Ethics n whistleblowing Outline Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Ethics n whistleblowing - Outline Example ....14 According to statistics published by Public Concern at Work (www.pcaw.co.uk) more and more people are willing to whistleblow about wrong doing in the workplace. In light of this, evaluate how organisations can develop an effective approach to workplace whistleblowing which takes account of the needs of their stakeholders? Introduction Throughout the years, businesses have evolved. The days on the industrial age is over and the increasing vast improvement in technology has given way to an improvement in communication that may not have been perceived in the last two decades or so. Consequently, this has paved the way for more information and ultimately knowledge to be accessible for almost anyone that has a computer and can surf the internet. Likewise, a new breed of workers has been identified that are more fluid and are quite different from the traditional 8-5 employees. These are called knowledge workers and companies are increasingly reliant of these professionals as an inte gral part of their businesses (Serrat 2008). However, knowledge workers or not, companies and stakeholders must recognize the fact that their workers have just gone smarter and are more empowered than ever. This brings a more empowered and smart breed of employees that are more capable of blowing the whistle to call attention to and maybe put a stop on wrong doings in a company. This also brings about a culture of higher ethical standards wherein employees adhere to principles and values in the conduct of their work. Whistleblowing as an Ethical Dilemma This simple truth described above has likewise increased the possibility of employees blowing the whistle on unfair labor practices or unsafe working standards and of course anomalies or illicit activities by the company or by employees, officers or even owners of the company. Some years back, an incident struck the attention of the public when a ranking NHS (National Health Service) official was sacked for supporting a subordinate i n an apparent expose’ of irregularities within the organisation’s system. Of course, the official reason for the dismissal was not about the whistle blowing incident but about some issues regarding management. This was quite questionable though since the person in question has been with the NHS for over a decade and a half and was a recent recipient of a management award (BBC News 2003). This incident can be regarded as a crossroad where whistle blowing and ethics ran smack into each other. The company or its management cannot openly use the whistle blowing as a reason to terminate an employee that has, well to put it simply, earned the ire of the head honchos. In effect, this leads whoever is in charge of taking care of the company’s problem personality to orchestrate an inglorious exodus usually for the company to save face and avoid a repeat of the incident. Defining Whistleblowing Whistleblowing is defined as a† disclosure of illegal, immoral, or illeg itimate practices that are under employer control by either former or current organization members to