Ethical Whistleblowing — Brief Analysis

Through this article, I am going to present,

01. What is Ethical Whistleblowing?

02. Elements of Ethical Whistleblowing,

03. Steps/procedure for a Whistleblowing.

Now let's see one by one with more details.

01. What is Ethical Whistleblowing?

Whistleblowing is an act, for an employee ( or former employee), of disclosing what he believes to be unethical or illegal behavior to higher management ( internal whistleblowing) or to an external authority or the public ( external whistleblowing).

A whistleblower is a person who involves in the process of whistleblowing.

More about whistleblowers

Whistleblower, 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.

Although the term was first used to refer to public servants who made known governmental mismanagement, waste, or corruption, it now covers the activity of any employee or officer of a public or private organization who alerts a wider group to setbacks to their interests as a result of waste, corruption, fraud, or profit-seeking.

Types of Whistleblowing

There are two types of whistleblowing.

01. Internal whistleblowing

• Internal whistleblowers are those who report the misconduct, fraud, or indiscipline to senior officers of the organization such as Head Human Resource or CEO.

02. External whistleblowing

• External whistleblowing is a term used when whistleblowers report the wrongdoings to people outside the organization such as the media, higher government officials, or police.

02. Elements of Ethical Whistleblowing

There are four elements of the whistle-blowing process. They are,

• The whistleblower
• The whistleblowing act or complaint
• The party to whom the complaint is made
• The organization against which the complaint is lodged

03. Steps/procedure for a Whistleblowing

Following is a diagram to show the procedure for whistleblowing.

Source — https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Whistleblowing-flow-chart-1.png

Step 1 — Get Evidence

• Evidence can include emails, internal studies, billing records, or test results.
• If you can witness the wrongdoing first hand that’s great, but not necessary.
• This evidence will help support your claim when you present it to the government.
• The more evidence you have, the better chances your case will be.

Step 2 — Presenting the Evidence

• The whistleblower must file a complaint in court as well as submit it to the government.

Step 3 — Government Investigation

• This is the longest part of this process.
• During this time, all aspects of the matter, including the whistleblower’s identity and the investigation itself, will remain confidential.

Step 4 — The Decision

• If the government decides to bring a case, the whistleblower may be asked to testify at trial or a grand jury proceeding.
• It’s at this point your identity will be disclosed.

I hope this will give you some idea of the whistleblowing. Thank you 😊.