...What is a whistle blower? What is a whistle blower? To the untrained eye, you may think that a whistle blower is a person who controls a sport or game with a loud device called whistle. In reality, a whistle blower has become an important part of the American business landscape. So what is a whistle blower? According to Blacks Law Dictionary, a whistleblower is an employee who turns against their superiors to bring a[n] problem out in the open. BusinessDictionary.com states that a whistle blower is a person who discloses improper or criminal activity within an organization. Finally, under Sarbanes Oxley, “A “whistleblower” is someone, usually an employee, who reports an employer who has broken the law to an outside agency.” Under this very important act, whistleblowers are protected by federal and state laws. Employers may not retaliate against them for reporting misconduct. Whistleblowers may not be fired or otherwise mistreated, and in some instances the government may reimburse them for costs incurred as a result of reporting. Most importantly, the federally enacted statute of Dodd – Frank defines a whistle blower as, “Any individual who provides . . . information relating to a violation of the securities laws to the Commission in a manner established, by rule or regulation, by the Commission.” There are two types of whistle blowers: external and internal. An internal whistle blower is a person who reports misconduct on a fellow employee or superior within their company...
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...Whistle Blower Whistle blowing can generally define as a process rather than an event (Near and Miceli, 2002). Whistleblower give the information of scam or the dishonest act of the company or other employer or other parties as well as the government. Whistleblower is a person or the entity making a protected act for illegal or inappropriate act. Whistleblower can be employees, customers or the general public. For an organization it happens to have an internal or external whistleblower. Most of the whistleblower is an internal whistleblower, who only reports the misconduct within the organization. However, an external whistleblower reports the misconduct out of the organization which includes the lawyers, the media, or the different agencies. The importance of an existence whistle blower especially in an organization. It helps to perform uncommon tasks likely as payment are insufficient to support financially of the program and services that provided by the Americans. For instance, Healthcare, the Pharmaceutical industry and Medicare. Moreover, the government needs the help of whistle blower due to the government has insufficient of time, resources and most of the fraudulent claims made against it every year. Yet, whistle blower has made a part of an implication of committing to a fighting fraud. If a person choose to reports the fraud you have witnesses, it will have a guide to every step of the way (Quitam-lawyer.com, 2014) ** In this bleak institutional context, whistle...
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...Whistleblowing and Sarbanes-Oxley LEG 500 LEG 500 Whistle blowing has its origins from an example of law enforcement blowing a whistle when someone finds a crime or some wrongdoing process in a government. So when wrongs are taking place in government, the public they serve suffers (Chambers, 2014). The government is supposed to be open. Whistleblowers have to care about the issues that are going on in the workplace for them to commit such energy into the act. They have ethics and morals. The whistle blower is passionate about their work and its proper execution (Chambers, 2014; Lowry, Moody, Galletta, & Vance, 2013). The recent case of September 2014, Katherine Mitchell, Paula Pedene, and Damien Reese brought to light the wrongdoing at Phoenix Veteran Affairs hospital where records on appointment data were falsified to hide delays in treatment. There was financial mismanagement in the agency which was later confirmed by the inspector general after the three exposed the issue (Hicks, 2014; Lee & Fargher, 2013). Paula was punished by the management because she spoke against financial mismanagement in the hospital. She was given a desk and a job in the basement. Katherine's supervisors tried to sabotage her career by giving her a position of overseeing quality of patient care. Given that the three were protected under the Sarbanes Oxley act, they were later promoted by the agency. In this way whistle blowing is encouraged not punished. The three were justified...
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...frequently discuss and report among reporters and society. As we know, integrity is a part of ethical values that shows the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. It is important to be integrity person to ensure the task or jobs are more honest and there is no abuse of power among the public or private employees. The situation can be seen in several countries, there are a lot of unethical behaviors from employer or employees. There must be a reason unethical behavior happened. So, whistle-blowing protection was introduced in order to prevent any unethically behaviors in organization such as fraud, corruption, abuse of power and so on. Whistle-blowing has been defined as ‘disclosure by a current of former organization member of illegal, inefficient, or unethical practices in a organization to a person or parties who have the power or resources to take action ( Near and Meceli, 1985). It continues to receive media intention (Vinten, 1997). Whistle blowing is a deliberate non-obligatory act of disclosure, which gets onto public record and is made by a person who has or had privileged access to data or information of an organization, about non-trivial illegality or other wrongdoing whether actual, suspected or anticipated which implicates and is under the control of that organization, to an external entity having potential to rectify the wrong doing. Whistleblowing is presented as dissent, in response to an ethical dilemma, in the form of a public accusation...
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...WHISTLE- BLOWING Introduction: Whistle-blowing is an attempt by a present or former member of an organisation to disclose the wrong acts in an organisation. First it was made by the government employees who made complaints of corruption or mismanagement in government offices. Later on it is used in corporatesector. Features of whistle-blowing: Whistle-blowing is the release of information by a member of the organisation regarding the illegal or corrupt conduct in the organisation. It has the following salient features: ✓ First of all. whistle-blowing can be done only by a member of an organisation. It is not like a witness of a crime but by an employee within the organisation. When the employees who become aware of illegal or immoral conduct in their own organisation resort to whistle-blowing. ✓ Secondly. there must be information in whistle-blowing. It should involve the release of non-public information. There is a distinction between blowing the whistle and sounding the alarm. The whistle blowers have to reveal new facts. ✓ Thirdly. the information should be of some significant kind of misconduct on the part of an organisation. Whistle-blowing is reserved for matters of substantial importance. For example, companies paying heavy funding for political parties is known to outsiders only from people who are associated with the companies. ✓ Fourthly. the information through whistle-blowing must be released outside the normal channels of communication...
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...White collar crime The phrase white collar crime was first used by Edwin Sutherland in 1939 during a speech to the American Sociological Society. He defined white collar crime as a "crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation."(Sutherland, “White-Collar Criminality."). Today, white collar crime refers to illegal offenses that are generally committed in the business or professional setting (white collar versus blue collar jobs) to achieve financial gain. Crimes that do not involve physical violence, and that relate largely to financial matters, are often called white collar crimes. Corporate corruption is out of control for two main reasons. First, big companies are now multinational, while governments remain national. Big companies are so financially powerful that governments are afraid to take them on. It is very important to study the cause and the possible solution for the increase in numbers of white collar crime; our focus needs to shift from Blue Collar Crimes to White Collar Crimes. U.S.A spends nearly $50 billion on fighting Blue Collar Crimes, not even quarter of that amount is spent on fighting White Collar Crimes. Hardly a day passes without a new story of malfeasance. Every Wall Street firm has paid significant fines during the past decade for phony accounting, insider trading, securities fraud, Ponzi schemes, or outright embezzlement by CEOs. A massive insider-trading ring is currently on trial in New York...
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...Is There a Right to Blow the Whistle? Whistle-blowing is the unforced release of confidential information, as a moral protest, by a member or an ex-member of an organization to an suitable audience outside the usual channels of communication regarding illegal and/or immoral behavior in the organization that is acting against public interest. There are some laws in existence that protects whistle-blowers. The first of these is the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, which allows federal employees to report waste and corruption in the government without fear of retaliation. In order to receive and take action on complaints of retaliation, the act set up the Merit System Protection Board. The Whistle-Blower Protection Act of 1989 reinforces this protection with the formation of the Office of Special Counsel for going through whistle-blower reports. In both private and public sectors, federal legislation protects whistle-blowers, and some states even give rewards for whistle-blowing. Regarding whistle-blower protection, there are arguments in favor of it as well as arguments against it. The main argument in its favor is that the society can benefit from the revealing of illegal activities, waste, and mismanagement; this can only occur if whistle-blowers can come forward without having to worry about any retaliatory actions. Another argument is that those who work for the government have a First Amendment right to freedom of speech and so should be protected from retaliation. Also...
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...conscious greatly affects one’s decision making, especially when the topic of whistle blowing arises. In this paper, I will discuss and analyze whistle-blowing, where it occurs, the effects of whistle-blowing, whether whistle-blowing is an act of betrayal or public service, the consequences of whistle-blowing, and finally I close my paper with a conclusion. This paper also aims to provide a balanced approach to this topic. Understood correctly whistle-blowing is defined as an informant who exposes wrongdoing within an organization. Whistle-blowing is not about informing in the negative but more so, raises concern about malpractice within an organization. More so, it can also be defined as the release of information by a member (or former member) of an organization where there is evidence of illegal or immoral conduct in the organization, or conduct in the organization that is not in the public interest . The decision and bravery of being prepared to blow the whistle is directly related to the cultural resistance in many organizations to be transparent and accountability. It is hard to imagine the agony of discovering wrongdoing in your profession. The choice of keeping quiet can put others at risk and your guilty conscious will start you to thinking if you made the right decision .Blowing the whistle could also mean professional destruction. (en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/whistle-blowing). Surprisingly whistle blowing is on...
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...SUBMITTED TO Omar Faruk Assistant Professor Department of Business Administration East West University SUBMITTED BY Students of the Department of Business Administration ID No. Md. Mohiman 2009-1-10-147 Jaheda Sultana 2009-1-10-029 Md. Anamul Haque 2009-2-10-108 Md.Mehedi Hasan 2009-1-10-073 Organizational behavior Course Code: MGT251 Section: 3 East West University 1. Do you believe that whistle-blowing is good for organizations and its members, or is it, as David Stetler believes, often a means to extort financial gains from companies? Whistle blowing means calling attention to wrongdoing that is occurring within an organization. The fact whistle blowers are good/bad for an organization depends on different situations whether a whistle-blowing will have a positive or negative result over the organization. That is it depends on what they're whistling about. If it has intention to get someone trouble then we have to think about the undesirable consequences it might happen for whistle blowing. On the other sense, if it is someone who is angry with the organization for other reasons and blows the whistle solely to cause harm or embarrassment to the company, then they're just a jerk. On the other hand, of it is related to protest against unethical deeds then it is ok. If whistle blowing is a means toward a positive end, then in the long run, we might want to consider it good for the organization as a whole, but...
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...Unit Three: Case Incident 2: Whistle Blowers: Saints or Sinners Rachel Hogan Kaplan University MT302 Organizational Behavior May 17th, 2011 Corporate whistle-blowing, reporting company wrong-doings is a controversial subject of debate. There have been several widely known cases in which reputations are damaged, sometimes unsubstantiated or falsely, and where informants have received hefty pay-offs. The adoption of the whistle blower law pays informants thirty percent of legal fines received from lawsuits in whistle blowing cases (Judge & Robbins). I believe corporate whistle-blowing is good for organizations, its members, and the general public. It is important for corporate wrong-doings and do-ers to be brought to the attention of senior management. The sooner the wrong-doings are reported and investigated, the better for everyone involved. Before the issue is handled publicly or in court, the organization should have the opportunity to rectify the wrong-doings, which would save money in legal proceedings, and save the reputation of the company. According to our Organizational Behavior textbook, self-fulfilling prophecy has “evolved to characterize the fact that an individual’s behavior is determined by other people’s expectation” (Robbins & Judge, 2007). With this in mind, I believe self-fulfilling prophecy can drive an individual’s search for incriminating evidence or sometimes hinder it. An employee may have a negative self-fulfilling...
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...United States business can address the adverse effects of sweatshop labor practices are first to adopt firm multinational whistle blowing policies and procedures. Second, enforcement of existing rules and regulations. Third is incorporating the social responsibility and supply chain sourcing into their strategic objectives (Halbert, 2015). Each of the ways in which United States’ businesses can address the adverse effects of sweatshop labor practices has their own purpose. For the first way which is to adopt firm multinational whistle blowing policies and procedures. An example of it can be observed on strict whistle blowing policies that assist culture when it comes to compliance issue. For the second way which is the enforcement of existing rules and regulations. The example of this can be seen on practices in the Southeast Asia and Thailand, wherein the issues of the 21st century is the main focus. Lastly is the issue on incorporating the social responsibility and supply chain sourcing into their strategic objectives. An example for this, organizations should ensure that their suppliers are accountable to fair labor standards. Considering the effect of worker rights on global and developing economies, take a position on whether or not the United States government should regulate the global workforce of the United States corporations. Justify your response. When it comes to the effect of worker rights on global and developing economies, the United States government should regulate...
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...Introduction The purpose of this article is to increase awareness of the need for whistleblower policies for universities, governmental entities, and organizations. According to wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, a whistleblower is a person who raises a concern about a wrongdoing occurring in an organization or body of people, usually this person would be from that same organization. Wikipedia states that whistle blowing is the disclosure to the public or to authorities, usually by an employee, of wrongdoing in a company or government department. Whistleblowing inside the workplace is the reporting, by employees or ex-employees, of wrongdoing such as fraud, malpractice, mismanagement, breach of health and safety law or any other illegal or unethical act, either on the part of management or by fellow employees, cited from wikipedia. A whistleblowing policy encourages staff to speak out if they have legitimate concerns about wrongdoings, as distinct from individual grievances, and establishes an accessible procedure for doing so. The policy may form part of a wider code of conduct. In order to encourage disclosure, many federal and state statutes prohibit employers from retaliating against an employee who files reports. The revealed misconduct may be classified in many ways; for example, a violation of a law, rule, regulation and/or a direct threat to public interest, such as fraud, health/safety violations, and corruption. Whistleblowers may make their allegations internally...
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...Employment at Will Doctrine Kristen Harrison Leg 500 February 4, 2014 Elaine B. Wilson EMPLOYMENT AT WILL DOCTRINE The Employment at Will Doctrine The employment at will doctrine was developed in the late nineteenth century, as a default employment contract which was assumed to give employers and employees equal ground to develop wages, benefits, and employment agreements. The employment at will doctrine continues to prevail in all American jurisdictions except Montana. An employer can terminate an employee for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason at all (Bagenstos, 2013). The employment at will doctrine is void if reason states that it is specifically forbidden by some external source of law, such as an antidiscrimination statue (Bagenstos, 2013). Employees formed unions during the industrial revolution, in order to toughen their negotiating power against large corporations, which fired employees at will to keep labor cost low and profits high (Muhl, 2001). Before employees formed unions the working conditions were unethical, and favored the employer who could fire the employee at will (Muhl, 2001)The 1960’s was where Federal legislative protections started to play a major part in protecting employees. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act put a damper on the unethical treatment of employees by their employers. The Federal legislation protected employees from illegal discharge based on...
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...Group 4 Business Ethics March 16, 2013 Question #1 What steps you would take to change an organization culture? Changing an organization’s culture is one of the toughest tasks to take on. This is so because the organization culture was formed over a period of years with interaction between customers, and employees of the organization. Culture change requires commitment, understanding and tools. These are some steps to take in changing an organization culture:- • Be aware of the culture – try to understand the organization’s current culture, the way things are done in the organization, the way persons express themselves in terms of their language and attitudes. Pay close attention to shared values. • Assess the current culture – by assessing the current culture of the organization there are three questions that can be asked: - (1) what should stay, (2) what should go, (3) what is missing. In asking these questions leadership in the organization will be better able to make decisions that to drive change in the organization. • Envision a new culture – this is where you would create ideas of the type of culture that you would want your organization to have. • Share the vision with everyone – after envisioning the type of culture suitable for the organization, the vision has to be shared with every member of the organization in order to have full participation in carrying forward the change. • Get support from leadership – ensure top management...
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...Loyalty And Professional Rights (ESSAY #6) Introduction The relationship between engineers and employers has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years. This essay describes some of the recent debate regarding employee rights and loyalty. Section one deals with the legal environment. Court cases dealing with employee loyalty and its limits have changed the legal aspects of employment dramatically in the last twenty years. A sketch of those changes will be made here. Section two discusses some theoretical attempts at resolving the tension between company loyalty and public responsibility. Finally, the third section describes actual policies that different corporations and government agencies have used to deal with the issue of employee rights. Legal and Regulatory Environment The trend in the law is toward increased recognition of employee rights. Until recently, American law has been governed by the common-law doctrine of "employment at will," where, in the absence of a contract, an employer can discharge an employee at any time and for whatever reason the employer considers relevant. This doctrine determined the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's position in a 1967 case of Geary v. United States Steel Corp1. Mr. Geary was not educated as an engineer, but he had 14 years of engineering experience with U.S. Steel. Mr. Geary became convinced that a new type of pipe that U.S. Steel was using was unsafe under high pressure. He attempted to make his concerns known to management, but...
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