Whistleblowing is the term applied to the reporting by employees of illegal, immoral, or illegitimate practices under the control of their employers to parties who can take corrective action (Elliston 1985). All directors, officials and employees have the responsibility to notify any questionable irregularities. The employee always has a channel open to convey their concerns to the right people within the company before the problem becomes unnecessarily large or leads to a complaint to a court. Whistleblowing consists in the creation of a system of complaints about non-compliance, by employees of a company, both internal rules, and the regulations governing their activity. Blowing the whistle carries personal and professional implications and …show more content…
“Mill’s utilitarianism is a hedonistic ethics. (In other words, it makes pleasure or happiness the standard of moral judgment.) Specifically, utilitarianism states that “Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle” is the foundation of morals” (Ruggiero, 1997, p.145). In some adaptations of utilitarianism, good is identified with more than one thing, such as, happiness and equality. Utilitarianism allow whistle blowers to prevent something bad that would otherwise occur, whistle-blowing is an ethical action. People have a moral duty to prevent serious harm to others if they can do so with little consequences to …show more content…
Also, democratic societies aim to achieve the greatest general happiness. Notwithstanding, there is a great deal of consequences that a whistleblower faces. The ethical theory of utilitarianism details the moral dilemma of whistleblowers due to the fact that it connects with the approach of greatest good for the greatest amount of people. For whistle-blowers employer’s illicit activities affect the society as a whole in some way, shape or form and this justifies them reporting it.
Whistle-blowers face ethical dilemmas in decision-making about reporting organizational misconducts. Manager’s disapproval of whistleblowing hinders employee’s willingness to report internal wrong doing. High rank managers are not to empathic to whistle-blowers because this
can disrupt the flow of the company, or create conflict within the company. Management can be unresponsive, even hostile, to whistle-blowers with unfortunate results. The ethical dilemma arises when employees fear retribution because their concerns are not taken seriously and keep information to themselves. Whistle-blowers are willing to sacrifice personally and professionally to expose wrong practices but are often victimized. Organizations punish and discourage whistle-blowers from reporting bad practices which means ethical behavior is not
Central to Duska’s discussion is his altered concept of loyalty. I however, do not find his line of argument completely convincing. And had Duska’s concept, of what loyalty is, been different in regard to the employee-employer relationship; then his entire contention that whistle-blowing does not require moral justification would be unfounded. Considering that loyalty is defined by; devotion, allegiance, obedience and faithfulness, it seems completely reasonable that an employee should feel such sentiment and natural devotion to the firm which employs him. Especially, for those who consider this source of their livelihood; as a full-fledged career rather than simply a job.
Their organizational initiatives are often self-serving; however, the emerging workforce isn’t motivated by selfish managers. This selfish behavior often turns into unethical conduct. Unethical dealings in the workplace are always wrong. It is crucial to promote ethical behavior. Everyone must understand that once caught, unethical behavior is not just a problem for those directly involved, it is everyone’s problem.
The company has a culture of unquestioning when something wrong surfaced in the company. Take for example the Lockheed documents incident, where the 25000 documents were seen in the company for nearly 3 years before someone voiced his concerns regarding it. This unhealthy culture not only allows unethical practices to prevail, it also hinders company’s growth.
Whistle blowing is a controversial topic in the professional industry. Whistle blowing is the act of speaking out against a fellow colleague or even a friend that has done something non-ethical or illegal in the workplace. A whistleblower raises concerns about the wrongdoing inside of the workplace. Employees hesitate to become a whistleblower because of the idea of becoming a snitch on fellow employees and having a bad rep around the office. This concern was lowered in 1989 with a law called the Whistleblower Protection Act that protects federal government employees in the United States from retaliatory action for voluntarily disclosing information about dishonest or illegal activities occurring at a government organization (whistleblowers.gov).
John Stuart Mill argues that the rightness or wrongness of an action, or type of action, is a function of the goodness or badness of its consequences, where good consequences are ones that maximize the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. In this essay I will evaluate the essential features of Mill’s ethical theory, how that utilitarianism gives wrong answers to moral questions and partiality are damaging to Utilitarianism.
Many other businesses may not want to do business as the company was involved with immoral behavior. The unethical business practices of the company will also gain exposure in the media and to the public (Nicol, 2015, n.p). Employees no longer keep unethical activities of the company to themselves. As a whistleblower, they may be perceived as a traitor, but in this case the senior executives are being traitors. They are taking money from immoral behavior and tarnishing the name of the company (Nicol, 2015, n.p).
On November 29th, Mary Inman gave us a talk on the topic whistleblowing, which let me know more about the whistleblower activities and the whistleblower protection. According to the definition given by the website whistleblowers international, whistleblowing is someone who reveal the unethical or illegal activities within the company. The person can be current or past employee, or an outside individual who is familiar with the unethical activity. This whistleblower does not need to be U.S. citizen.
However, it may not be the best solution to be used first when dealing with unethical corporate practices. From more of a Utilitarian approach one should seek to do the greatest good. An approach that gives the company a chance to change its unethical behavior internally would follow this idea. Having the ability to change practices internally before outside intervention can have many positive effects. The company is able to make the changes, reestablish its integrity, maintain business, and retain employees. The whistleblowing option brings in outside forces that could lead to repercussions for the company which may include restitution or even being closed down. If the business is closed it effects more than just the corporate entity, all of the employees are also negatively impacted by this as well when they would lose their jobs. Sometimes however, when the company is unwilling to change its practices and do business in a more ethical manner people are left with little choice but to report to outside sources what is occurring within the business. Many see whistleblowing as law-breaking when employees are contractually obligated to
“Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage” (Confucius Quotes, 2012). The person who does her duty, at great risk to her own interest, when most others would defy from fear is considered a hero (Schafer, 2004). Dr. Nancy Olivieri is a hero who blew the whistle on Apotex, University of Toronto (U of T) and the Hospital for Sick Children (HSC); and fought for her academic rights till the end. Whistle-blowing refers to actions of an employee that breach her loyalty to the organization but serves the public interest. When other constraints proved to be ineffective, whistle-blowing acts as a check on authority of the organization. Whistle-blowers expose severe forms of corruption, waste, and abuse of power within their organization and put the organization in a position where it is answerable to the public, thus enhancing its accountability (Cooper, 2006, pg. 198-205).
Whistle blowing is the act of reporting a business or organization that is doing something that would potentially harm the public. People expect organizations to do ethical practices and should have public safety at the center of all of its practices and concerns. These practices include making products. These products that are made for the public and should be one-hundred percent safe to use. The problem of whistle blowing is that some people think that whistle blowers should be protected by the law. Others think that whistle blowers should not be protected by the law. Ethical theories can be guidelines to help people understand if the act of whistle blowing should be done or not.
Whistleblowing is a relatively recent entry into the vocabulary of politics and public affairs, although the type of behavior to which it refers is not wholly new. How is it defined? Whistleblowing refers to a warning issued by a member or former member of an organization to the public about a serious wrongdoing or danger created or concealed within the organization. In a genuine case of whistleblowing, the whistleblower would have to have unsuccessfully utilized all appropriate channels within the organization to right a wrong. Many view whistleblowing as an external action to an unresponsive organization and reporting more as an internal process, done through organizational channels. I believe one would have to
Although Hollate introduced a compliance program and code of conduct when it went public, the programs were put on “the back burner”. This outcome is not surprised for that the company does not pay attention to the programs. It is, therefore, important to “reinforce the values” and “employee a boundary system when actions are inconsistent with the code of conduct” for the purpose of early detection. Tyco provides a good example after its scandal, by initiating “mandatory annual compliance training for all its employees worldwide” and creating the Tyco Guide to Ethical Conduct to familiarize employees with company expectations and help them make ethical decisions. As tips is the most useful method for internal and external sources to detect frauds, the whistleblower hotline should be well communicated with encouragement on reporting any suspicious activity. In addition, to improve the effectiveness of the compliance program and code of conducts, Hollate should implement management monitoring and evaluation on a regular
Within a business it can be difficult for an employee to blow the whistle on their company often they will be torn between their loyalty to the company and the moral obligation to report them. Many of them also fear that if they report the company they may lose their job but as long they are confident in the system they should not be worried about reporting the information they have gathered.
Ethics is the responsibility of each individual person, but starts with the CEO and the Board of Directors, setting the right tone at the top and moves down through the organization, including setting the tone in the middle. A company’s culture and ethic standards start at the top, not from the bottom. Employees will almost always behave in the manner that they think management expects them, and it is foolish for management to pretend otherwise (Scudder). One of the CEO’s most important jobs is to create, foster, and communicate the culture of the organization. Wrongdoings or improper behavior rarely occurs in a void, leaders typically know when someone is compromising the company
Whistle blowing is an attempt of an employee or former employee of a company to reveal what he or she believes to be a wrongdoing in or by a company or organization. Whistle blowing tries to make others aware of practices that are considered illegal or immoral. If the wrongdoing is reported to someone in the company it is said to be internal. Internal whistle blowing tends to do less damage to the company. There is also external whistle blowing. This is where the wrongdoing is reported to the media and brought to the attention of the public. This type of whistle blowing tends to affect the company in a negative way because of bad publicity. It is said that whistle blowing is personal if the wrongdoing affects the whistle blower alone (like sexual harassment), and said to be impersonal if the wrongdoing affects other people. Many people whistle blow for two main reasons: morality and revenge.