What Is Whistle Blowing Philosophy Essay

What Is Whistle Blowing Philosophy EssayWhistle-blowing is a disclosure by organization members of illegal, im clean or un respectable practices under the control of their employer, to persons or organizations that may m accept action.Im moralistic practices can be entrancement of law, violation of benevolent beings interest such as fraud, violation of health/safety, corruption etc. the organizations that may affect this action can be media, public interest groups, enforcement agencies etc.TYPES OF WHISTLEBLOWINGInternal peach-blowingTo report mess up to a fellow traveler employee or senior caution deep down the attach to. outdoor(a) babble out-blowingReport misconduct to out perspective entities or general public.ETHICAL ISSUES RELATED TO WHISTLE-BLOWINGThe generally habitual view of the whistleblower within business on the part of the management and colleagues is that this person is the traitor to the organization.(Richard DeGeorge)Employees construct both moral and legal certificate of indebtednesss to be loyal to their employees.(Beauchamp and Browie)Whistle-blowing is a conflicting matter in terms of employee dedication. On adept hand it may be seen as loyal and on a nonher, disloyal. It is assumed that employees feel a vow to protect the dealings of the organization.External whistle-blowing is wrong because an employee has a contractual duty to be loyal to fellowship he is working(a) in. Whereas Ronald Duska says single does not have an obligation of loyalty to a company, even a prima facie one, because companies atomic number 18 not the manikin of things that atomic number 18 properly objects of loyalty.This means it is impossible to associate loyalty with a company because it is an abstract entity. Because company does not have a reason of its own, instead, it is made up of people working towards the same goal.A whistle blower is not disloyal in reality. We can beat an argument that a whistle-blower shows greater loyalty as co mp ared to the person who send aways any malpractices in the organization.Whistle-blowing is a brave act of conscience and a person who blows the whistle may simple machinery heavy personal costs.One should do what is sound, muddled income can be replaced but lost egotism-esteem is difficult to retrieve.IS on that point A RIGHT TO BLOW THE WHISTLE?Nobody can dissolve whether blowing whistle is good or bad because the problem is that it has effects, good as well as bad. Sometimes whistle-blowing causes to a greater extent problem than good. If there is an edit that has to be addressed to the top authorities and then it should be channeled done right authorities.If a whistle-blower starts talking to his co-workers about some malpractices, the duty environment gets effected. And also the claims of whistle-blower are not always genuine. As a result other employees get dragged into it unnecessarily and company gets problematic in lawsuits. By the time the company proves its innocence it has already suffered a loss of thousands of dollars.Whistle-blower should approach the internal authority prior to externally blowing the whistle. Because sometimes the top management is not aware of the problem and employees make the situation worse by blowing the whistle.An employee has an honourable obligation to blow the whistle. It is safe for him to act ethically and show loyalty by not except obeying the rules and regulations of the company but also reporting genuine wrongdoings that may affect the public at large.ETHICAL spatial relationS ON WHISTLE-BLOWINGDEONTOLOGICAL ETHICSFor example, a company is making unsafe consumer products in order to save some money. An employee working in that organization sees this as immoral and reports the media about it. A whistle-blower would do this according to Kants duty-based ethics. honourable obligations have nothing to do with consequences.RIGHTS hypothesisWhistle-blowing is not morally required according to right s theory. E rattlingone has a welfare right to make income and support themselves and their family, so they cannot do this without a job. By blowing the whistle he/she may get fired so it is better to ignore any malpractices in the organization.UTILITARIANISMUtilitarianism is based on principle to predict the consequences of an action. Utilitarianism is more clearly understood by cost-benefit analysis. Whistle-blowing has many moral venues. On one side the welfare of employees moldiness be considered and on the other side the consumer. Utilitarian simplify whistleblowing by pleasure versus pain issue. If whistle-blowing willing father less pain than pleasure then it is a good act. If not, then it is wrong and unethicalTHE FORD PINTO CASEIn the carrefour Pinto vitrine it is a well-known fact that to begin with the production of this car Ford engineers were aware of Pintos potential for catastrophe. They had a crash try on at a top secret site and every test at 25mph resulted in ruptured gas tank of the car. Ford employees under the oath denied this fact and this car flooded the market for about eight years. An internal cost-benefit analysis illustrated that it was not profitable for the company to make changes sooner. Thus, they placed monetary worth on human life. Total benefit was $49.5 million and total cost was $137 million. Therefore, no(prenominal) of the employees blew the whistle because they had a consternation of being fired from the job.ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE seer Mohammad PBUH verbaliseDiscussions are confidential (not subject to disclosure) except in trine places shedding unlawful blood, unlawful cohabitation and unlawful accumulation of wealth.(Abu Dawud)Prophet of Allah (P.B.U.H.) s instigateHe who saw Munkar (wrongdoing) amongst you should prevent it with his hand, if unable to, then with his peach (i.e. whistle blowing), if unable to, then (dislike it) in his heart and that is the least of faith.(Abu said al khudri)These sayings of Prop het Muhammad proved that whistle-blowing is also encouraged by Islam.Richard De Georges system of WhistleblowingThe philosopher Richard DeGeorge proposed that external whistleblowing is morally permissible when three conditions are fulfilled. Whistleblowing is termed as unobjectionable by DeGeorge when following three conditions are metIf any product or policy cause serious harm for the general public.If an employee realizes an intense risk to the consumer of a product he or she should report it to his supervisor. Therefore animal trainer responsible for the manufacturing of the product should be aware of its threat.If an employees immediate supervisor does not take the moral concern regarding the product into account, thus the internal bowed stringed instrument of command has been exhausted.The firstcriteria explain the intensity of issue. The explanation of harm can be assessed in terms of physical, emotional or financial harm. The second and threesome criteria can be inter preted that employee tried and true hi level scoop up to address via internal means.DeGeorge holds that whistleblowing becomes morally required when in addition to the anterior three conditions the following two conditions are metThere is sufficient affectionate documented evidence obtainable to convince an impartial individual.The employee must have valid and strong reason that by dismission public, necessary changes will be brought. Moreover, benefits of whistleblowing must be worth the risks one takes and the dangers to which one is encountered.WORLDCOMS whistle blowerCynthia Cooper CaseIn March 2002, when WorldCom was struggling tocoordinate and integrate the compound mess created by the 65 companies it had acquired, World-Coms highly respected chief financial officer,Scott Sullivan, moved $400 million from a reserve account and preserve it as income in the companys public financial reports. Alerted to this, CynthiaCooper, the perfectionist head of WorldComs internal c anvas department, began to secretly examinethe companys books. Shesoon discovered that Scott Sullivan and David Myers, for years had publicly report jillionsof dollars as capital expenditures when they were in real the operating costs. Uncollectible receivables were ignored, and reported asincome what were reallyreserve funds, and did all this with the help of ArthurAndersen, the companys auditor and accounting firm. Though angrily endanger by Sullivan, andrisking her job and career, on June 20, 2002, Cynthia Cooper courageously met with the auditcommittee of WorldComs board of directors andtoldthem what had been going on. On June 25, World-Coms directors announced the company hadinflatedits profits by over $3.8 billion-an nitty-gritty laterro localizeo $9 billion-is the greatest accounting fraud in history. Sullivan and Myers were arrested WorldComs shareholders lost $3 billion 17,000 WorldCom workers lost their jobs.It was the biggest fraud in U.S. corporate history. WorldCom de clared bankruptcy in July 2002, after its stocks value had declined by $180 billion and its launcher Bernard Ebbers had left the company. CynthiaCooper was later recognized as one of the three Persons of the Year by Time cartridge holder.Analysis Based on Kantian EthicsPhilosopher Immanuel Kant is renowned for his ethical theory which is categorized under Deontological ethics. fit to his theory it can be assessed that it is the intention behind an action alternatively its consequences that make an action good. Deontological Moral system is based on the matted imperative. According to Kant to act from a good will is to act from a duty. The act of Cynthia Coopers whistleblowing fits into this categorical imperative of duty to do the right thing. The doctor motive of the action is report financial crime there are no monetary gains or self-interested motives. A Kantian view justifies Cynthia Coopers whistleblowing as reporting financial crime is morallyright thing to do, thus mor al obligation has nothing to do with consequences.Since Kant believed that every action has a maxim, we need to ask what would happen if the principle (maxim) of an action were a universal law (one that everyone acted on). Would a world where everyone acted on that principle be possible? If it can, then the finish to act would be morally permissible (Bowie, 1999). Therefore the proposed act of whistleblowing passes Kants test of universizability. If whistleblowing were a universal principle, all would benefit from the transparency and investor confidence would be maximized thusly, according to Kant, the act of whistleblowing is morally permissible.Analysis based on Kohlbergs Moral theory of DevelopmentKohlbergs theory is useful because it helps us understand how our moral capacitiesdevelop and reveals how we may mature in our understanding of our own moralstandards. According to Kohlberg Cynthia reached the sixth stage of moral development Universal Moral Principles Orientation. T his is because at thisPost customary stage, rightactioncomesto be definedin termsof moralprinciples chosenbecause of their reasonableness, universality, and consistency. Cynthia believed that manipulation of financial accounts is a universal crime and therefore she reported the misconduct based on the moral principle orientation. Cynthia Cooper justify her choices on the basis of moral principles and obligations as during the interview with Times Magazine she saidThere is a price to be paid. But it comes back to the determine and ethics that you learn..The fear of losing my job was secondary to the obligation I felt.WHISTLE BLOWING IN PAKISTANWhistle blowing internal and external is usually not practical for employees in Pakistan because they dont posses the resources either within the firm or within the civil society. They lack strong moral beliefs, confidence, will power and commitments and are scared of the consequences. Today, media especially journalism is playing as a whist leblower to the public.The current political environment in Pakistan threatens whistle blowers in a corporation from upholding their voices against illegal practices of their organization. Employees who blow whistle are refrained from doing so and cite difficulties and barriers such as life threats, political insecurity, risk of career and family insecurity.In our country, unsafe medical practices and unethical behavior is at such a high level and widely spread that blowing a whistle to alert the authority would be simply inaudible. Health care fraud is very common in Pakistan. False claims, patients required paying illegal fees, absence seizure of staff and refusing to see patients in government hospitals and referring them to private clinics are violating ethical spheres.95% of the population in Pakistan holds the view that our health sector is corrupt. The fear of been victimized, loosing the job and career, is the main concern very practically trainee doctors keep muteness a nd do not raise their voice against their seniors.RICHARD BARLOWS CASERichard Barlowis anAmerican acquaintance analyst and a former senior member of theCentral scholarship Agency. He lost his job and was charged of being disloyal to CIA. Barlow in condition(p) that the top US officials were allowing the sale of the F-16 fighters to Pakistan in 1989. It was against the 1985Pressler amendment of theForeign Assistance morselwhich veto the sale of anymaterial or armaments which might dish out in the development or manufacturing of nuclear weapons.He also found that the officials were concealing this information from Congress since telling the truth would have legally obligated US government to restrain from giving military aid to Pakistan at the time when it was being provided, through Pakistan, to Afghanistan against Soviet Union.Barlow therefore blew a whistle without considering the consequences. As a result he was asked to prove himself forward Congress and court. He was char ged of being a traitor and an adulterer. He lost his job. It was life altering experience for him which damaged his marriage, career and left irreparable dents on his character.He is quoted as saying They smeared my name in truly extraordinary ways that no one had ever seen beforeIf he had been listened to, many people believe that our country would have never got its nuclear bomb.ETHICAL IMPLICATIONSKANTIAN ETHICSImmanuel Kant is the founder of deontological ethics. He states that ethical behaviors are those which are duty oriented. A person must bring about what is his duty, not whats good. The act of Richard Barlow is justified on Kantian grounds. Sacrifice of self interest for the greater interest of the society was the act performed by Barlow.fast(a) AGENT ARGUMENTLoyal agent argument reduces an employee from being human to just being an organ of the organization. Loyalty does not imply that we have a duty to refrain from reporting the immoral actions of those to who we are lo yal. An employer who is acting unethical is not acting in his own best interests and an employee is not acting disloyally in blowing the whistle.LEGAL PROTECTION TO WHISTLE BLOWERSOne of the early laws that protected whistleblowers was the 1863 United StatesFalse Claims Act(revised in 1986), which tried to counter fraud by the US government during theCivil War. on a lower floor the 1st and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, state and local government bureaucrats are prohibited from opposing whistleblowers. Boards like Civil Service Reform Act are createdWhistle blowing has gone high tech therefore steps are taken to ensure safety of them. There are different websites available which guide employees on ethical issues like national whistle blowing centre(NWC)federal official (equal employment opportunity) laws also have protection provisions for whistle blowers. If you ascertain aprohibited discriminationagainst employees you may report the concerned authorities.Consumer Right s representation of Pakistan has stated the unavailability of protection to whistle blowers and lack of transparency as the major causes of corruption in our state. Therefore, it has created an interface in the form of independence of Information Bill 2008.SummarizingWhistleblowers not only provide the initial stimulation for improving organization efficiency and effectiveness, but also they are often the source of solutions to organization problems (Miceli et al., 1991).Whistle blower observes a dilemma between serving as a loyal agent and preventing social harm. This implies that he should reconcile his own interest with the general interest of the organization. Utilitarian considerations therefore cannot furnish a definitive guide in this context.Whistle blowing must be institutionalized. This means that there must be a set of procedures for employees to report the fraud internally before they raise the matter in the outside world