📢 What is Whistleblowing?📣

Whistleblowing 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” (Near and Miceli, 1985).

In simple terms, whistleblowing is the term used when a worker passes on information concerning wrongdoing. For an act of whistleblowing to happen, it must involve at least four elements (Near and Miceli, 1985 and 1996; Dworkin and Near, 1997; and Rocha and Kliener, 2005),

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.
④ The party who is receiving the complaint of wrongdoing from the whistleblower.

📣 Types of Whistleblowing

A study on the workers of a large military base in the US, (Near et al., 2004) identified seven major types of wrongdoing.

📣 Process of Whistleblowing

The act of whistleblowing involves three actors in a social setting, the whistleblower, the perpetrator of the wrongdoing, and the party to whom the complaint of wrongdoing is reported. Thus, all three parties are critical to explaining the process of whistleblowing (Near et al., 1993).

According to Near and Miceli (1985), whistleblowing, in general, can be said to comprise four steps,

In the first step, the potential whistleblower must decide whether the observed activity is a form of wrongdoing, illegal, immoral, or illegitimate, etc. Activity will be perceived to be wrongdoing if it conflicts with either the values of the whistleblower or against the stated values of the organization.

The decision to report the activity comprises the next step in which the whistleblower must weigh several alternatives in mind while taking such a decision. The whistleblower must first weigh the seriousness of the wrongdoing and whether without blowing the whistle it is possible to stop such activity. The whistleblower should also be aware of whom he should report the wrongdoing. The personal situation that the whistleblower is in will also determine his decision, whether he will be able to endure the financial and emotional costs associated with his disclosure, and what kind of support emotionally and financially can he gather at the event of public disclosure. Once the decision has been made in favor of whistleblowing, it is now time for the organization to react. Reaction in this step consists of initial reaction which the organization will exhibit in response to the decision of whistleblowing. The organization may choose to stop the action or may choose to continue the wrongdoing.

In the final step, the organization must decide what to do about the person who has made the complaint; the organization can choose to ignore the whistleblower completely or can take steps to silence the whistleblower or may choose to discredit the charge made against it by the whistleblower. The organization can also choose to retaliate against the person concerned, by imposing professional sanctions against him.

📣 Top 10 Whistleblowers in History

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qtAv9RpJdc

References:

Near J.P. and Miceli M.P. (1985), Organizational Dissidence: The Case of Whistleblowing, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 1-16.

Near J. P. and Miceli M.P. (1985), Organizational Dissidence: The Case of Whistleblowing, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 1-16.

Near J.P. and Miceli M.P. (1996), Whistleblowing: Myth and Reality, Journal of Management, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 507-526.

Dworkin T.M. and Near J.P. (1997), A Better Statutory Approach to Whistleblowing, Business Ethics Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 1-16.

Rocha E. and Kleiner B.H. (2005), To Blow or Not to Blow the Whistle? That is the Question, Management Research News, Vol. 28, Nos. 11/12, pp. 80-87.

Near J.P., Rehg M.T., Scotter V.J.R and Miceli M.P. (2004), Does Type of Wrong Doing Affect the Whistleblowing Process?, Business Ethics Quarterly, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 219-242.