Is whistleblowing unethical?

1
Is whistleblowing unethical?

• Controversy Opinion Based Short Article on
  ponderly.com by Gina P. Elisa L.

2
Fact Box

• Britannica defines a whistleblower as an
  individual who, without authorization, reveals
  private or classified information about an
  organization, usually related to wrongdoing or
  misconduct. Whistleblowers generally state that
  such actions are motivated by a commitment to the
  public interest.
• A 2022 Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
  report revealed that internal auditors have
  uncovered 16 or fewer fraud schemes annually.
  More frauds are reported via whistleblowers than
  through frauds uncovered during an internal
  audit.
• A 2021 All Voices survey found that 26.5 of
  employees say they have never reported
  wrongdoing when theyve seen it, while 70 say
  they would be more likely to report if there was
  a truly anonymous method.
• The Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 was
  established to guard federal employees against
  retaliation when reporting a wide variety of
  abuses, violations of law, waste and actions
  posing a threat to health or safety.

3
Elisa (No)

• Whistleblowing helps keep businesses and
  industries accountable and transparent. Without
  whistleblowers like Edward Snowden, we would
  never have known, for example, the true extent of
  the NSA's programs to monitor innocent civilians.
  
• Additionally, many famous whistleblowers have
  kept our country safe and taken its actions to
  task. Chelsea Manning is a more recent example of
  this as someone who showcased the brutality and
  war crimes America perpetuated during the Iraq
  War. Without her bravery, the wanton killing of
  Iraqi civilians and the destruction of property
  for no reason at all would have never seen the
  light of day. It's unequivocally clear that, in
  this case especially, the ethical issues pertain
  to the people who literally tortured Manning and
  killed at least 15,000 civilians without
  reporting it, not in the act of Manning's
  whistleblowing itself.

4
Elisa (No)

• Whistleblowers can help reveal 'health and safety
  risks, injustices or miscarriages of justice,
  illegal activities, law-breaking or criminal acts
  like fraud, and cover-ups of unethical activities
  or wrongdoing.' The Guardian writes that
  whistleblowers are 'indispensable to a healthy
  society' and 'are far more likely to be resented
  than respected' but are 'a kind of public hero.'
• Whistleblowing is also a safeguarded act. As
  integrity platform, Gan Integrity explains,
  'Fundamentally, businesses have an ethical
  obligation to protect and support the employees
  working for them. That includes protecting
  employees who raise alarms about possible
  misconduct they see at the business.' Because of
  this, whistleblowers are protected by the
  Department of Labor.
• It's been said that absolute power corrupts
  absolutely. Within the framework of unbridled
  capitalism, whistleblowers are one of the few
  protections against corruption and criminal acts.
  Not only are they ethical, they are some of the
  greatest heroes of our time.

5
Gina (Yes)

• According to the SEC, whistleblowing is at an
  all-time high. In the 2021 fiscal year alone,
  564 million was paid out in awards to
  whistleblowers, which raises questions about
  people's motives for 'blowing the whistle' in the
  first place. While blatant disregard of laws by
  organizations should be reported to law
  enforcement agencies, ethics and values are
  subjective. Ethical relativism puts forth that
  there is no clear-cut 'right or wrong' when
  analyzing scenarios, especially in a country like
  the US, which has become a melting pot of
  cultural diversity.
• A 2015 study shows fairness and loyalty are
  determining factors in whistleblowing. However,
  fairness and loyalty are both subjective and
  non-quantifiable. Further, Dr. Steven Mintz of
  Orfalea College of Business points out that
  'greed is a powerful motivating force when
  considering whether to blow the whistle on
  financial wrongdoing,' and 'the most important
  consideration in assessing whether a
  whistleblower acts in an ethical manner is the
  intention for one's action.'

6
Gina (Yes)

• A 2022 study examining 'whistleblowing intention'
  analyzed the 'perceived seriousness of wrongdoing
  affecting whistleblowing.' Perception of
  wrongdoing is a gray area that could cause a
  tremendous amount of harm to both the reputation
  of the company and/or the whistleblowers
  themselves. Without seeing all angles of what is
  perceived to be happening within an organization,
  there is a risk of being inaccurate in the
  accusations. There have been many incidents when
  whistleblowing has gone wrong.
• Employers give access to employees based on
  trust. If there is suspected wrongdoing within a
  company, it should be brought to light internally
  as a show of respect and to maintain that trust.
  That is the ethical thing to dowhistleblowing
  usually isn't.

7
Thank You for Reading

• Engage both sides of trends and favorite topics,
  and expand your mind. Social media done right.