WHISTLE BLOWING

Whistle Blowing

Whistle Blowing

Introduction

The number of whistle blowing activities in the United States of America and elsewhere has increased evidently in the recent years. Apart from the Cynthia Cooper and Sherron Watkins (whistleblowers at WorldCom and Enron, respectively), there has been an increase in the exposure of current potential wrongdoings to supervisory bodies and enforcement agencies across the world. The term whistle blowing originated from the practice of English policemen who blew their whistle when they observed the happening of some crime. The blowing of whistle alerted other law enforcement officers and the general public that a crime was being committed. A standard definition of whistle blowing over the years has been adopted by various authors doing research in this field. According to this definition whistle blowing is, "The disclosure by organization members (former or current) of illegal, immoral and illegitimate practices under the control of their employers to persons and organizations that may be able to effect action" (Marek & Wojciech, 2010).

For an act of whistle blowing to happen, it must involve at least four elements, (1) the person who is blowing the whistle or the whistleblower, (2) the complaint or the wrongdoing that is being reported, (3) the organization in general or an individual or a group of people working in the organization who is/are committing the wrongdoing and (4) the party who is receiving the complaint of wrongdoing from the whistleblower. The act of whistle blowing is not meant to cause harm to the organization, rather, it is to facilitate the exposure of committing questionable acts by a party that may harm the interests of the organization and such an act is also against the values of the organization.

Discussion

Whistleblower, as a word is used to indicate a person who is an employee or has been an employee of an organization who reports the happenings of some wrongdoings within that organization from an individual who is an outsider or has never been employed in that organization. Whistleblowers may be internal or external depending upon the party to whom the complaint is made. If the complaint of wrongdoing is made by the whistleblower to persons within the organization such as the top management, the complainant is called an internal whistleblower. If, on the other hand, the complaint is made to an external body outside an organization such as the government or any law enforcement agency, the complainant is called an external whistle blower (Marcia & Janet, 1992).

The next thing to consider is whether the whistleblowers have some unique characteristics that separate them from other employees who may have knowledge of wrongdoing but have chosen to ignore it and not report it to the concerned authorities. Studies in this aspect say that whistleblowers are likely to be persons who have more positive job response, have professional positions in the company, their tenure or period of service in the organization were comparably longer, were a part of a large workgroup within the organization and the general perceptions about the company which employed ...