Employee Engagement Activities

With recent advances in technology that enable anyone to become a whistle-blower of substandard or illegal company practices, and a media culture that increasingly looks to its audience for news tips, leadership at many companies are understandably worried that today's internal misstep will be tomorrow's front-page headline.

But according to new research, four out of five whistle-blower complaints stop with management. As Janet Near, chair of the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, told Newswise,

The stereotype is that whistle-blowers always start out going to the media and try to go for the maximum publicity. They don't. If I'm a manager, and I find out that whistle-blowers typically don't do that, then it behooves me to set up procedures so they can blow the whistle internally and minimize the damage to the organization externally.

This provides even more justification for making sure manager team building is alive and well within your organization, something I blogged about last month.

Near and two of her colleagues – one from Georgetown University – advise in the current Journal of Business Ethics that employers can make the most of the above statistic by doing one or more of the following:

Create and communicate codes of ethics and anti-retaliation policies
Conduct serious training for managers and employees alike in how to handle concerns without retaliation in the workplace
Support these efforts with channels for reporting wrongdoing
Provide employer financial incentives for whistle-blowers

How has whistle-blowing factored into your workplace team building and employee engagement best practices?

Comments for Business School Prof: 80 Percent of Whistle-Blower Complaints Stop with Management

Tuesday, June 16, 2009 by Kevin Kennemer, The People Group:: Concerned corporate citizens, whistle-blowers, play an important role in today's business environment. It has been reported that close to 50% of them eventually lose their jobs after reporting ethical violations. Those people who are willing to sacrifice their jobs, incomes or careers for the benefit of others who may not be aware of the toxic cultural practices inside a company’s work environment, including unethical or illegal leadership practices. I have referred to them as Corporate Canaries. Read -- When the Canary Stops Singing... http://thepeoplegroupllc.com/2009/03/when-the-canary-stops-singing/
Friday, June 19, 2009 by Mark:: Thanks for your comment, Kevin. I read your article and I agree with your commentors there on its value. It really is amazing, especially considering the state of the economy and thus the job market, that people are still willing to stand up for what they believe and report incidents of wrongdoing to management, at their own risk.