The Ethics of Whistle Blowing

Employee disclosure of illegal, immoral, or illegitimate practices on the  employer’s part is called whistle-blowing. No organization can rely exclusively on codes of conduct and ethical structures to prevent all unethical behavior. Holding organizations accountable depends to some degree on individuals who are willing to blow the whistle if they detect illegal, dangerous, or unethical activities. Whistle-blowers often report wrongdoing to outsiders, such as regulatory agencies, or newspaper reporters. Some firms have instituted innovative programs and confidential hotlines to encourage and support internal whistle blowing. For this to be an effective ethical safeguard, however, companies must view whistle-blowing as a benefit to the company and make dedicated efforts to protect whistle-blowers. When no effective protective measures exist, whistle-blowers suffer. Though whistle blowing has become widespread in recent years, it is still risky for employees, who can lose their jobs, be ostracized by coworkers, or be transferred to lower-level positions.

Respecting employees as people also means respecting their behavior as ethically responsible individuals. Suppose an employee discovers that a business has been engaging in practices that are illegal, unethical, or socially irresponsible. This employee should be able to report the problem to management, but management often does not want to hear about such issues. The employee might then decide to inform a regulatory agency or perhaps the media. At this point, he or she becomes a whistle-blower—an employee who discovers and tries to put an end to a company’s unethical, illegal, or socially irresponsible actions by publicizing them.

Laws protect government and private whistle-blowers from recrimination. However, many managers still look upon whistle-blowers as disgruntled employees who are not good team players. To maintain high ethical standards, organizations need people who are willing to point out wrongdoing. Managers can be trained to view whistle-blowing as a benefit rather than a threat, and systems can be created to protect employees who report illegal or unethical activities.

Whistle-blowing is the deliberate, non-obligatory act of disclosure, by an individual with privileged access to data or information of an organization, about a non-trivial illegality or other wrong doing under the control of their organization, to an entity who has the power to rectify the wrongdoing. 

Whether to blow the whistle on misconduct in an organization is the most difficult decision that some people ever have to make. The decision is wrenching personally because the stakes are high. The decision is also difficult ethically, because the whistle blowing involves a conflict between two competing duties: to protect the public and to be loyal to an organization.

Finally, it is evident that employees who are justified in blowing the whistle ought not to suffer retaliation. What ought to be done to protect whistle blowers from this fate is less clear. A plausible case can be made for legislation in this area, but the difficulty is drafting laws that achieve the desired result without interfering unduly in the legitimate conduct of business.