With the recent developments in the United States and Canada, many companies have developed whistle-blowing policies, and legislation has been passed to protect individuals from any serious repercussions. Despite the efforts made by companies, whistle-blowing still has doubts among the general working population. A study on Canadian public servants found that although 80 percent of employees stated that they would report unethical behavior, they had doubts that their coworkers would do the same (Bronskill, 2006).
When considering the potential mistrust among coworkers in the mater of whistle-blowing, it is easy to understand why the investigator would question Art Holmes’ motives in his actions against his employer. Part of a whistle-blowing policy is that an employee has the obligation and responsibility to report unethical actions when they become aware of them. Had Holmes been aware of the situation, and waited one year to address it to issue, then there are general concerns as to his motives on the issue.
It may be possible the he was unaware of the supervisor’s scheme until a later date which he made available to the organization; however those details are unavailable. Despite the motives of his actions, the concern arises on whether they protected his job that was scheduled to be terminated. This purpose of any whistle-blowing policy is to protect a person’s job and reputation from any repercussions due to their involvement in uprooting a corporate scandal.
It is in no means meant to give any employee a free pass to corporate restructuring, bad work ethics, or positive reinforcement such as promotion. For this reason, it is important for the company to show non-partisan actions towards Holmes’ job and that his actions motivated by self-interest do not go rewarded.
Bibliography
Bronskill, Jim (2006, November 29). Workers Lack Faith in Whistle-blowing. The Toronto Star. Retrieved December 15, 2006 http://www. thestar. com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer? pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1164754217502