Human Resource

Sample Case 1

Ethics and Social Responsibility Case

A New Concern for Human Resource Managers: Whistle-Blowing

Each year Time dedicates a front cover of its magazine to a “Person of the Year.” Last

year, for example, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuilani was given such an honor for

his handling of New York’s 9/11 terrorist crisis. This year Time expanded its version of

the person of the year. It dedicated its cover to “Persons of the Year.” The magazine

identified three women working in unrelated fields who had at least one common

characteristic—they were all “Whistle-Blowers.”

The term whistle-blower is defined by the third edition of The American Heritage

College Dictionary as “One who brings wrong doing within an organization to light.”

The etymology of the term whistle-blower is quite interesting and can be attributed to

several sources: the police used whistles in early times as a communication signal and

trains used their whistles to communicate warning signals. Today, the term whistleblower has a mixed meaning: it can have a negative connation in certain sectors with

whistle-blowers being called, among other words, “traitor,” “turncoat,” and “rat.” Or, it

can have a positive connation with whistle-blowers being called heroes.

The three women profiled as Time’s Persons of the Year fall into that latter category.

They “did the right thing” by informing their respective bosses of wrongdoings such as

mismanagement, law breaking, and fraud. In essence, these brave women refused to keep

their eyes and mouths closed.

Persons of the Year

Coleen Rowley (FBI); Sherron Watkins (Enron); and Cynthia Cooper (WorldCom)—

three career women—all worked for very high profile organizations and all were whistleblowers. Rowley, an FBI staff attorney, after keeping quiet about the agency’s

failure to take seriously a situation regarding French Moroccan Zacarias Moussaoui, the

so-called 19th terrorist involved in the destruction of the World Trade Centers in...