Whistle-Blowers

Introduction

The purpose of this document is to discuss the practice of whistle-blowing as it pertains to ethical behavior that has been discovered and will be brought to the necessary authority’s atten-tion. Contained in this document, we will answer several questions beginning with the belief that whistle-blowing is good for organizations and its members. We will discuss how whistle-blowing might be a self-fulfilling prophecy and if lawsuits occur how might it affect legal claims against a company ending with if a company has an ethical obligation through its employees to first attempt to rectify wrong doing or corrected itself.

Is it any good?

I do believe that whistle-blowing is good for organizations and its members. However, I think the whistle-blowers position plays a role. I feel personally that if the whistleblower is some-one of low status via position or economics in a company their claim may not be as regarded as val-id. I also think that an individual with more to lose would be unlikely to come forward. A janitor who overhears corporate executives speaking freely about wrongdoing is more apt to say nothing. They would not have the financial resources or means to bring any form of litigation to the compa-ny. On the other hand, an individual who was paid well; has an office and access to company secrets may be in a better position to move against the company and expose wrongdoing. They will be more financially prepared to start a fight whether they would win it or not. To examine both positions, one would have to certainly ask what the source of motivation is. At some point, morals and values will come into play but, some wrongdoings could have nothing to do with morals and values. It could surely be based upon ethics.

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

The issue with self-fulfilling prophecies in the context of whistle-blowing deals directly in the motivation for the claim. As the text documented, individuals may be put into positions where...