WHISTLEBLOWING

Whistle blowing in its most general form involves

calling(public)attention to wrong doing, typically in order to avert
harm.
Whistle blowing is an attempt by a member or former member of
an organization to disclose wrong doing in or by the organization.

One who reveals wrong-doing within an organization to the public

or to those in positions of authority.One who discloses information
about misconduct in their workplace that they feel violates the law
or endangers the welfare of others.One who speaks out, typically to
expose corruption or dangers to the public or environment.

It also include:-

• Any person who makes a “Protected Disclosure”

• Disclosure may be oral or written
• Could be a faculty or staff member, student, patient, vendor,
or any member of the public
• The Whistleblower is a reporting party, they are not
investigators or fact-finders
• The Whistleblower is not involved in any corrective or
remedial action that may be warranted
 Types of Whistle-Blowing

Kinds of Whistle blowing:

1. Internal Whistle blowing is made to someone within the

organization.

2. Personal Whistle blowing is blowing the whistle on the

offender, here the charge is not against the organization or
system but against one individual

3. The impersonal, External Whistle Blowing.

Rarely whistleblower are honored as heroes by their
fellow workers, for the following reasons

• Those did not blow the whistle guilty of immorality.

• They doubt the loyalty of the whistle blower

to the employer.

• The whistleblower is perceived as a traitor, as

someone who has damage the firm - the working
family to which he/she belongs
 Characteristics of a Whistleblower

 Altruistically Motivated
 Utilitarian
 Uninterested in Altering Their Behavior
 Allows Own Attitudes and Beliefs to Guide Them
 Often are Well Educated and Holds Professional Positions

Effects of Whistle-Blowing

• Forced to leave organization/demotion

• Credibility ruined
• Family, health, and/or life in jeopardy
• Outrage and divisiveness of people directly or indirectly
involved
• Physical or psychological isolation
• Organization experiences loss of money, restitution,
productivity, and positive reputations.
• Incarceration
 CRITERIA FOR JUSTIFIABLE
WHISTLEBLOWING

According to Richard T De George there are three conditions that

must hold for whistle-blowing to be morally permissible, and two
additional conditions that must hold for it to be morally obligatory.
The three conditions that must hold for it to be morally permissible
are:

1. The firm through its product or policy will do serious and

considerable harm to the public, whether in the person of the
user of its product, an innocent bystander, or the general
public.

2. Once an employee identifies a serious threat to the user of a

product or to the general public, he or she should report it to his
or her immediate superior and make his or her moral concern
known. Unless he or she does so, the act of Whistle blowing is
not justifiable.

3.If one's immediate superior does nothing effective about the

concern or complaint, the employee should exhaust the internal
procedures and possibilities within the firm. This usually will
involve taking the matter up the managerial ladder, and if
necessary and possible to the board of directors.
 The two additional conditions for Whistle blowing to be
morally obligatory:

4. Whistleblower must have accessible documented evidence

that would convince a reasonable, impartial observer that one's
view of the situation is correct, and that the company's product
or practice posses a serious and likely danger to the public or to
the user of the product.

5. The employee must have good reason to believe that by

going public the necessary changes will be brought about.
The chance of being successful must be worth the risk one
takes and danger to which one is exposed.
Mrs. Kavita

Charnjit Singh
MBA 2nd (A)
07

Session-2011

Desh Bhagat Institute of Mgt. & Computer Science

Mandi Gobingarh