Unique Ethical Issue: Whistleblowing Research Paper Sample

Whistleblowing refers to reporting the act of an employee reporting illegal, illegitimate, or immoral practices or actions under the employer’s control to parties with authority to take corrective action (Samuels, 2013).
Whistleblowing presents an ethical dilemma in corporate circles. On one hand, whistleblowers can help organizations curb wasteful or fraudulent practices; they may also help organizations correct unsafe products. Besides, whistleblowers may avail information critical in maintaining a complex organization’s performance (Ewing 1983, Miceli & Near 1985). On the other hand, an organization’s cohesiveness, authority structure and public image may be threatened by whistleblowers (Reynolds, n.d.). Besides, whistleblowers may face retaliation.
Some of the traditional ethics theories that suggest potential resolution of these dilemmas are the utilitarian and deontological ethics theories. Developed by Jeremy Bentham, the utilitarian theory, there is no moral act or rule that is right or wrong intrinsically. Rather, how right or wrong an act or rule is depends on the consequences of the act or rule. An act e.g. whistleblowing in our case is good if it results in maximum pleasure and least pain (Riley, 2010). Thus using this school of thought a whistleblowing can be justified if it maximizes consequences, otherwise it is an immoral thing.
Deontological ethics on the other hand is in line with natural moral law. In deontological ethics a rule or action is morally good not because of the consequences other action, but because of some attributes of the action (Schwickert & Miller, 2005). Based on this school of thought, whistleblowing is a moral act and employees need to be encouraged to blow the whistle when necessary. Deontological ethics solves the ethical dilemma that whistleblowing possess. However, the whistleblower needs to do so with good intentions and not with the intentions of targeting somebody maliciously, as that could be a moral act in itself.

References

Nielsen, R., & Ewing, D. (1983). Do It My Way or You're Fired. The Academy Of Management Review, 8(4), 701.
Reynolds, G. Don't Fear the Leaker: Thoughts on Bureaucracy and Ethical Whistleblowing. SSRN Journal.
Riley, J. (2010). Mill's extraordinary utilitarian moral theory. Politics, Philosophy & Economics, 9(1), 67-116.
Samuels, A. (2013). The Whistleblower. Medico-Legal Journal, 81(2), 77-81.
Schwickert, E., & Miller, S. (2005). Gender, Morality, and Ethics of Responsibility: Complementing Teleological and Deontological Ethics. Hypatia, 20(2), 164-187.