Is 'whistle-blowing' an effective tool in management?
by Gamini T Pandikorala
The dictionary definition of a whistle-blower is 'a person who
informs on a person or organisation regarded as engaging in wrong and an
unlawful or immoral activity'. The definition expects the person who
raises the alarm to be an honourable one. Any action by a human being
can be criticised. If the parties involved are honourable and with deep
understanding of relevant issues, this will be a good and effective tool
in management.
In such a situation, perhaps a need for whistle blowing may not arise
at all. All religious leaders are whistle-blowers to the mankind. Jesus
told people to look into their own selves before casting a stone at a
sinner. The Buddha said to look inward and see that the so called 'self'
inside- owner of human body - is an illusion and it's the major factor
causing human sufferings. A researcher can find enough examples from
other religions as well.
Secrets
The two recent whistle-blowers who became world famous, namely Edward
Snowden divulged secrets targeting US security services and Michael
Woodford, president and CEO, of a reputed company became a
whistle-blower after discovering a huge fraud at his Japanese
electronics company. The fate both whistle-blowers confronted reminds us
the saying 'Don't shoot the messenger!' Even though corruption in the
world is escalating alarmingly, the dream of the humans to see an honest
and peaceful world is always appreciated by the vast majority of the
world population.
Naturally those two incidents have provoked reactions all over the
world. New material is now available for researchers whose endeavour is
to correct the path of the mankind continuously.
The discussions among such researchers revolve around activities such
as functioning of 'whistle-blowing commission' set up in the UK aiming
at creating a mechanism to facilitate people who wants to report
wrongdoing. Creation of whistle blowing lines also under discussion. It
is reported that when Michael Woodford blew the whistle at Olympus, not
only did they dismiss him but also some senior managers of the company
launched a campaign to discredit him after attempting to suppress the
details of the fraud.
It is the view of a researcher attached to an international
whistle-blowing research network that the people making disclosures must
reasonably believe that they are making such disclosures in the public
interest. This shows the very high standard of thinking involved.
Focus
The countries with visionary leaders in the world maintain their
focus on Australian researchers for 'world on line whistle-blowing
survey' who are interested in various ways of statutory protections
purely with the genuine idea of finding practical solutions to arrest
the widespread corruptions suffered by all the countries in the world.
In any country intellectuals involved in developing 'whistle blower
protection' laws appear to be reasonable at least to create a hope in
the minds of reasonable people.
In America various methods are adopted to provide financial
incentives for whistle-blowers. Last year a whistle-blower in the US has
been awarded $104m for bringing a case exposing US citizens' use of the
secret Swiss banking system. They say in the absence of such regulations
wrongdoings may never come to light.
Another victim of whistle-blowing who warned the board of directors
of a bank in the UK in his official capacity, that excessive risk taking
could lead to disaster lost his job. Some victims have commented to the
effect that the humanitarian whistle-blowers coming forward to do the
right thing is treated like a leper. They say that protection is
available only if one is unfairly dismissed. It appears that they are
now contemplating on establishing a global standard on whistle-blowing.
But if it's going to be framing protective laws only, expected
objectives could not be achieved.
One of the victims says that so called statutory laws will only be
helpful in theory. However, the popular view the world over is that
framing the legislation is not the way to have a global standard on
whistle blowing.
Corruption
All their efforts reveal the fact, as to how difficult it is to make
the world free of corruption. Then what more options are open to us in
this regard? We got to research into this area without any delay. As
stated before, 'shooting the messenger' mentality is common human
nature. Is there a way to overcome this? When we think about the complex
human being the main feature is the uniqueness of each being. Even in
the case of identical twins their thought process and the minds differ
from each other. No acceptable scientific definition is still developed
about the mind. But its owner is properly registered.
How can that be? Even in the case of the most powerful country in the
end boils down to a 'mind' and its 'mysterious owner'. This fact should
always be remembered when dealing with human beings. Until a universal
agreement is arrived on this issue, we can use the management philosophy
of Dr W Edwards Deming who introduced the term 'systems thinking' to the
world. An unbelievable number of systems are functioning in the external
world as well as inside the human body with so much unresolved mysteries
and undiscovered resources.
In this context you can even call every being a 'planet'. What all
systems inside this 'planet' indicate is that there is no single owner
to these systems. Even a trivial item in a system is linked with other
systems. 'Self' has no existence. Don't get panicky if you see a
situation without a 'self' nothing can exist.
Whistle-blowing can be a system or part of a system and will do its
role and die a natural death. With this understanding can anyone think
of shooting the messenger?
Systems thinking is necessary for the success of a 'driver-less car'
technology. Hence the need to form a communication network between the
driver-less cars on the road has been felt by the car-makers.
A human being is a 'vehicle' designed to move driver-less. Tragedies
occur when an unauthorised driver not thinking as a 'part of system
network' is placed behind the wheel.
Interesting facts on the latest driver-less car technology, from the
article published in the Sunday Observer of January 19 titled Welcome to
the fast lane-circa 2035 by Pramod de Silva prompted me to add these
concluding lines.
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