Whistle - Blowing

Knowledge I gained from the readings:
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Whistle-Blowing is reporting a wrong doing or corruption to general public. When a person makes a public disclosure of a wrong doing, then that is considered whistle blowing. In this ethics class we discussed a scenario of a team of programmers who developed a software product which was not yet fully tested and there were known bugs. The product was developed for a local transportation agency and lot of general public uses public transportation. The case studio also described that the management of both parties decided to deploy the product with the bug which might put public at harm’s way. In this case after bringing the issue to upper management first and not getting any satisfactory resolution to the issue, if the programmers go to general public and disclose the issue out in the open then that would be considered whistle blowing. Whistle-blowing usually happens when a harmful product coming into the market due to the negligence of the involved parties. We also saw a video about an FBI agent, Colleen Rowley, who came forward after critical information linked to the September 11 attacks, was ignored. Even though Whistle-blowing in encouraged and can save us from unnecessary harms, most of the times employees are not willing to come forward and bring the issue out in the open in fear of lose their jobs or facing other issues.

Every individual has moral and ethical responsibilities towards the people of the society. As an employee of an organization, it is a person’s moral responsibility to be loyal to their employer as long as they don’t feel that there is any wrong doing on their employer’s part. Likewise an employer should be also loyal to its employees.

There are many school of thoughts on the topic of employer-employee relationship in terms of loyalty. Ronald Duska (1991) argues that in employment contexts, loyalty only arises in special relationships based on a notion that he calls "mutual enrichment”. Duska believes that employer-employee relationships – at least where corporations are concerned – are based on self-interest and not on mutual enrichment. He concludes that employees should not necessarily feel any sense of obligation of loyalty to corporate employers. Ladd also believes that a corporation can not be as loyal to its employees as the employees would be to its employer. I personally do not agree with Duska. I think employee and employer should have mutual respect and loyalty to each other. I however somewhat agree with Ladd because there are many examples in the job market where we see employees who worked for a company for many years with loyalty, are often losing their jobs due to downsizing and outsourcing for the greater good for the business. Loyalty is not something that an employee must give exclusively or blindly to one’s employer. A professional as an individual, must also have loyalty and an obligation to the society as a whole, especially where safety, life and health issues are at stake.

However, sometime the wrong doing or misconduct of an employer can put a loyal employee in a situation where for the greater good of the society, the employee must bring the issue to public to get the public’s attention and blow the whistle to alert the public to a potentially unsafe product.

According to Michael Martin (2003) blowing the whistle is a “tragedy to be avoided, though it may sometimes be a necessary evil”. Not blowing the whistle when it is necessary can cause a great deal of damage to the society.

Richard De George (1999) says that one is permitted and obligated to blow the whistle when the harm that will be done by the product to the public is serious and considerable, engineers (or employees) have made their concerns known to their superiors and engineers (or employees) have received no satisfaction from their immediate supervisors and they have exhausted the channels available within the corporation, including going to the board of directors. The engineers (or employees) have documented evidence that would convince a reasonable, impartial observer that his/her view of the situation is correct and the company policy is wrong. And there is strong evidence that making the information public will in fact prevent the threatened serious harm. Other scholars also have similar thoughts.

Almost always, Whistle-blowers have been looked at as being disloyal to their companies, or as trouble makers when they are really only attempting to keep the general public safe. Sometimes their relationship with their employer or even with the public is tainted after the act. Because of this many are afraid to blow the whistle. From the utilitarian point of view one must do the greatest good for the greatest amount of people. In most cases, whistle-blowers are attempting to do the greatest good for the greatest amount of people.

Whistle-blowers are often responsible peoples who notice wrong doing and from greater good of the community and public they attempt to do something to prevent the wrong doing and harmful acts. They often blow whistle not because they have any bad intention towards the employer they work for but out of honesty, courage and good ethical values. And taking a step alone against a greater entity is more often than not terrifying however, if someone shows the courage to stand up for the greater good of the community, often times they alone can make a huge difference in people’s lives.

Whistle-Blowers are protected by law that can protect the Whistle-blowers from employer retaliation. There is also punishment if there are false claims. Although the law protects from employer retaliation, the law cannot protect someone from future termination, suspension, demotions and even mistreatment. So, many are worried about stepping up to make a claim. There is protection, but it is not enough.


Personal insights I am able to make from the reading:
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Whistle blowing is an act of bravery. It is also an act of showing responsibility towards the society. Whistle blowers may not get treated by many rightfully, but they get the satisfaction of doing the right thing and saving people from pain, suffering and harm. Sometimes we may not have the courage to do the right thing because of different reasons. But doing right thing is the most important thing and people ultimately realize the services the whistle blowers provide to the society.


Questions and challenges the reading has left me with:
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I also learned that whistle blowers are not as protected as they were once because of changes in laws. If this is the case and whistle blowers do not come forward because they feel that by blowing whistle they will be on their own and they are not protected they lot of businesses might not follow the law and rules of ethics and do unethical things. How do we solve this situation?


Practical and personal applications I am able to make for the knowledge gained:
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As, I think that blowing whistle is an act of bravery and is the right thing to do to benefit the society, I will blow whistle if needed even if it may not protect me. However, I will do my best to avoid the situation by bringing the issue to upper management first and trying to resolve the issue.



Reference:
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1. Herman T. Tavani. (2007). Ethics & Technology – Chapter-4.

2. IT550 Class Note – Chapter – 4 (Blackboard). Marymount University.