To blow or not to blow: The psychological toll of (not) blowing the whistle
Dr Katie Porkess MSc MBA PhD
FISMA
1st July 2015 BRLSI, Bath, UK.
Notes by William Gaskell
“Whistleblowing is the disclosure by organisation members of illegal
immoral practices [sic].”
Examples of Whistle blowing
Silkwood film about nuclear safety in USA
Lady got plutonium poisoning and then crashed her car and
died while testifying against her company for lapses in health and safety.
Air –Shield Inc
Salvador Castro in 1995 noticed a baby incubator was unsafe
and same up with fix – he reported t regulator and was sacked and never worked
again.
Crossrail
Frank Morris in 2012 raised health and safety issues on
behalf of his consultancy and was dismissed. He then petitioned Crossrail for 1
and a half years by billboarding them outside of their HQ offices daily with
the support of his union until he and his company were re-instated by Crossrail.
Walsgrave Hospital
Dr Raj Mithu in 2001 raised suspicion of malpractice amongst
junior staff as some of his patients were dying unexplainably after operations.
He was then suspended for 13 years for bullying the junior staff until he was
eventually cleared of wrongdoing. He complained of the negative health,
psychological and emotional effects and costs of this struggle against his NHS
Trust.
Colchester General Hospital
Staff felt unhappy and uneasy about speaking out because of no
confidence in whistle blowing process as they did not believe in the
confidentiality of it.
Goodrich
Kermit Vandivier in 1968 raised concerns about brake pad
being supplied by his firm to the USAF but was not able to speak to anyone
about it. When the product was delivered to USAF they found that it was faulty
and led to the possibility of criminal prosecution being threatened. Two years
later he wrote to his department head to resign, but his department head did
not know of the situation et so fired him immediately instead for breach of
trust.
Whistle blowing is risky:
·
Lack of support
·
Vilification
·
Ostracisation
This leads to stress and resulting psychological effects.
Chris Yates in 2013 spoke out against British Army 10 years
after leaving. He did not speak out at the time but felt things were wrong but
went along with them anyway at the time. The culture changed after 10 years so
he spoke out.
Ford Pinto
In 1978 three was a scandal involving this car as it had a
vulnerability of a gas tank explosion if it was hit from behind. When the
problem was first discovered the company decided it was cheaper to compensate
victims than to have a recall of the model. 20 years laer in 1978 Ford were
obliged by court order to issue recall.
The executives ethically believed in recall but whilst working
for Ford did not perceive any obligation to issue recall because of the culture
of the organisation.
Whistleblowing is contextual
·
Depends on the culture of the group members
Social Identity Theory
This propagates the view that identifying with and being with
a group makes us feel good and gives us
social identity and we make personal sacrifices in order to be in the group.
Reasons for low identification
·
Changes in culture of organisation
·
Values too alien for member to identify with
These would lead to psychological disengagement.
Whistleblowing behaviour:
·
Change yourself
·
Influence group
Solution
·
Effective communication within organisation
In USA whistle-blowers get share of any fines imposed.
In UK no financial gain for whistle-blower but job is
protected under both regimes.
ENRON collapsed overnight as a result of a whistleblower,
perhaps because of US culture . Arthur Anderson the accountancy firm also
collapsed.
UK government’s Health Select
Committee has found:
[Bad] treatment of whilstleblowers has caused harm and
undermined willingness of whistleblowers to come forward in NHS.
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