The Importance Of Whistleblowing In Organizations

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It has become increasing difficult for upper management of organisation to monitor whether or not employees are doing the right thing, legally and or morally. Put forward, organisations can now identify and rectify any wrong doings (Smith, 2010). This can be done with the aid of their employees. These employees who come forward and report unethical wrong doings, are known as “whistle blowers” (Elliston, 1982). Whistleblowing is best defined as, an act of reporting an organisation involved in corrupt, illegal as well as harmful activities (Tsahuridu & Vandekerckhove, 2016). This paper will argue that whistleblowing within organisation should be encouraged, as it is beneficial to the organisation. Additionally this paper, will present various…show more content…
A significant advantage of introducing whistleblowing within companies is that it allows organisations to better themselves by identifying and dealing with what is being reported (Smith, 2010). For example, when individual misuse resources available to them and it is reported. Here the organisation can use this opportunity to inform everyone of what is acceptable behaviour with regard to the resources that are at employees disposable. In addition, organisations can put forward training programmes that educate their employees. Thus, fixing a problem as well as creating an open line of communication within the organisation so that employees can inquire as to what is appropriate and what is not. Equally important, by encouraging whistleblowing organisations can identify that employees would rather have wrong doings corrected than have the organisations image suffer, this demonstrates employee loyalty towards the organisation (Tsahuridu & Vandekerckhove, 2007). A good example to demonstrate loyalty is having an employee report an individual who is committing embezzlement, which is stealing money from the organisation. Here the accused individual can be dealt with. Furthermore, by reporting this type of incident the organisation can save and recover the money that was stolen. Therefore, by the individual staying loyal to the organisation and coming forward…show more content…
Whistleblowing can have a serious effect on the individual more than that on the organisation. Retaliation against whistle-blowers may be the most significant disadvantage and major influence on individuals reporting wrong doing. Retaliation can range from isolating an individual to discrediting the character of the individuals and or the organisation (Mermer-Magnus & Viswesvaran, 2005). Additionally, whistle blowers whose identity is not disclosed to other employees will most likely result in them being treated different by their fellow employees (Mermer-Magnus & Viswesvaran, 2005; Elliston, 1982). Furthermore, some employees may be fired or may feel forced to change jobs because of how their organisation may treat them once they have been identified as the individual who reported a wrong doing (Smith & Brown, 2008). Equally important, if employees decide to report organisations wrong doings to external sources, such as the media, the organisation will suffer. For instance, Edward Snowden a former employee with Central Intelligence Agency, reported how the United State National Security was monitoring individuals and invading their privacy. This resulted in a negative image for the organisation because people no longer trusted the organisation. In addition, Edward was effectively negatively because he lost his job and
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