Swedish-born philosopher and

ethicist):

The whistleblowers hopes to stop the game: but since he is neither a coach nor a referee and since he blows

whistle on his own team, his act is seen as a violation of loyalty. In holding this position, he has assumed

curtained obligations to his colleagues and clients. He may even have subscribed to a loyalty oath or a


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promise of confidentiality. Loyalty to colleagues and to clients comes to be pitted against loyalty to the

public interest, to those who may be injured unless the revelation is made.

As these remarks indicate, the main stumbling block in justifying whistle-blowing is the duty of loyalty that

a employee has towards his/her organization The relation between employee and employer turns disruptive

when an employee gives more weightage to public service which effects the bonds of loyalty. So the

question arises does a person in a position to blow the whistle has obligation towards organization or

towards public and where does the greater loyalty lies?

The loyal Agent Argument

According to one argument, Boatright, J.R (1993) An agent is a person who is engaged to act in the

interests of another person (called a principal) and is authorized to act on that persons behalf. Employees

are considered to be agents of an employer. An employer shares all sort of protected information

(confidential/non-confidential) with an employee keeping in mind that employee will be loyal and is

trustworthy. All these are seemingly violated when this agent (employee) blows a whistle.

If loyalty literally means obeying and following every order of employer and not rocking the boat thenwhistleblowers are disloyal but loyalty can also be defined as a commitment to true interests or goals of the

organization, in which case whistleblowers are often very loyal employees Boatright,J.R(1993)

For an Instance:- In the American Business history Jeffrey Wigand remains one of the famous whistleblower

who blew the big tobacco scandal and revealed that the products are addictive and that furthermore they

added carcinogenic ingredients. As a loyal employee he first tried to speak with his immediate supervisors

but they in fact sabotaged him by giving him all kind of troubles. He then of course brought it to public and

proved himself as a responsible citizen.

When is whistleblowing morally required?

The ethical theories that can be used to justify the whistleblowers are Kantain (duty), Virtue and Utilitarian

(Bolsin et al., 2005; Grant, 2002; Kline, 2006). Kantian theory instructs people to act in harmony with

universally accepted rules. Telling the truth is at heart of this deontological theory(Kant,1996). However,

Kant has not referred the personal sacrifice an individual undergoes in cases of whistleblowing but he

always stressed on telling the truth regardless of the personal outcome.

Virtue theory requires an individual to personify integrity and courage (Adams, 2006; Bolsin et al., 2005).Reporting unethical acts like accounting frauds, social safety violations or any constructive fraud requirescourage and most importantly integrity in personal or professional character.. For example, the primary aimof medical staff is to remain loyal to the organization as well as to the public by providing relief to a patientin suffering. a primary goal is to remain loyal to providing relief to a patient in suffering. Turning a blindeye to practices that go against the primary aim, would not only breach the nursing Code of Ethics (duty)(American Nurses Association [ANA], 2001), but it would also violate the basic virtues of honesty andcourage (VD Lachman, 2008)

The third most relevant ethical theory is the theory of consequentialism (utilitarian) which provides insightsof justification for whistleblowing: maximizing the human benefit and minimizing the harm. As per the

standards theory summarized by Davis, M (2003, pp. 6-10). The theory says the disloyalty inwhistleblowing is accepted when the information is required for the greatest good of society. Public InterestDisclosure Act 1998 has strengthened and protected whistleblowers, to not to position themselves in an unfortunatesituation.


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What are the negative consequences to the whistleblower?

Some evidence for all the clams that whistleblowers are often loyal, in fact too loyal and most of them end

up paying price is discussed below. Myron Glazer, a sociologist interviewed 55 whistleblowers in depth and

his findings are:-

Whistleblowers are often loyal employees who take initiative in blowing the whistle assuming that they aredoing their job and acting in best interests of company. This is true forJoseph Rose: He never wanted to be a

whistleblower. He merely tried to alert the appropriate AMPI (Govt.) officials to the misconduct he was

observing lately in-house council. But he was thrown out of company abruptly for attempting to discharge

his duty.

According to Albert O. Hirschman, whistleblowers can respond in three suitable ways; Exit / Voice /

Loyalty. He believes that the likelihood of Voice increases with degree of loyalty. Some, not only exit from

the company but also fight back to make sure that illegal activities are sealed completely.

Barry Adams worked in a sub-acute in New England hospital in 1996. He observed that the hospital is trying

its best to cut costs at the risk of patients health and safety. He communicated this to chain of command. Asexpected, he was fired for his actions. However, he sued the Org. and won the case. Adams professional and

personal life changed drastically, his reputation was above approach.

In 2003, Dr. David Kelly, government expert on weapons of mass destruction, communicated to BBC

reporter that Prime Minister Tony Blairs advisors has exaggerated the threat Iraq posed to the western

world. Kelly also alleged that the document was 'doctored' to serve the government's political end. When the

story broke, it caused great controversy, and the government carried out an investigation into who was

behind these allegations. Dr. Kelly was found to be the source and in few weeks he was found dead, it is said

that he committed suicide because of extreme pressure. But no one knows the truth. Government was

heavily criticized after this shocking event..

A study of whistle-blowers in the U.S. found that (Phil Haines,2011)

100% were fired - most were unable to find new jobs,

17% lost their homes

54% were harassed by peers at work

15% were subsequently divorced

80% suffered physical deterioration

90% reported emotional stress, depression and anxiety

10% attempted suicide

These are some of the real time negative consequence to the whistleblowers and most of the whistleblowers

undergo these consequences. Some accept it as it is but some who are not prepared for it , have hard time

facing it.

What legislation support given to whistle blower?

The real protection act came into picture whey they finalized whistleblower protection act in 1989. Therecent development in this field is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that was established in 2002.


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Conclusion

After an in-depth analysis of the whistleblowing, we can at least conclude that it needs lots of courage,

determination and commitment to blow a whistle. Whistleblowers must be lauded for their sense of morality

and their bravery act. They provide much needed service which cannot be expected from a normal citizen.

Enron would have gone for much longer if there was no whistleblower, Nuclear power plants would have

been destroyed if there were no whistleblowers and in fact if NASA would have listened to the

whistleblower than we wouldnt have had the challenger disaster. However, I also agree that they not everywhistleblower is a hero, the intension of blowing a whistle is also very much important.

The first point recognized is that every theory is a simplification and abstraction from reality.

Whistleblowing is significant and it is a life changing event.

It is said that whistle blowers are more effective than the audits, frequent surveillance and government laws

put together. With the growing demand and popularity for whistleblowers many websites, blogs, internet

links have come up to encourage whistleblowing. I believe we might have survived the economic crisis if

there were some whistleblowers to blow up the entire mess. Nevertheless, whistleblower organizations try to

work on facts which may improve Government and corporate accountability. And I truly believe that

whistleblowers are the real heroes of the society.

References

1)Bird, Graham (2010), a companion to Kant, Blackwell publishing ltd.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dawt-

CKADHwC&pg=PR8&lpg=PR8&dq=kant+practical+philosophy,1996&source=bl&ots=b_0yTdjtB7&sig=UeG1DxkT2fOAOUb6q

MNf4rD88FA&hl=en&ei=mG5eTY3yHNCEhQfgxK2FDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CF0Q6AEwCA#v

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2) Boatright, R John (1993) Ethics and the conduct of Business, Prentice hall publications

3) Browne Neil &Giampetro Andrea& Williamson, carrie(2004) Practical Business Ethics for the Busy Managers, Pearson

publication

4) Cory, Jacques, (2001), Activist Business Ethics, Kluwer publishers

5) Fred C. YeagerMichael Davis (2003) last accessed Feb 24th 2011

http://ethics.iit.edu/publication/Some%20Paradoxes%20of%20Whistleblowing.pdf

6) Fisher, James& Gillespie, William& Harshman, Ellen (1999) whistleblowing on the web

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/law/st_org/iptf/commentary/content/fisher_gillespie_etal.html

7) Jubb, B Peter (1999), Whistleblowing: A Restrictive Definition and Interpretation, Kluver Academic publishers

http://www.springerlink.com/content/h7767141h662t64q/fulltext.pdf
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8) Policies and procedures on whistleblowing,1999,last accessed Feb 24th 2011

http://www.bhasvic.ac.uk/govenors/Policy%20File%20January%202008/HUMAN

%20RESOURCES/Whistleblowing_Policy_and_Procedures.pdf

9) Ruth Chadwick and Doris Schroeder.(2001) Applied ethics : critical concepts in philosophy, Routledge publisher

10) The Brock Press, last accessed Feb24th,2011

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645453.shtml

11) Vandekerckhove, Wim(2006), Whistleblowing and organizational social responsibility,ashgate publishing limitedttp://books.google.com/books?

id=nM1mYs5CFcUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=whistleblowing&hl=en&ei=2f9aTaGCIJO6hAeWwYmJDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result

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MNGT 513 Business Ethics, Ambika Godavarti

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