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Journal of Business Ethics

Erschienen in:

01.06.2012

The Content of Whistleblowing Procedures: A Critical Review of Recent Official Guidelines

verfasst von: Wim Vandekerckhove, David Lewis

Erschienen in: Journal of Business Ethics | Ausgabe 2/2012

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Abstract

There is an increasing recognition of the need to provide ways for people to raise concerns about suspected wrongdoing by promoting internal policies and procedures which offer proper safeguards to actual and potential whistleblowers. Many organisations in both the public and private sectors now have such measures and these display a wide variety of operating modalities: in-house or outsourced, anonymous/confidential/identified, multi or single tiered, specified or open subject matter, etc. As a result of this development, a number of guidelines and policy documents have been produced by authoritative bodies. This article reviews the following five documents from a management perspective, the first two deal with the principles upon which legislation might be based and the others describing good management practice: the Council of Europe Resolution 1729 (COER); Transparency International ‘Recommended Principles for Whistleblowing Legislation’ (TI); European Union Article 29 Data Protection Working Party Opinion (EUWP); International Chamber of Commerce ‘Guidelines on Whistleblowing’ (ICC); and the British Standards Institute ‘Whistleblowing arrangements Code of Practice 2008 (BSI).

Vorheriger Artikel Leadership and Change: The Case for Greater Ethical Clarity

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Para 6.1 recommends that a review should consider the following four elements: “(i) Ensure that staff are aware of and trust the whistleblowing avenues;(ii) Make provision for realistic advice about what the whistleblowing process means for openness, confidentiality and anonymity;(iii) Continually review how the procedures work in practice;(iv) Regular communication to staff about the avenues open to them.”

Between October 1987 and October 2010 the rewards actually paid to whistleblowers under this legislation amounted to $2.877 billion.

For example, Principle 4: “Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date” and Principle 5: “Personal data processed for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or purposes”.

Arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable behaviour may undermine the common law implied duty of trust and confidence found in contracts of employment.

BSI refers to the training of senior managers and advocates that workers should be briefed by line managers when the policy is introduced or changed. By way of contrast, the Institute of Chartered Accountants acknowledges the need to educate staff about the whistleblowing policy and train them how to raise and handle concerns (ICA 2004).

BSI proposes two internal levels as alternatives. “At the second tier, it might be one or more trusted individuals, the key specialist functions, or divisional or regional managers. At the top level, it could be an internal hotline or the Finance Director, the Group lawyer and/or a non-executive Director.” By way of contrast, Bowers et al. (2007) suggests a separate dedicated unit as an alternative to line managers.

Although the BSI is of the view that time limits are unlikely to be appropriate, some employers find it helpful to have time estimates for each stage of the procedure.

ACAS. (2009). Code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures. Norwich: TSO.

Bowers, J., Fodder, M., Lewis, J., & Mitchell, J. (2007). Whistleblowing: Law and practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Brown, A. (Ed.). (2008). Whistleblowing in the Australian Public Sector. Canberra: ANU E Press. Accessed April 6, 2009, from http://epress.anu.edu.au/anzsog/whistleblowing/pdf_instructions.html.

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COER. (2010). The Council of Europe Resolution 1729 entitled “The protection of whistleblowers” was passed on 29th April 2010 (accompanies Recommendation 1916 which has the same name). Accessed June 6, 2010, from http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta10/EREC1916.htm and http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta10/ERES1729.htm.

EUWP. (2006). Opinion 1/2006 on the application of EU data protection rules to international whistleblowing schemes in the fields of accounting, internal accounting controls, auditing matters, fight against bribery, banking and financial crime. Document WP117-00195/06/EN. Article 29 Data Protection Working Party.

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Titel: The Content of Whistleblowing Procedures: A Critical Review of Recent Official Guidelines
verfasst von: Wim Vandekerckhove
David Lewis
Publikationsdatum: 01.06.2012
Verlag: Springer Netherlands
Erschienen in: Journal of Business Ethics / Ausgabe 2/2012
Print ISSN: 0167-4544
Elektronische ISSN: 1573-0697
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-1089-1

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