WHISTLE BLOWING

GROUP MEMBERS:
PresentedChawla A. Wines Priya by ~ Lisa Ahsan Kamwani Mariyam abbasi

Whistle-blowing

Definition of Whistle-Blowing
Whistle blowing can be defined as an attempt by an employee or former employee of an organization to disclose what he or she believes to be wrongdoings in or by the organization Another definition of whistle blowing is the disclosure of illegal, unethical or harmful practices in the workplace to parties who might take action 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

Types of Whistle-Blowing
Internal WhistleBlowing When an individual advocates beliefs or revelations within the organization. External WhistleBlowing When and individual advocates beliefs or revelations outside the organization.

Personal WhistleBlowing It is personal if harm is reportedly done only to the whistle blower.

Impersonal WhistleBlowing It is impersonal if harm observed is done to another party.

Types of whistle blowers

Current whistleblower: someone who blow the whistle on a present employer/employers Alumni whistleblower: someone who blow the whistle on a former employer/employers Open whistleblower: reveals her or his identity and/or makes no attempt to hide this. Anonymous whistleblower: acts specifically to keeps her or his identity a secret

Advantages of whistle blowing

Public Safety Moral Responsibility End of unethical business practices Rewarding the whistleblower for complaining like bonuses, promotions, incentives etc leads to benefits of the company e.g. the wrong usage of resources by corrupted person is minimized and now these resources can be used in productive manner.

Disadvantages of whistle blowing

Retaliation Conflicts of Interest Effecting the environment Even the claims of whistle blowers are not always genuine and sometimes a person may be doing it for their selfish reasons Costly

Whistleblowers: Examples
The insider Karen Silkwood, Silkwood Mark Whiteacre

THE INSIDER:
The Insider (1999) is a true story based on an Ex-tobacco executive who planned to whistle blow against his company Brown & Williamson. The film illustrates how tobacco manufacturers are exploiting the consumers by not letting them know what happens next after smoking. Wigand was fired. Not long after he was fired by Brown and Williamson, Wigand came into contact with Lowell Bergman , a producer for 60 Minutes who worked closely with journalist Wallace. Bergman arranged for Wigand to be interviewed by Wallace for a 60 Minutes expose on the cigarette industry, though Wigand was still bound by a confidentiality agreement not to discuss his employment with the company. Despite Wigand's willingness to talk, CBS pulled his interview from at the last minute after B&W threatened a multi-billion dollar lawsuit. On the other hand,after the testimony of the Wigand in the court, B&W starts a smear campaign to disgrace the Wigand. New York Post and Wall Street Journal gets information about previous events of the wigands life and they start an investigation against him.
Unable to see an honest man being held due to the fault of his corporation, Bergman leaks the news to the press. New York Times publishes the interview and criticises B&W in running a low level smear campaign against a true person.

KAREN SILKWOOD
Karen Silkwood was a chemical technician at the Kerr-McGee's plutonium fuels production plant in Crescent, Oklahoma, and a member of the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers' Union in the early 70s & was in charge of investigating the health and safety concerns of workers at the plant. . Despite the companys assurances, Silkwood found what she believed were major violations of health and safety regulations. She reported her concerns to The Atomic Energy Commission, hoping that Kerr-McGee would make their workplace safer. Almost immediately after she went to AEC, Silkwood tested positive for massive plutonium exposure. Unable to determine where she had been exposed, investigators found that several surfaces in her house had been contaminated with plutonium. Kerr-McGee claimed she was deliberately exposing herself to create sympathy, while Silkwood assumed the company was giving her contaminated testing equipment. Frustrated and afraid for her and her familys health, Silkwood decided to show her evidence to The New York Times. She left a union meeting with binders and documents to meet the reporters. She never arrived. Police found her car run off the road and Silkwood dead inside. There were no documents to be found. The case remains controversial and Kerr-McGee has always denied any wrong doing Karen Silkwood died on November 13, 1974 in a fatal one-car crash. The circumstances of her death have been the subject of great speculation. Since then, her story has achieved worldwide fame as the subject of many books, magazine and newspaper articles, and even a major motion picture

MARK WHITEACRE
In 1992, Mark Whitacre was on top of the world. He was rich, happily married, and a rising star at his company. An executive at food industry giant Archers Daniel Midland, he was president of their Bio products Division which oversaw the use of food additives. But things changed dramatically that year when he became involved in an international scheme to fix the price of additives such as lysine and citric acid. Along with several major Agribusiness companies from around the world, ADM artificially set the world price for these additives and committed one of the biggest corporate crimes in American history . Under pressure from his wife, Whitacre went to the FBI with details of the plan. If that had been the end of it, Whitacre would still probably be remembered as a great whistleblower, but he went one step further. For the next three years, Whitacre went undercover for the FBI and secretly recorded hundreds of meetings all over the world to expose the plot. His evidence led to hundreds of millions of dollars in fines to the companies involved. Unfortunately, Whitacre was also busy embezzling $9 million dollars from the company at the time, so he ended up in jail himself.

Effects of WhistleBlowing
Forced to leave organization/demoti on Credibility ruined Family, health, and/or life in jeopardy Outrage and divisiveness of people directly or indirectly involved Physical or psychological isolation Organization experiences loss of money, restitution, productivity, and positive reputations. Incarceration

EXAMPLES IN PAKISTAN
Ministry of Water and Power paid Rs225 for a bulb available in the open market for Rs140, causing a loss of about Rs3 billion. The tender documents floated by TCP in 2011 for the import of 350,000 metric tons sugar are "tailor-made" to suit a particular Dubaibased refinery. Moeen Aftab Sheikh, gave undue favours to Al Abbas Group of Companies, owned by Riaz Laljee, by selling huge quantities of steel at low prices. USAID stop funding the to Rafi Peer theatre on tips of corruption. Procurement of GRP pipe for Port Qasim Authority by Frontier Works Organisation at a higher rate from Iran than the price quoted by a Saudi company in its tender documents. Malik riaz planted interview with Mehar Bukhari and Mubashir Lukman

Laws regarding whistle blowing in Pakistan

In Pakistan there are no laws to protect civil servants or private sector employee according to Global Integrity Report.

Research Findings on Organizational and Personal Variables that lead to Whistle blowing

Variables that are positively related to whistle blowing Informal Company Policies Formal Company Policies Supervisor Support Highly competent and respected employee

Issue Relating to Whistle blowing

If you blow the whistle then you are not loyal to your organization or employer. Voice and Exit are the two main options for dissatisfied organization members and that those who exercise the choice are more loyal than to one who decide to exit. Albert O Hirschman.

Ethical Perspective
Deontological ethics Deontological ethics is basically a duty based ethics which says that you should fulfill your moral obligations whether it lead to pleasure or pain. From Kantian approach you should blow the whistle if company is involve in immoral practices. Example: Karen Silkwood From Kantian approach you should blow the whistle if company is involve in immoral practices. Utilitarian Greatest good for greatest number. Example : Karen Silkwood