Whistle-blowing is Ethical or not?
What is Whistle-blowing?
When an employee discovers unethical, immoral or illegal actions at work, the employee makes a decision about what to do with this information. Whistle blowing is the term used to define an employee’s decision to disclose this information to an Authority.
Whistle blowing leads to good and bad results. In this Article, we will explore both. First, the benefits of carefully considered whistle blowing can lead to the end of unethical business practices. The lives of individuals and whole communities have been saved by whistle-blowers.
is it Ethical or not?
The actions of whistle-blowers are give benefits to the Society or a Nation or whole World. Businesses that engaged in unethical practices and harmful to the society have been shut down because of the hero actions of whistle-blowers. Lives have been saved, and severe damage to the environment or the society has been prevented because of the courage of whistle-blowers.
In other side, an employee who witnesses unethical business practices at work may want to think carefully before making the decision to inform an authority of the practice. The consequences of whistle blowing are often extreme and include possible firing, civil action, or even imprisonment
Procedure for Whistle-Blowing
Magnitude of consequences
An employee considering whistle blowing must ask himself or herself that
How much harm has been done or might be done to victims?
Will the victims really get “benefits”?
Probability of effect
The probability that the action will actually take place and will cause harm to many people must be considered. If the employee does not know if the action will happen and if the action will harm people (or the environment), the employee should reconsider his or her plan to blow the whistle.
Temporal immediacy
An employee must consider the length of time between the present and the possibly harmful event. The more immediate the consequences of the potentially unethical practice, the stronger the case for whistle blowing.
Proximity
The physical closeness of the potential victims must be considered.The question arises about matters of emotional proximity or situations in which the ethical question relates to a victim with some emotional attachment to the whistle-blower.
Concentration of Effort
A person must determine the intensity of the unethical practice or behavior. The question is how much intensity does the specific infraction carry.
Elements of ethical whistle-blowing?
Not only above facts you have to consider about the following elements also.There are four elements of the whistle-blowing process:
- The whistle-blower
- The whistle-blowing act or complaint
- The party to whom the complaint is made
- The organization against which the complaint is lodged
I think now you get some idea regarding ethical whistle -blowing.
Thanks for your time.
