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Whistleblower

Most people in the business world will eventually face ethical or moral dilemmas in the workplace. These dilemmas can become very complicated because the employee may have to make the decision to inform on illegal or unethical practices in the workplace or to blow the whistle. A whistleblower is an employee, former employee, or member of an organization who reports misconduct to the public or to those in positions of authority that have the power and presumed willingness to take corrective action (). This misconduct is generally a violation of basic business ethics. Employees have a sense of responsibly for the integrity of their profession as a whole. People within a profession sometimes have knowledge about the conduct of others within this profession not otherwise known. “Whistleblowing” is the disclosure of information evidencing objectionable misconduct not otherwise known or visible, made in good faith (). Persons who blow the whistle generally do so out of a sense of public duty arising from high personal ethical standards. However, whistleblowing carries with it high personal risk to the whistleblower and such disclosure is action not lightly taken. Whistleblowers are vulnerable to detrimental action being taken against them by way of reprisal. The paper will explore the origin of whistleblowers, ethical issues that go along with whistleblowing, and legislation.
Origin of Whistleblowers
There is much disagreement surrounding the etymology of the term whistleblower. Some have attributed that the term whistleblower derives from the practice of English bobbies who would blow their whistle when they noticed the commission of a crime. The blowing of the whistle would alert both law enforcement officers and the general public of danger ().Others have theorized the term comes from locomotive trains sounding a warning of their impending. Attitudes toward whistleblowing have evolved over the past 50 years from the...