Whistleblower

11 Key excerpts on "Whistleblower"

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  Whistleblowing and Ethics in Health and Social Care

  • Angie Ash(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Jessica Kingsley Publishers

    (Publisher)

  ‘Whistleblowing’ itself is a US term, although it may have British origins in the practice of old-style police officers blowing a whistle if they suspected wrongdoing (Evans 2008). Whistleblowing is not complaining, suing or arguing. A Whistleblower discloses information across a particular organizational boundary, whether internal (say, from one part of the organization to another) or external (from within the organization to the public domain) (Bouville 2008; Evans 2008). In the UK, whistleblowing in its legal sense is action taken by an employee under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA). Under this law, which is discussed below, a member of staff may assume protection against subsequent harassment or dismissal by employers when the employee makes a qualified disclosure of fraud or malpractice to a designated officer.

  The commonly used definition of whistleblowing was set out by US academics Near and Miceli in the 1980s: ‘…the disclosure by organization members (former or current) of illegal, immoral or illegitimate practices under the control of their employers, to persons or organizations that may be able to effect action’ (Near and Miceli 1985, p.4). Skivenes and Trygstad (2010) widened this to include all forms of communication where critical voices are raised about wrongdoing in the presence of someone who can stop the misconduct; and that includes day-to-day communication and critical discussions between managers and employees that are part of work, or should be. Skivenes and Trygstad regarded Near and Miceli’s definition, above, as ‘weak whistleblowing’, or the first step taken when an employee raises concerns. They contrasted this with ‘strong’ whistleblowing, which ‘focuses on process

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  The Routledge Companion to Ethics, Politics and Organizations

  • Alison Pullen, Carl Rhodes(Authors)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  The study of organizational resistance typically focused upon formally organized, collective tactics, such as union-led labour initiatives (Burawoy, 1979), but more recently attention is being directed toward more informal and fragmented forms (Jermier et al., 1994; Hodson, 1995; Flyvbjerg, 2006; Pullen and Rhodes, 2013), including whistleblowing. Realizing that custom designing Whistleblower legislation may be only one of a number of corporate strategies to disarm efforts to protect Whistleblowers and generally to counter anti-corporate resistance, the act of whistleblowing takes on a more political character. Whistleblowers’ unearthing of unethical micro-practices in organizations may serve a much larger purpose. When these practices are seen in combination to prevail across industries and entire sectors, then whistleblowing makes visible unethical political strategies which attempt to render invisible the actual workings of power (Miceli et al., 2008).

  To comply with norms of social justice (Lindblom, 2007: 424), social institutions must protect individuals from being forced to choose unethical compliance or ethical non-compliance (Hasnas, 2006). Since legal structures are determined politically as much as ethically, legalistic attempts to suppress whistleblowing through ad hominem incrimination (as in the case of Bradley Manning) or disqualification of Whistleblower claims (FAIR, 2012) may be interpreted as political suppression of free speech for, as Lindblom (2007: 424) argues, “when we have whistleblowing we have political speech”. Consequently, the central ethical issue of whistleblowing is that of the tension between political free speech and loyalty to an organization engaging in wrongdoing (ibid.). In the broadest sense, protecting Whistleblowers preserves the basic democratic liberty of free speech (Greenhouse, 200622

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  OECD Integrity Scan of Kazakhstan

  • OECD(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • OECD

    (Publisher)

  Indeed, employees who report wrongdoing may be subject to intimidation, harassment, dismissal and violence by their colleagues or superiors. In many countries, whistleblowing is even associated with treachery or spying (Banisar, 2011; Transparency International, 2009). This may be due to the influence of cultural connotations and such connotations may also have an impact on individual careers and on the internal organisational cultures (Latimer and Brown, 2008). Provisions must be in place, therefore, to incentivise Whistleblowers including: legal protection from retaliation, clear guidance on reporting procedures, and visible support and positive reinforcement from the organisational hierarchy. Such protections are recognised as an essential element for safeguarding the public interest, promoting a culture of public accountability, and in many countries is proving crucial in the reporting of misconduct, fraud and corruption. Whistleblower protection can originate from a single dedicated law, or through a piecemeal approach, stemming from provisions in various laws. The majority of the OECD member countries have adopted the latter approach, offering legal protection to Whistleblowers through provisions found in anti-corruption laws, competition laws, corporate laws, public servants laws, labour laws and criminal codes. For instance, in most countries, there is a legal obligation in relevant public service laws for public officials to report corruption and other criminal offences. In others, there are also criminal sanctions for those who fail to report. The degree of protection afforded within the provisions of these laws, however, can be less comprehensive than the protection provided for within dedicated legislation, which can facilitate clarity and streamline the processes and mechanisms involved in disclosing a wrongdoing.

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  Institutional Change in the Public Sphere

  Views on the Nordic Model

  • Fredrik Engelstad, Håkon Larsen, Jon Rogstad, Kari Steen-Johnsen, Fredrik Engelstad, Håkon Larsen, Jon Rogstad, Kari Steen-Johnsen(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter Poland

    (Publisher)

  Sissel C. Trygstad 9 Opposing Forces: On Whistleblowing in Norwegian Working Life The introduction of legal provisions and their subsequent practical application provide a useful basis for studying institutional change. Institutional change may reveal antagonisms and tensions within existing institutional arrangements and at the same time mobilize quests for power when trying to establish new arrangements. Particularly if the new arrangement is controversial, supporters and opponents of ‘the new’ will employ strategies to influence the outcome. In this chapter, I discuss changes that were highly controversial, the legal amendments that aim to reinforce the freedom of expression of employees and the legal protection of employees who act as Whistleblowers. I argue that the changes have mobilized power, which is a crucial dimension when it comes to explaining the changes or lack of changes in an institu-tional process, which in our case is management’s handling of whistleblowing cases. 9.1 Expanding the Field for Workplace Democracy Whistleblowing is usually defined as ‘the disclosure by organization members (former or current) of illegal, immoral or illegitimate practices under the control of their employers to persons or organizations that may be able to effect action’ (Miceli et al., 2008; Near et al., 2004; Near & Miceli, 1985, p. 4). The definition includes inter-nal and external whistleblowing, for example, to report wrongdoing to authorities or media outside the organization. In addition, when the focus is on ‘public inter-est’ whistleblowing, for example, reports of wrongdoing that clearly affect organiza-tional or social interests wider than personal or private ones, the definition is useful.

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  Whistleblowing

  Toward a New Theory

  • Kate Kenny(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Harvard University Press

    (Publisher)

  34 They are committed, albeit thwarted, de-fenders of the ideals of their profession. Similarly, Whistleblowers often report a deep understanding not only of their role in the organization but also of the impact their organization has on the world. They can see the wider implications of the wrongdoing to which they are connected by their work activities and how it affects others in the organization and society beyond. 35 Ethics scholar Colin Grant terms this the “crystal clarity” of vision displayed by such individuals. 36 What such research tends not to examine, however, is that in asking a person a question in an interview or survey setting, they are implicitly inviting them to adopt a subject position, and a story, in response. This returns us to research that attempts to discover Whistleblowers’ motivations; there exists an underlying assumption that speaking up is driven by clear, identifiable factors such as altruism or clarity of vision. Such factors are elicited by the researcher who, through either interview or survey, approaches the person known as Whistleblower after the event and asks what compelled him or her to do it. This assumes that people are able to step outside their past selves and objectively point to reasons for speaking out. It is problematic because it overlooks the post hoc ra-tionalization that comes with any research-generated narrative and that can be exacerbated by people who have engaged in traumatic actions like whistleblowing. 37 It also ignores that we tend to draw on culturally avail-able ways of making sense of the world, not least when we are trying to explain complex and confusing situations. When journalists, researchers, politicians, and regulators approach someone they know as a whistle-blower, they are implicitly asking him or her to speak from this subject 102 The Whistleblower as Professional position and to account for him- or herself as Whistleblower.

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  Public Sector Employment in the Twenty-first Century

  • Marilyn Pittard, Phillipa Weeks, Marilyn Pittard, Phillipa Weeks(Authors)
  • 2007(Publication Date)
  • ANU Press

    (Publisher)

  10 These enactments are striking not only because of their number, but also because they have been adopted in legal and cultural contexts seemingly inconsistent with them. For example, one of the more expansive Whistleblower provisions may be found in Great Britain, a country with legal and cultural traditions supporting secrecy. 11 In Britain, one scholar had argued that 155 whistleblowing by public employees was inconsistent with Britain’s constitutional norms and parliamentary government. 12 During this same period, a number of international treaties and conventions addressing governmental corruption have included provisions protecting Whistleblowers. 13 Some international organisations, such as the World Bank and the European Commission, are developing internal standards and guides to protect employees who disclose corruption or wrongdoing connected with the activities of these organisations. 14 The recent spate of provisions protecting public sector Whistleblowers, the strength of the international movements for transparency, for honesty in government, for human rights that support Whistleblower protection, and the debates about the appropriate role of the public sector all counsel an examination of the challenge to public employment law evidenced in the legal protection of Whistleblowers. This chapter explores the implications of this legal revolution in the protection of Whistleblowers. The first task of this exploration is to establish a framework into which the variety of laws may be placed. This undertaking begins with an analysis of the federal Whistleblower law in the United States protecting federal employees, particularly the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 , a provision that stimulated subsequent legislation protecting public sector Whistleblowers. 15 The background of this law and a review of its provisions and those of subsequent amendments establish themes to guide the subsequent analysis.

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  OECD Integrity Review of Mexico

  • OECD(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • OECD

    (Publisher)

  Note : The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law. 124 – 5. PROTECTING WhistleblowerS: ENSURING SECURE CHANNELS AND PROTECTIONS FOR REPORTING CORRUPTION OECD INTEGRITY REVIEW OF MEXICO: TAKING A STRONGER STANCE AGAINST CORRUPTION © OECD 2017 Introduction: Whistleblower protection for detecting corruption and cultivating a culture of integrity The protection of Whistleblowers who disclose misconduct in the civil service should be a core component of any public sector integrity framework. Whistleblowers who report misconduct may be subject to intimidation, harassment, dismissal and violence by public officials, work colleagues, superiors, or any other person acting on their behalf. In many countries, whistleblowing is even associated with treachery or spying (Banisar, 2011; Transparency International, 2013a). This may be due to misguided perceptions that loyalty is owed primarily to managers or the organisation instead of the public interest. Since Mexico has a strong tradition of clientelism in the public sector, Mexican public officials may be vulnerable to similar gaps in the institutional culture, which may deter them from disclosing misconduct that involves their colleagues or superiors. As the modern public sector is becoming more and more complex, insiders have become a primary source of information in terms of exposing misconduct and promoting accountability (Johnson, 2004).

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  Risks Challenging Publics, Scientists and Governments

  • Scira Menoni(Author)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  137 Risks Challenging Publics, Scientists and Governments – Menoni (ed) © 2010 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-58072-4 Whistleblowing, risk communication as core feature of sustainable management Björn Rohde-Liebenau Mediator at RCC Risk Communication Concepts, Hamburg, Germany ABSTRACT: The author shares some of his experience in systematically structuring risk communication in industry, business and the public health sector. The bottom line is that “whistleblowing” is typically the outrage-based, unstructured form of deviating risk communication, which takes place, where a regular, trustworthy risk communication cycle is not in place. Where internal risk communication is gagged, there will be external whistleblowing. The phenomenon of retaliation in the context of Whistleblower has been covered extensively in research, particularly in the US. This article shows what goes wrong before retali-ation starts, before whistleblowing even starts and what can be done to make better use of the existing resources in a collective effort to identify risks early enough. Essentially risk communication is a resource; coming from a Whistleblower simply changes it into the emergency state. It is in the best interest of decision makers to listen… When management shuts out risk information from inside the organisation, it can be perceived as pre-tending to “already know everything” or as having assessed all risks to such an extent that there can-not possibly exists new information. This certainly blatantly ignores the nature of risk and eventually constitutes a risk information blockade. The question what constitutes a “risk” is at the very basis of risk assessment. For the purposes of the whistleblowing research it proved useful to define a risk as a factor that has a tendency to influence a process in the future in a way that is seen as negative in comparison with expectations .

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  Ethics in Accounting

  A Decision-Making Approach

  • Gordon Klein(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  Individuals always must step up and stand out, whether they are the only available rescuer or one among many. Whistleblower Protections Not surprisingly, the greatest impediment to whistleblowing is the fear of punishment for speaking out. Most people who witness misconduct at work want to correct the situation, but fear for their livelihoods. Historically, to ameliorate these concerns, antiretaliation laws were enacted to ensure that employees in both the private and government sectors would speak freely about matters imperiling public safety. Antiretaliation laws protecting workers who disclose unsafe condi- tions involving aviation, the water supply, nuclear power, and military weapons production have been in effect for many decades, for instance. In the more recent aftermath of various accounting scandals and financial crises, Con- gressional enactment of the Dodd–Frank and Sarbanes–Oxley Acts has extended similar protections to informants who provide information relating to fraudulent accounting prac- tices and other securities law violations. According to both laws, a company may not “dis- charge, demote, suspend, threaten, harass, directly or indirectly, or in any other manner discriminate” against employees engaged in protected Whistleblower activities. 33 The Whistleblower rules protect employees who submit erroneous claims, as long as they have a sincere and reasonable belief that their concerns are legitimate. Otherwise, if employers were allowed to punish mistaken employees, a chilling effect would deter employ- ees from coming forward as Whistleblowers. If an employer does engage in retaliation, both laws entitle informants to recover their unpaid wages, plus interest and attorney’s fees.

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  Public Relations and Whistleblowing

  Golden Handcuffs in Corporate Wrongdoing

  • Cary A. Greenwood(Author)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  As noted, whistleblowing in the field of public relations had not been studied directly prior to the studies reported here. Several possible reasons for this lack of research effort come to mind. One obstacle could be the origin of the field of public relations as a support function for management’s viewpoint (Broom, Casey, & Ritchey, 1997; Dozier & Grunig, 1992; J. E. Grunig & Grunig, 2000, 2008; J. E. Grunig & Hunt, 1984; Lauzen & Dozier, 1992; Greenwood, 2010; Skinner & Shanklin, 1978). Another reason could be the proliferation of codes of ethics developed by professional organizations that attempt to guide the conduct of members (Holtzhausen, 2015; Kim & Ki, 2014; Kruckeberg, 1989, 1993; Meyer & Leonard, 2014; Roth, Hunt, Stavropoulos, & Babik, 1996; Watson, 2014; Yang, Taylor, & Saffer, 2016) in lieu of any public relations licensing structure but which may constrain practitioners from engaging in behavior that could be construed as unprofessional. For example, the Code of Ethics for the Public Relations Society of America, the largest public relations professional organization in the United States, lists loyalty to one’s client or organization as one of its professional values: “We are faithful to those we represent, while honoring our obligation to serve the public interest,” and advocacy for one’s client as another: “We serve the public interest by acting as responsible advocates for those we represent” (Public Relations Society of America, 2008, p. 11). Taken together, those two statements are somewhat redundant, but they clearly put the client ahead of the public. They also would seem to discourage any attempt to report wrongdoing.

  “Secrets and lies”

  The attitude of the public relations industry toward Whistleblowers, leakers, and others who step outside the boundaries of official corporate reporting generally has been negative. In 2003, the managing editor of the flagship magazine for the PRSA, the industry’s primary trade organization, asked industry leaders if “the age-old tactic of attempting to root out the culprit” [who leaked information about the company] was “the right strategy” (Stateman, 2003, p. 36).

  Leaks continued to be a source of consternation for organizations and the government last year. Putting aside Whistleblowers, who are to be championed for their courage… unauthorized leaks typically cause harm. According to several professionals interviewed for this article, leaks of this nature serve only to buttress the ego of the person who divulges the information.

  (Stateman, 2003, p. 36)

  Gil Schwartz, then-executive vice president of communications for CBS Television, was clear on his view of leakers. “There have been losers who have wanted to leak stuff throughout the history of time. They’re called spies. There are always going to be disaffected, shallow, dishonest, creepy people who are going to do this” (Stateman, 2003, p. 37).

  Whistleblowing as dissent

  While Schwartz complimented Whistleblowers, only recently has whistleblowing been explored in the field of public relations, and then only as one of several approaches public relations practitioners use to gain power and exert influence in their organizations (Berger & Reber, 2006). These researchers identified three types of strategies public relations practitioners use to gain power and exert influence: advocacy, dissent, and activism. They called sanctioned influence tactics “Alpha strategies.” These included the traditional approaches of public relations: rational arguments, coalition and alliance-building, assertiveness and persistence, inspiration, and personal appeals, among others. “Advocacy is accepted or sanctioned as a form of influence so long as it is seen to be in the interests of the organization and its objectives and is institutionalized within the office or position of the advocate” (Berger & Reber, 2006, p. 56).

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  Qualitative Studies of Silence

  The Unsaid as Social Action

  • Amy Jo Murray, Kevin Durrheim(Authors)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  The threat is not just over a matter of policy or practice; it is to the very idea of organization. If Whistleblowers are scapegoats, then they are pharmakos, an ancient Greek term that means both poison and cure, as well as scapegoat. As pharmakos, the Whistleblower is poison to the unity of the organization, which wants to obliterate every reminder that the organization has obliga- tions to those outside it. Organizational thinking is fundamentally primi- tive (Bion, 1998). The Whistleblowers are cure to the degree they can give voice to the values and needs of those outside the organization. That is the voice that the organization would silence. Silencing Whistleblowers 213 Construction and Discipline of the Whistleblower “All people need is a civics lesson,” says Ralph Nader. He is responding to those who say we need a new political theory to explain the fate of the Whistleblower. If Nader is correct, the civics lesson we require is like nothing anyone ever learned in high school. What would a civics lesson from Michel Foucault look like? Though there are more recent theorists, Foucault remains one of the most influ- ential social theorists of the day. Among his most influential ideas is that social control in the contemporary world is exerted not as raw power, but as discipline. This is the perspective I have adopted here (Foucault, 1979). The power that disciplines the Whistleblower, Foucault might say, has less to do with the organization’s ability to fire the Whistleblower than one might suppose. That is merely power’s most obvious expression, its last and most visible eruption. Power works in more intimate and subtle ways in the modern world, isolating the insubordinate one from their fellows by diagnosing them as abnormal or disturbed.

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