Remember the movie Silkwood? In the 1983 drama, Meryl Streep portrayed the real-life Karen Silkwood, who suffered radiation poisoning thanks to lax safety standards at the plant where she worked and was preparing to take her story to The New York Times when she died in a car crash under mysterious circumstances.
Silkwood portrays what the public thinks of as the consummate whistle-blower, yet the story of most whistle-blowers’ is far less dramatic. In the majority of cases, new research shows, the more management encourages whistle-blowing, the lesser the chances that reported incidents will become a story at all.
According to the article “A Word to the Wise: How Managers and Policy-Makers Can Encourage Employees to Report Wrongdoing,” featured in the latest issue of The Journal of Business Ethics, 80 percent of whistle-blowers first go to management and tell them of wrongdoings, then stop at that point. Those who are dealt with fairly with no fear of retribution rarely go on to talk to the media.
The article is based on research conducted by Janet Near, chair of the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University; Terry Morehead Dworkin, an adjunct professor of law at Seattle University; and Marcia Miceli, a professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.
To deal successfully with whistle-blowing, It’s essential that management has a strong policy in place. Among the authors’ suggestions:
- 1. Conduct training: Companies should teach managers and employees how to deal with concerns without fear of retaliation, much like the sexual harassment training companies now provide.
- 2. Establish means of reporting wrongdoing: Setting up hotlines or simply having a business culture where employee feedback is welcome “demonstrates to employees that it is safe to raise concerns,” according to the authors.
- 3. Offer financial incentives: What the authors call “reward systems that provide incentive for valid whistle-blowing” would not only lessen employees’ fears of retaliation, it would give them a financial inducement to step up.
While the movies often depict companies as evil entities blocking the whistle-blowers’ way, many managers see them as keys to preserving the good name of their business. Just make sure employees feel comfortable calling management before they call The Times.
Whistle image courtesy of Flickr user chidorian, CC 2.0
