She makes several suggestions about how to encourage internal whistle blowing in companies. The same is true for government bodies, which need to know about problems early-before illegal contracts must be renegotiated or aquifers have been polluted or the public’s money has been squandered or unethical behavior has become front-page news. She argues that companies should encourage internal whistle blowing so that problems are solved within the organization before employees feel they must go outside to get action. In an article about whistle blowing in a business context, Lilanthi Ravishankar makes a useful distinction between external and internal whistle blowing. (eg?) How can government encourage whistle blowing?
On the other hand, there have been occasions when the role of whistle blower has actually catapulted people into higher office and has earned the respect of constituents. Even though laws are supposed to protect whistle blowers from retaliation, people who feel threatened by the revelations can ostracize the whistle blower, marginalizing or even forcing him or her out of public office. Whistle blowing also calls upon the virtues, especially courage, as standing up for principles can be a punishing experience. Whistle blowing has to do with ethics because it represents a person’s understanding, at a deep level, that an action his or her organization is taking is harmful-that it interferes with people’s rights or is unfair or detracts from the common good. “Well,” the man explained, “I was fishing with my grandson, and it suddenly occurred to me that the waste I was dumping was going to pollute the water so that he might never be able to go fishing with his grandson.”
Why, the judge wanted to know, had the man finally decided to step forward after having participated in this illegal dumping for years. What does whistle blowing have to do with ethics?Ī whistle blower once testified in a California court about how his boss had regularly ordered him to discard some of the company’s toxic waste into a local storm drain rather than dispose of it properly. Not all of the problems in the public sphere are, however, generated within the government organization outside vendors, contractors, and individuals can participate in and even breed government corruption. But because government, by its very nature, is supposed to be open and transparent, full disclosure of unethical or illegal behavior in the public sphere is particularly important. Of course, whistle blowing goes on in the private sector, where some of the most famous figures include former Enron Vice President Sherron Watkins and tobacco executive Jeffrey Wigand. Leaking evidence of wrongdoing to the media Refusing to participate in workplace wrongdoing Such as a supervisor, a hotline or an Inspector General Reporting wrongdoing or a violation of the law to the proper authorities. The Government Accountability Project lists four ways to blow the whistle: Whistle blowing means calling attention to wrongdoing that is occurring within an organization. Kerevan suggests the obvious one-a police officer shrilling on a whistle when he or she catches a crime in progress. What ethical dilemmas does whistle blowing present? What is the definition of whistle blowing?Īccording to George Kerevan, “Word of the Week” columnist for The Scotsman, “The etymological origins of whistle blowing are gloriously obscure.” Yet even without knowing the term’s pedigree, we get a vivid picture from the words themselves. How can government encourage whistle blowing? What does whistle blowing have to do with ethics? What is the definition of whistle blowing?
These materials were prepared for the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics program in Government Ethics by former Senior Fellow Judy Nadler and former Communications Director Miriam Schulman.
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