Discussion:
Whistle blowing can be the disclosure of the government authorities, or the disclosure of the upper-level management, there could be illegal activities that the company other employees are following,
so everybody have the right to blow whistle. However, whistle blowing can be consider as complaint and a person or employees can be dismissed, every organization need to follow the whistle blowing policies because, it is not wrong, everybody have the right. Moreover, as stated in the book of legal environment today, that whistle blowing can be a decision or a remedy, it is consider as a legal environment because people can be saved in this way, to face the negative consequences in the organization. There is need to feel the differences and stay updated, because whistleblowing can prevent from the serious harm, unethical behavior etc. Employee in this way can feel himself secure and give value to the organization (Miller & Cross, 2015).
Whistleblowing is the requirement of the organizations these days, because employees are not protected in the culture; employees need the safety in the organization so that they can feel comfortable with the work, however, if employees are not given the comfortable environment, their efficiency may be decreases or they may be dissatisfied from the managers or the organization. In my point of view, government should implement the policies of whistleblowing in all the organizations; it is necessary for the company and the industries growth, employees can be more satisfied if they are given the training of whistleblowing and they have the right.
Whistleblowing is not wrong. According to the “standard theory” on whistleblowing of Michael Davis (Pg. 161), stated in Ethical Obligations and Decision Making in Accounting , whistleblowing is morally required when it is required at all; people have a moral obligation to prevent serious harm to others if they can do so with little costs to themselves. The ability to whistleblow and to do so in a way that won’t cause retaliation is critical in business, especially in accounting. As stated by Davis, people have moral obligations to prevent serious harm to others if they can do so with little costs to themselves, effective whistleblowing does just this. Whistleblowing can help protect against fraud, harassment, unethical behavior, violations of company policies, and other wrongful acts that could cause serious harm to others. Overall, whistleblowing is not wrong and it should be practiced in the business world in order to help prevent serious harm to others.
Whistleblowing is a moral obligation and employees can also be protected in this way because employees can be safe in this way. When they know that they are secure under the policies of organization and they can blow the whistle when needed, then their performance towards the organization and goals can be increased. However, there can be no negative attitudes of the people or bad consequences take place, in the organization, while considering the whistleblowing policies.
Assuming it is done with the right intent, and not in pursuit of a reward, it should be encouraged. “Effective internal whistleblowing processes are an important part of a healthy corporate culture”. When a company has ethical employees and the company has strong ethical direction, whistleblowing will be a normal procedure. This is because ethical people know the importance of coming forward with information that could be of harm to stakeholders. When a company has unethical employees and the company does not have strong ethical direction, whistleblowing will not be a common occurrence. This is because even though employees may know about harmful information, they will not come forward with it, either because they are unethical or the company is unethical. These examples go to show that whistleblowing is the right and morally sound move.
“Whistleblowing has been on the increase since the 2007-08 financial crisis sparked a crackdown on corporate corruption and collusion. The number of tips received by the “Whistleblower Office” of America’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has risen steadily since it was opened in 2011, to nearly 4,000 a year.”. With more companies encouraging the act of whistleblowing, it has been an increasing technique for catching wrongdoing in the business environment. Whistleblowing should be continuously encouraged into the future. Many cases in the past, Enron and WorldCom specifically, could have been treated sooner if the corporate culture encouraged the ethics behind whistleblowing.
Whistleblowing as stated is influence on the healthy cooperate culture, however, it is needed to do in the ethical direction. There is need to encourage the whistleblowing activities and policies in the organizations, so that the businesses and employees can be saved from the unethical business environment. Moreover, when everybody in the organization knows that there are the policies for the protection, then trust on organization and performance can be enhanced. If the company is unethical or the people inside the organization are unethical, then there can be the misunderstandings between the people and stakeholders will not leave the company.
Whistleblowing is never wrong. As stated in Ethical Obligations and Decision Making in Accounting, “effective internal whistleblowing processes are an important part of a healthy corporate culture”. “The Categorical Imperative in Kant’s ethical system is an unconditional moral law that applies to all rational beings and is independent of any personal motive or desire. Therefore, we could say that even if pressure exits in an organization to not report wrongdoing, a rational, moral person will withstand such pressure, regardless of perceived retaliation, because it is a moral requirement to do so”. Some reasons why accountants are scared to blow the whistle, as stated in Ethical Obligations and Decision Making in Accounting, are: Pressure to maintain numbers, fear of reprisals, loyalty to the boss, and a weak board of directors. In particular, fear of reprisals “underlies the whistle blowing process in many organizations where ethical employees want to blow the whistle but fear reprisals, so they stay silent”. However, an accountant’s first and foremost obligation is to the public. Therefore, they should not hesitate to protect the public from immoral or illegal actions that a company is committing.
One should be never scared of blowing the whistle because it is the right of the people. However, there is need to give the training to the ethical employees for the ethical consideration and need to blow the whistle in the ethical ways, so that the processes of the organization cannot harmful for the man. Employees see if anything bad in the organization or if the conditions are illegal then the employees need to complaint for the fair procedures, so that implementation for the fairness principles can be there.
References:
- Miller, R. L., & Cross, F. B. (2015). The Legal Environment Today. Cengage Learning.
- Mintz, Steven M., and Roselyn E. Morris. Ethical Obligations and Decision Making in Accounting: Text and Cases. 4th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Accessed October 13, 2016. https://connect.mheducation.com/connect/hmEBook.do?setTab=sectionTabs.
- “The Age of the Whistleblower.” The Economist. December 05, 2015. Accessed October 13, 2016.https://www.economist.com/news/business/21679455-life-getting-better-those-who-expose-wrongdoing-companies-continue-fight.