Week 4

Question 1

What is a whistleblower?/ whistleblowing

Answer 1

An individuals who believe there is a risk of great harm if unethical behaviour is not brought to light and who then decide to actually bring it to light.

The wrongdoing should be non-trivial and alarming.
* It is a moral conondrum: employees are expected to be loyal to their organization but also report serious wrongdoing.
Aporia: loyal to the public or the organization?

Question 1

What are moral considerations within whistleblowing?

Answer 1

1. External vs. internal whistleblowing: one should report within the organization before external. External whistleblowing is viewed as much more problematic
2. Intention: Does the whistleblower gain something out of it? (good vs. bad faith disclosures)
3. Mindset: People are generally more likely to report misconduct if they feel that it is their professional or managerial duty
4. Cultural sensitivity
5. In the US whistleblowing is frowned upon, therefore it is hard.
   –> modifications in law: Whistleblowers Protection Act (1989) and Sarbanes-Oxley (2002)
6. Nature of the organization is important: in rigid bureaucracies without open and transparent communication whistleblowing is considered to be more acceptable than in open organizations

Question 2

When comparing the stance on whistleblowing between the USA and the EU. Which is more skeptic?

Answer 2

Europe

Question 3

What are the difference in whistleblowing stance between the EU and US?

Answer 3

The difference between European and Anglosaxon orientations is that the former consider whistleblowing to be “at best
permissible” and that the latter consider it to be “obligatory”
* * Legislation is expensive (in the EU); it is also believed to pose unacceptable restrictions on freedom
of action
* Unsubstantiated disclosures: Whistleblowers can be very wrong in reporting wrongdoings due to incomplete information and misjudgements
* Interest of society should not affect the duty of loyalty. Employees should report misconduct internally first.
* In Europe, employees enjoy much more legal
protection (within the organization); moreover, dissent (1) is much more accepted in European companies than in American companies

The European and American views are diverging, EU is adopting more American points

1. Dissent= meningsverschillen

Question 4

What points does Alford make on whistleblowing?

Fred Alford offers a more existential-psychological understanding

Answer 4

Whisteblowers become scapegoats
* Afterwards they enter a completely different world: you step outside the great chain of being, people in their social circle will even frown upon their behavior (bafflement and bemusement)
* People often consider whistleblowing as reckless, very rarely do whistleblowers become heroes
* What drives the whistleblowers? Are whistleblowers led by a secret drive to attain legendary status? Are they simply following up their sense of responsibility and accept the consequences? Or is it simply a moral urge rather than a fully-fledged awareness of responsibility?

Question 5

What are continental ideas on whistleblowing?

By John Caputo

Answer 5

‘Obligations do not ask for
my consent […] It is not anything i have agreed to be party to. It binds me. It comes over me and binds me’
Obligations such as whistleblowing are morally strong and bind you, it is not a choice
–> emphasis on emotion

Question 6

What are continental ideas on whistleblowing?

Zygmunt Bauman- “impractability of moral practice”

Answer 6

You leave the comfort zone because you feel a moral impulse to do so; this impulse results in a singular obligation.
* inner sense of duty or obligation rather than convenience or self-interest
* Moral practice can only have impractical foundations
* Moral acting= putting self-interest aside, even if it is socially uncomfortable (the other counts more)
* Morally living is difficult and complicated because morality is not an easy matter. If you decide to blow the whistle, it is as if nothing else exists anymore, only this particular case of wrongdoing. Moral decisions are complicated and not laid out leading to existential turmoil and this creates confusion and anxiety (“What the hell am I actually doing?”) → your life turns into a mess.

Question 7

What are continental ideas on whistleblowing?

As by Hans Jonas- shared responsibility

Answer 7

Agrees with Bauman that morality is emotional, but he disagrees that it is necessarily singular. On the contrary, responsibiity is something that ought to be shared.
Responsibiity is not something that you occasionally have; it is always there. Jonas argues that it is a sense of responsibility that ultimately drives the whistleblower. Responsibility is a necessary condition for morality; we feel responsible when the existence of something or someone is at stake.

Question 8

What is corporate social responsibility?

Answer 8

A strategy undertaken by companies to not just grow profits, but also to take an active and positive social role in the world around them.

Question 9

What organizational attitudes towards CSR have developed?

Answer 9

1. Defensive: ‘Its not our job to fix that.’
2. Compliant: ‘We’ll do exactly as much as we have to do’
3. Managerial: ‘It’s the business, stupid.’
4. Strategic: ‘Let’s do it for comparative advantage.’
5. Civil: ‘We need to make sure everyone participates.’