2. “Too see wrong and not to expose it ,is to become a
silent partner to its continuance”.
-Dr. John Raymond Baker
3. Whistleblowing: Definition
A whistleblower is an employee, former employee, or
member of an organization, especially a business or
government agency, who reports misconduct to people or
entities that have the power and presumed willingness to take
corrective action.
Generally the misconduct is a violation of law, rule, regulation
and/or a direct threat to public interest, such as fraud,
health/safety violations, and corruption.
4. Benefits
Whistleblowing leads to good and bad results. First, the
benefits of carefully considered whistleblowing can lead to the
end of unethical business practices. The lives of individuals
and whole communities have been saved by whistleblowers.
The actions of whistleblowers are potentially beneficial to
society. Businesses that engaged in unethical practices have
been shut down because of the actions of whistleblowers.
5. Whistleblowing and HR Actioners
Determining whether your company has the mechanism to
find out the whether the staff have wandered or otherwise left
the acceptable assumed track.
Whistle blowing mechanism such as hotlines, ombudsmen,
administrating annual compliance. This mechanism should be
part of your companies strategy.
6. Detriments
An employee who witness unethical business practice at work
may want to think carefully before informing to the
authorities.
Company loyalty is an internally held value.
When should an employee blow the whistle? When should he
or she keep quiet?
7. Guidelines for Whistleblowing
1. Magnitude of consequence
2. Probability of effect
3. Temporal immediacy
4. Proximity
5. Concentration of effort
9. The Insider
Jeffrey Wigand, vice president for tobacco research and
development at Brown & Williamson: Wigand became the
whistle-blower on Big Tobacco, telling how the industry
minimized tobacco's health and safety issues. His story was
told in the movie The Insider. The tale gets nasty. Wigand was
fired in 1993. His former employer publicized unsubstantiated
allegations of shoplifting and domestic abuse from his past. He
went on to assist the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in its
investigation of the tobacco industry.
Wigand now runs a nonprofit foundation in South Carolina
devoted to educating children about health issues, including
tobacco use and alcohol consumption.
10.
11. FDA whistleblowers: Robert Misbin
Robert Misbin, medical officer, Food and Drug Administration:
The scientist blew the whistle on the dangers of the diabetes
drug Rezulin. He resigned from the FDA in the fall of 2000,
complaining that politics and bureaucratic concerns had
replaced sound medical judgment in approving drugs. At issue:
that drug maker Warner-Lambert Inc. had pressured the FDA to
approve Rezulin, despite a number of patient deaths from liver
failure. Rezulin was recalled in 2000, the same year that Warner-
Lambert was acquired by Pfizer.
12. CASE
An executive of a large company learns that the company is
violating the state antipollution law by dumping chemicals into
the lake bordering its plant. The state inspectors are being
bribed to ignore the violation. What are the executive’s options?
What are the consequences of each option? Which option
should the executive choose?
