Whistleblowing

Whistleblowing

BUS311: Business Law I (BWH1218A)

May 21, 2012

I will be providing the history of whistleblowing and how it evolved throughout the years. We will take a look at what motivates whistleblowers and the positive and negative effects from it. I will be providing some examples of what people have been affected by whistleblowing. We will then look at the repercussions of whistleblowing in today’s environment. Whistleblowing can be looked at as a positive or negative way of getting the truth out to the public. In some cases we know that whistleblowing can save lives depending upon the severity.

Whistleblowing

1. Will start of by giving a history of whistleblowing.

2. We will look at why people are whistleblowing.

3. Positive and negative effects of whistleblowing.

4. Will provide some examples of whistleblowing and the people that were affected by it.

5. Repercussions from whistleblowing.

Santa Clara University. Markula Center for Applied Ethics. Brief History. 21 May 2012. http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/submitted/whistleblowing.html

This is a brief history on whistleblowing and how it has evolved over 50 years. Prior to the 1960’s companies could fire an employee at will or for no reason at all. Some companies in the past had open door policies such as IBM, where it encouraged employees to raise issues. Firestone also had a history of safety issues with their tires. In 1972, Firestone Tire Director of Development Thomas A. Robertson sent top management a memo warning that tires were subject to separation at high speeds. His warning was ignored and this resulted in 41 deaths.