Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T13:27:13.290Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Better Statutory Approach to Whistle-blowing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Terry Morehead Dworkin  and
Janet P. Near
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Statutory approaches toward whistle-blowing currently appear to be based on the assumption that most observers of wrongdoing will report it unless deterred from doing so by fear of retaliation. Yet our review of research from studies of whistle-blowing behavior suggests that this assumption is unwarranted. We propose that an alternative legislative approach would prove more successful in encouraging valid whistle-blowing and describe a model for such legislation that would increase self-monitoring of ethical behavior by organizations, with obvious benefits to society at large.

A defense contractor’s inspectors used improper calibration standards when inspecting missile parts and other military products, used noncertified inspectors when inspecting such products, and used employees without top-secret clearance to work on classified projects. This created potentially life-threatening products as well as potential compromises of military secrets.

Quality-control officials on the Trans Alaska Pipeline were threatened with physical harm, demoted, and spied on in an effort to force them not to turn in negative reports or report problems. As a result, the likelihood of damaging oil spills due to improperly built and maintained equipment is heightened.

A major corporation allegedly initiated an analysis of the cost savings that would result from circumventing or reducing compliance with health, safety and environmental standards. Two officers who objected to this noncompliance cost/benefit analysis were subsequently fired.

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , January 1997 , pp. 1 - 16
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramowitz, E.: 1990, “Mutiny for the bounty—Qui tam bonanza or fair reward,” New York Law Journal, May 1, 1990, 3.Google Scholar
Blumberg, P.I.: 1971, “Corporate responsibility and the employee’s duty of loyalty and obedience: A preliminary inquiry,” Oklahoma Law Review 24, 279–318.Google Scholar
Bok, S.: 1980, “Whistle-blowing and professional responsibility,” in Callahan, P. & Bok, S. (eds.), Ethics Teaching in Higher Education, 277–295 (Plenum Press, New York).Google Scholar
Bowman, J.S.: 1983, “Whistle-blowing: Literature and Resource Materials,” Public Administration Review 43, 271–276.Google Scholar
Bowie, N.: 1982, Business Ethics (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey).Google Scholar
Callahan, E.S. and Dworkin, T.M.: 1992, “Do good and get rich: Financial incentives for whistle-blowing and the false claims act,” Villanova Law Review 37, 273–336.Google Scholar
Callahan, E.S. and Dworkin, T.M.: 1994, “Who blows the whistle to the media and why: Organizational Characteristics of media whistle-blowers,” American Business Law Journal 32, 151–184.Google Scholar
Coffee, ,: 1977, “Beyond the shut-eyed sentry: Toward a theoretical view of corporate misconduct and an effective legal response,” Virginia Law Review 63, 1099–113.Google Scholar
Dandekar, N.: 1990, “Can whistle-blowing be fully legitimated? A theoretical discussion,” Business & Professional Ethics Journal 10, 89–108.Google Scholar
Davis, M.: 1988, “Avoiding the tragedy of whistle-blowing,” Business & Professional Ethics Journal 8, 3–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeGeorge, R.: 1981, Business Ethics (McMillan, New York).Google Scholar
Dozier, J.B. and Miceli, M.P.: 1985, “Potential predictors of whistle-blowing: A prosocial behavior perspective,” Academy of Management Review 10, 823–386.Google Scholar
Dworkin, T.M.: 1992, “Legal approaches to whistle-blowing,” in Miceli, M.P. and Near, J.P., Blowing the Whistle, (Lexington Books, New York).Google Scholar
Dworkin, T.M. and Baucus, M.S.: 1995, “Internal vs. external whistle-blowers: A comparison of the whistle-blowing process,” presented to the meetings of the Academy of Management.Google Scholar
Dworkin, T.M. and Callahan, E.S.: 1991, “Internal whistle-blowing: Protecting the interests of the employee, the organization, and society,” American Business Law Journal 29, 267–308.Google Scholar
Dworkin, T.M. and Callahan, E.S.: 1993, “Employee disclosures to the media: When is a ‘source’ a ‘sourcerer’?”, Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal 15, 357–397.Google Scholar
Dworkin, T.M., Callahan, E.S. and Near, J.P.: 1995, “Governmental and Social Influences on Corporate Responsibility”, Proceedings: International Association of Business and Society.Google Scholar
Dworkin, T.M. and Near, J.P.: 1987, “Whistle-blowing statutes: Are they working?”, American Business Law Journal 25, 241–264.Google Scholar
Dworkin, T.M. and Near, J.P.: 1990, “Whistle-blower statutes and reality: Is there a need for realignment?”, Proceedings—Pacific Southwest Business Law Association, 1990, 71–86.Google Scholar
Elliston, F., Keenan, J., Lockhart, P. & Van Schalck, J.: 1985, Whistle-blowing (Praeger, New York).Google Scholar
Farrell, D. & Petersen, J.C.: 1989, “The organizational impact of whistle-blowing,” (paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Criminology Society, Reno, NV).Google Scholar
France, S.: 1990, “The private war on Pentagon fraud,” American Bar Association Journal, Mar. 1990, 46–49.Google Scholar
Gerson, M.: 1990, “Testimony,” False Claims Act Implementation: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Administrative Law and Government Relations of the House Committee on the Judiciary (101st Congress, 2d Session) 1–2.Google Scholar
Gest, T.: 1989, “Why whistle-blowing is getting louder,” U.S. News & World Report, Nov. 20, 1989, 64.Google Scholar
Glazer, M.P. & Glazier, P.M.: 1989, The Whistle-blowers, Exposing Corruption in Government and Industry (Basic Books, New York).Google Scholar
Goldberg, D.T.: 1987, “Tuning in to whistle-blowing,” Business & Professional Ethics Journal 7, 85–94.Google Scholar
Halbert, T.A.: 1985, “The cost of scruples: A call for common law protection for the professional whistle-blower,” Nova Law Journal 10, 1–27.Google Scholar
Hammer, W.C.: 1975, “How to ruin motivation with pay,” Compensation Review 7, 17–24.Google Scholar
Heacock, M.V. & McGee, G.W.: 1986, “Whistle-blowing: An ethical issue in organizational and human behavior,” Business & Professional Ethics Journal 6, 35–41.Google Scholar
James, G.: 1984, “In defense of whistle-blowing,” in Business Ethics Readings and Cases in Corporate Morality, 249–60 (McGraw-Hill, New York).Google Scholar
Johnson, D.: 1985, cited in Elliston, et al., p. 15.Google Scholar
Katz, D.: 1964, “The Motivational basis of organizational behavior,” Behavioral Science 9, 131–146.Google Scholar
Lawler, E.E., III: 1971, Pay and Organizational Effectiveness: A Psychological View (McGraw-Hill, New York).Google Scholar
Lawler, E.E., III: 1990, Strategic Pay, San Francisco: Jossey Bass.Google Scholar
Malin, M.H. : 1983, “Protecting the whistle-blower from retaliatory discharge,” University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform 16, 277–318.Google Scholar
Miceli, M.P. and Near, J.P.: 1984, “The relationship among beliefs, organizational position, and whistle-blowing status: A discriminant analysis,” Academy of Management Journal 27, 687–705.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miceli, M.P. and Near, J.P.: 1985, “Characteristics of organizational climate and perceived wrong-doing associated with whistle-blowing decisions,” Personnel Psychology 38, 525–544.Google Scholar
Miceli, M.P. and Near, J.P.: 1988, “Individual and situational correlates of whistle-blowing,” Personnel Psychology 41,267-282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miceli, M.P. and Near, J.P.: 1992, “Situational variables affecting the whistle-blowing decision: A review of the literature,” Advances in Management Accounting 1, 109–139.Google Scholar
Miceli, M.P. and Near, J.P.: 1994, “Relationships among value congruence, perceived victimization and retaliation against whistle-blowers: The case of internal auditors,” Journal of Management 20, 773–794.Google Scholar
Nader, R., Petkas, P.J. and Blackwell, K.: 1972, Whistle-blowing (Bantam, New York).Google Scholar
Naj, A.K: 1992, “Internal suspicions, GE’s drive to purge fraud is hampered by worker’s mistrust,” Wall Street Journal, July 22, 1992, at A1.Google Scholar
Near, J.P.: 1989, “Whistle-blowing: Encourage it!,” Business Horizons 32, 2–6.Google Scholar
Near, J.P. and Dworkin, T.M.: 1994, “Corporate response to legislative protection for whistle-blowers: Survey results,” Proceedings – International Association for Business and Society 1994, 398–403.Google Scholar
Near, J.P., Dworkin, T.M. & Miceli, M.P.: 1993, “Explaining the whistle-blowing process: Suggestions from power theory and justice theory,” Organization Science, 4, 393–411.Google Scholar
Near, J.P. and Miceli, M.P.: 1985, “Organizational dissidence: The case of whistle-blowing,” Journal of Business Ethics 4, 1–16.Google Scholar
Near, J.P. and Miceli, M.P.: 1986, “Retaliation against whistle-blowers: Predictors and effects,” Journal of Applied Psychology 71, 137–145.Google Scholar
Near, J.P. and Miceli, M.P.: 1987, “Whistle-blowers in organizations: Dissidents or reformers?” In Staw, B.M. and Cummings, L.L., eds., Research in Organizational Behavior 9, 321–368 (JAI Press, Greenwich, CT).Google Scholar
Near, J.P. and Miceli, M.P.: 1988, The Internal Auditor’s Ultimate Responsibility: The Reporting of Sensitive Issues (Altamonte Springs, FL: The Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation).Google Scholar
Near, J.P., Ryan, K.C. and Miceli, M.P.: 1995, “Results of a human resource management ‘experiment’: Whistle-blowing in the federal bureaucracy, 1980–1982”. Proceeding: Meetings of the Academy of Management, Vancouver, 1995.Google Scholar
Perry, J.L.: 1990, “Whistle-blowing, organizational performance, and organizational control,” in Frederickson, H. G., ed., Ethics and Public Administration, 79–99 (M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, New York).Google Scholar
Peters, L.H., Green, C.R. and Green, S.A.: in press, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Human Resource Management (London: Blackwell).Google Scholar
Porter, L.W., Lawler III, E.E., and Hackman, J.R.: 1975, Behavior in Organizations (McGraw-Hill, New York).Google Scholar
Powell, B.V.: 1989, “Whistling in the dark: The problem of federal whistle-blower protection for in-house reporters of corporate wrongdoing,” Oregon Law Review 69, 569–613.Google Scholar
Rongine, N.M.: 1985, “Toward a coherent legal response to the public policy dilemma posed by whistle-blowing,” American Business Law Journal 23, 281–297.Google Scholar
Strasser, F.: 1989, “When the big whistle blows,” National Law Journal, May 8, 1989, 1, 43.Google Scholar
Thompson, M.: 1988, “Stealth law,” California Lawyer, Oct. 1988, 33–37.Google Scholar
Vinten, G.: 1994, “Whistle-blowing—Fact and Fiction: An Introductory Discussion” in Whistle-blowing: Subversion or Corporate Citizenship, Vinten, G., ed. (New York: St. Martin’s Press), pp. 3–32.Google Scholar
Waldman, M.: 1991, “Time to blow the whistle?”, National Law Journal, Mar. 25, 1991, 13–14.Google Scholar
Walter, K.: 1995, “Ethics hot lines tap into more than wrongdoing,” HR Magazine, Sept. 1995, 79–85.Google Scholar
Walters, K.D.: 1975, “Thinking ahead: Your employees’ right to blow the whistle,” Harvard Business Review, July-Aug. 1975, at 26.Google Scholar
Weinstein, D.: 1972, Bureaucratic Opposition: Challenging Abuses at the Work Place (Pergamon Press, New York).Google Scholar
Westin, A.: 1981, Whistle-Blowing! Loyalty and Dissent in the Corporation (McGraw-Hill, New York).Google Scholar
Winfield, M.: 1994, “Whistle-blowers as Corporate Safety Net” in Whistle-blowing: Subversion or Corporate Citizenship, Vinten, G., ed. (New York: St. Martin’s Press), pp. 33–41.Google Scholar