...WHISTLE BLOWING Defination Whistle blowing is an attempt by an employee or former employer of an organization to disclose what she or he believes to be wrong doing sin or by the organization (James 1995) In Whistleblowing, raising concerns and speaking up are all phrases which describe disclosing information to an employer or where appropriate a regulator, police or the media about malpractice, wrongdoing or a risk to safety. Whistleblowing is providing a solution to resolve such situations: it opens nonexistent or hidden information sources and channels. The reasons for revealing information can be manifold: e.g. when someone notices such an abuse at his/her place of work and would like to discuss it with the relevant person within the organization. We may call it whistleblowing as well when an employee is forced to try to put an end to some kind of unlawful or malignant activities with the help of extra-organizational channels as within the organization either the proper investigation of the case is not guaranteed or the employee might be subject to reprisals. In many cases someone considers it a cause enough to publicize confidential information when the information in question concerns the public at large. In such cases the whistleblower maintains that informing the public is of much stronger interest (namely of public interest) then reserving the confidentiality, exclusivity of the information. A Whistleblower is an informant who exposes wrongdoing within an organization...
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...Dana Brown Whistle blowing Article Link: http://www.computingcases.org/case_materials/hughes/case_history/hughes_case_history.html Whistle-blowing is the disclosure by current or former employees of illegal, immoral or illegitimate organizational practices to people or organizations that may be able to change the practice. The whistle- blower lacks the power to change the undesirable practice directly and so appeals to others either inside or outside the organization. A good example of whistle-blowing is shown in the “The Hughes Whistle blowing Case. “ In the mid 1980s, Hughes Microelectronics was manufacturing what were called hybrid microchips for use in guidance systems and other military programs. This case is about what happened when employees of Hughes Microelectronics noticed that these tests were being skipped. The decisions they made to report this makes this one of the classic cases in the history of whistle-blowing. Margaret Goodearl and Ruth Ibarra are the two whistle-blowers in this case. Goodearl was in charge (along with Donald LaRue) of the floor area in which the testing was done. Ibarra was a quality control agent hired by the company to provide an additional audit of the accuracy and completeness of the tests. Margaret Goodearl and Ruth Ibarra witnessed at least five attempts to bypass the appropriate tests. In each incident when Goodearl would address the issue to upper management she was threatened with loss of her job. After Goodearl began to report...
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...Whistle Blowing The expression 'whistle blowing' is a comparatively recent entry into the language of politics and public affairs, even though the sort of behavior to which it refers is not entirely new. It is employed here to mean the process by which insiders 'go public' with their claims of mismanagement by, or within, powerful organizations. Whistle blowing, differentiates from such correlated practices as in-house criticism, official and unofficial 'leaks' and the like. Nonetheless, this allows blowing the whistle to be interpreted as a type of behavior which has an extended, if definitely irregular, lineage. The history of whistle blowing is not smooth, in that such practices are sporadically isolated in time, unpredictable in their route and undefined in their appearance. However they are on the other hand available, for an account of historical connection, in the sense that such behavior stands witness to those powerful and deep-rooted communications, whereby the West declares the uniqueness of its own political custom and particularly those point of views, regarding individual rights, the claims of principles, the responsibilities of citizens, and the emancipatory power of reason. What makes the practice of more general and theoretical concern, however, is that the very concept of whistle blowing is highly suggestive of, and responsive to, developing features of social structure and political procedure. This is a trait it shares with its facade, the notion of...
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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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...complainants to be treated confidentially, and for the submission process to be anonymous for employees submitting the complaints about accounting or auditing matters. 2. The key criteria to create an effective corporate whistleblower hotline, is to ensure the employers are properly protected against as many possible lash back from whistle-blowing. This is the major deterrent to whistle blowing, as although law states employee rights are protected, sometimes it is ambiguous in trying to prove that an employee is being victimized, in which case, the employee rights would be rendered useless. The remedy to this dilemma is to assure employee confidentiality. According to the AICPA, an effective whistleblowing program must ensure that submissions of complaints related to accounting, internal controls, and auditing are automatically and directly submitted to the audit committee. Management personally should not have the opportunity to filter through complaints before submission to the audit committee. AICPA also mandates the level of confidentiality and trust. The audit committee should provide strong leadership in development and maintenance of whistle-blowing programs. Program is only successful if employees dully believe that the information submitted is confidential and that a follow-up action will be taken. 3. According to the Institute of internal auditors, the chief audit executive should report to a level within the organization that allows the internal audit activity to fulfill...
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...employee to “blow the whistle” on a fraudulent scheme they uncover within the firm? Employee handbooks are usually given to employees when they are hired. Supervisors are responsible for ensuring that new employees read the handbook, still there is no guarantee that employees read and understand the whistle-blowing policy. The measure can be taken is by finding out the root cause of employees resistance on blowing the whistle on the fraudulent. There are some barriers to ‘whistle blowing’ such as fear of retaliation, duty of loyalty and confidentiality to the employers, cultural barriers, fear of alienation by peers and lack trust in protection. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 2003 have recommended complaint handling methods such as develop complaint mechanism to deal with allegations of non-compliance, provide clear rules and procedures for whistle blowing, take steps to ensure those who report the violations in compliance with stated rules are protected against reprisal and ensure that the complaint mechanism themselves are not be abused. Besides that, Multinational Enterprises should refrain from disciplinary or discrimination action against the employees who make the bona fide reports to management or to the competent public authorities on practices that contravene the law. The Whistleblower Protection Act 2010 (WPA) which came into force on 15 December 2010 should be used to encourage employee to blow the whistle. This act is intended...
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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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...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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...Blowing the Whistle Blowing the Whistle on Workplace Misconduct examines the corporate strategies that promote internal reporting when employees observe wrongdoing. Employees are more likely to blow the whistle on bad behavior when they feel good about their company and believe management has a strong commitment to ethical conduct. In 2009, more than six out of ten employees said they reported work place misconduct when they saw it. The share of workers who report negative behavior rose to 63 percent in 2009, a solid gain from 58 percent in 2007. Between 2000 and 2009 about 59 percent of employees on average said that they observed and reported misconduct, usually to an internal company authority. There is still much work to do because over the decade, four in ten employees who witnessed workplace misconduct did not typically report it. Some companies have linked ethical conduct to performance reviews to make it clear that good behavior is a job expectation. Other companies, believing that some workers do not report violations because they fear retaliation, and have set up hotlines that assure reporting can be done in private with less risk of being seen by a co-worker. Despite the prospect of retaliation, the data showed that most employees would rather report wrongdoing directly to somebody they know than to a hotline. Some employees believe their tips are more likely to be investigated when shared face-to-face instead of with a voicemail or an unfamiliar voice on the...
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...Is whistle blowing appropriate? Whistle blowing legislation and organizational whistleblowing policies are intended to reduce the wrongdoing in organizations and protect the person that reports these wrongdoings. It is easier for employees to report wrongdoing when the issue of of a legal nature, as compared to wrongdoings that have an ethical issue to them. The legal wrongdoing is clearer and therefore the whistleblower has less confusion in the matter. Additionally, the whistleblower may feel that they are legally responsible if they do not report the behavior or incident (Tsahuridu & Vandekerckhove, 2008). Ethical wrongdoing is mercurial, leaving the issue open for translation, if it is not clearly stated as wrong in the company policies. Not all issues can be clearly covered even in a comprehensive policy. This leaves employees unclear about the situation and the appropriate action to take. Individuals in the workplace should feel safe reporting potential wrongdoing regardless of exact knowledge of its nature. Any circumstance that appears to be unethical to an individual should be reported and is appropriate. This will assist the individual in continuing to be a moral individual and support the development of an ethical organization (Alleyne, Hudaib, & Pike, 2013; Badaracco & Ellsworth, 1989). Does whistle blowing violate company loyalty? Whistleblowing does present itself as a conflict between the organization or organizational leader...
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...Figuur 1 Figuur 1 Maak die Wet op Beskermening van Bekendmaking werklik verskil in bekamping teen onreëlmatighede in ’n onderneming Deur: Lourens Els Studente no: 20034423 Vak: Besigheidsreg en Etiek Dosent: P Greyling A country should be defended not by arms, but by ethical behavior Bestuursopsomming. Die drastiese verhoog van interne onreëlmatige en onwettige bedrywe in ondernemings het drasties verhoog oor die dekades. Korporatiewe skandale wat begin om alhou meer koop uit te steek. Maatskappye soos byvoorbeeld, Fidentia, Samba, Leisure Net, Kriol en 'n meer onlangse geval Sharemax. En in die internasionale front het Enron, WorldCom en Tyco vir korporatief skandale gesorg. Die korporatiewe het groteliks deel uitgemaak van mense se allerdaagse lewens. Die vraag is, kon die val van die korporatiewe reuse gekeer geword het as meer mense hulle stem dik gemaak het en die inligting bekend gemaak het. Deel een van die studie bespreek die Wet op Beskerming van Bekenmaking, Wet 26 van 2000. Die Wet word op verskeie vlakke bespreeks soos: * Die Wet op Beskermde van Bekendmakings, 2000 (Wet 26 van 2000) – Definieer. * Wie kwalifiseer vir beskerm deur die Wet? * Wat is die vereiste om deur die Wet te beskerm word. * Watse prosedures moet die persoon volg volgs die Wet. Deel 2 van die studie word daarna gekyk, hoekom is werknemers ongewillig om navore te kom en inligting openbaar te maak oor onreëlmatige bedrywe binne die organisasie...
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...Whistle blowing is an act to disclose an organizational wrongdoing to parties that can take action. Sherron Watkins was the vice president of Enron Corporation that became a whistle blower in 2001. She sent an anonymous memo to Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay regarding the misstatements on the financial report. Enron hired lawyers from Vinson & Elkins to do an investigation on the financial misstatement allegations (Ackman, 2002). According to the memo from the investigations, after Watkins identified herself Lay held a meeting with her to discuss about her concerns regarding her allegations. The memo failed to indicate what Lay told Watkins. The investigation from Vinson & Elkins concluded that the questionable transaction that Watkins was concern about appeared proper (Ackman, 2002). Dan Ackman from Forbes argued that her action was not considered as whistle-blowing because she did not send the memo to parties that can take disciplinary action but actually provided legal cover for Kenneth Lay. Also, the fact that Watkins warned Lay about the misstatement of financial report indicates that Lay was not aware about the problem and did not do it on purpose. Watkins tries to put the blame mostly on Enron’s auditor Arthur Andersen and Vinson & Elkins and continued to provide cover to Lay and the board. Attitudes towards Whistle Blowing In today’s society, whistle blowing is viewed as misconduct and usually will cost a person’s job. In Watkins case, she said that Enron’s former Chief...
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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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...Whistle-Blowing: Ethical Behavior Q 1. What recommendations for action would you make to the senior management to improve the productivity and atmosphere in company? 1. Appoint an ethically strong leader. 2. Appoint a leader who is professionally competent. 3. The leader should: - Manifest honesty - Pay attention to all stakeholders - Shows justice - Respect others - Serves others - Builds a trusting community. The company has falling business and people fear losing job. Mutual trust will reassure employs and improve productivity. 4. The company should: - Have a formal ethics policy, which should be implemented - Unethical conduct should be punished - Situations where unethical conduct is likely should be supervised - Avoid a competitive environment amongst employees - Avoid assigning difficult goals one after the other Q 2. Discuss the ethics of the new manager’s behaviour. 1. The manager’s ethics can be called “ethical egoism” i.e. his actions were for his personal benefit. Going on a holiday at the expense of a tenderer is grossly unethical. This act is against all ethical principles. It is against ethical principles of rights, justice, virtue and the utilitarian theory. Its consequences are not beneficial for anybody other than the manager himself. 2. The second unethical act of the manager was to go on inspection of a machine for which he was technically not qualified and then deciding to purchase a machine without appropriate technical...
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...Whistle Blowing in Government or in a Business To speak or keep silent, those are the two of many common issues that plays along with the ethical considerations and morale of a Whistle Blower. On the other hand, what if you saw fraudulent actions of someone, should you speak or keep quiet? What if the person doing the fraudulent actions was a friend or a high ranking official, should you speak or keep silent, these and many others are the complex situations that could happen within a business organization. Whistle blowing, which seems to become increasingly common as employees speak out about ethical concerns or illegal practices in the work place to the public or to authorities. “There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that whistle blowing is one of the most important sources of information or detecting and reducing illegal and unethical corporate behaviors” (Kohn 2011). In general, whistle blowers feel a need to report the incident in order to put a stop to the illegal or ethical concern in the business or to correct them from happening on a regular basis. In the past years, there have been a lot of cases where employees have decided to come up in public eye and expose the unethical behavior within their companies. There is no doubt that many unquestionable practices among business organizations are being committed daily. With all the recent cases of corporate fraud, companies now provide for internal rules to protect the whistle-blower against retaliation,...
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