SEMINAR REPORT ON “WHISTLE BLOWING” SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY: Mr SATINDER KUMAR MALIKA MALHOTRA ROLL NO: 5844 M.B.A -II SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, PUNJABI UNIVERSITY, PATIALA TABLE OF CONTENTS What Is Ethics? ..................................................................................................... 3 Ethics as a Concept ............................................................................................... 3 COMMON REACTIONS: .......................................................................................... 5 Whistle-Blower Ethics: ................................................................................................ 6 Benefits .................................................................................................................. 7 Negative Consequences ........................................................................................ 7 The Whistleblowers Protection Bill ............................................................................ 17 Indian Law: Key Features of the Whistleblowers Protection Bill ................. 17 Indian Law: Who is a Whistleblower? ........................................................................ 18 Indian Law: The Whistleblower Protection Law ............................................ 18 Indian Law: Will these New Laws Empower or Endanger Citizens? ........... 19 Indian Law: Will these New Laws Empower or Endanger Citizens? .......... 19 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………………… 20 BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………………………… 21 INTRODUCTION: What is ethics? Ethics refers to the concept of what is right and wrong, moral and immoral. Ethical behavior is generally considered behavior that is in line with the accepted moral code, and that is proper. What Is Ethics? According to the dictionary, ethics is: 1. the study of standards of conduct and moral judgment; moral philosophy 2. a treatise on this study 3. the system or code of morals of a particular person, religion, group, profession, etc. Part of this definition is easy to understand. The first one refers to an academic concept. Philosophers, law professors, socialists, moralists and a whole host of other academics are engaged in the study of what is considered moral behavior. The study involves looking at different theories of ethics such as: situational ethics, consequential ethics, values ethics, utilitarian ethics, moralistic ethics, ethical realism, ethical hierarchy, principle ethics and moral development of ethics. The second definition is simple too... it just refers to all the writings about all of these different theories of ethics. The third definition, on the other hand, is where things get complicated. Ethics as a Concept When it comes to ethics as a specific code of moral behavior, this is where things get trickier. After all, who or what determines what is moral or ethical? Does public policy determine what is ethical? This would suggest that if you behave in line with what most people believe is right, you will be behaving ethically... but what if everyone believes it is right to have slaves or to kill elderly people? In those cases, the popular beliefs would not be ethical or moral... but why not, if the code of society says they are alright? Perhaps, then, the definition of ethical behavior shouldn't come from what society determines is right, but from what you know in your heart is right. However, people from different cultural backgrounds and different situations may have different moral codes. If someone has a skewed moral code -such as believing his race is superior to other races- does that justify his behavior if he honestly believes he is acting morally? This leads to the concept of certain moral truths or moral imperatives dictating what is ethical. For example, it is widely considered an inalienable truth that killing is wrong... even this, however, creates ethical problems -what about killing in war or assisted suicides, for example? Unfortunately, there is no clear answer to what is ethical or to what ethical behavior is. Many turn to religion or to the law to give guidance as to ethical behavior. Ultimately, however, ethical is a relative term not easily defined. DEFINATION OF WHISTLEBLOWER: A whistleblower is a person who raises a concern about alleged wrongdoing occurring in a government or governmental entity or a private or public corporation or an organization or agency that is expected, by the public at large, to be operating within the bounds of the law. The alleged misconduct may be classified in many ways; for example, a violation of a law, rule, regulation and/or a direct threat to public interest, such as fraud, health/safety violations, and corruption. Whistleblowers may make their allegations internally (for example, to other people within the accused organization) or externally (to regulators, law enforcement agencies, to the media or to groups concerned with the issues). Whistleblowers frequently face reprisal, sometimes at the hands of the organization or group which they have accused, sometimes from related organizations, and sometimes under law. ORIGIN OF TERM: The term whistleblower derives from the practice of British police officers, who would blow their whistles when they noticed the commission of a crime. The whistle would alert other law enforcement officers and the general public of danger. TYPES OF WHISTLEBLOWERS : Most whistleblowers are internal whistleblowers, who report misconduct on a fellow employee or superior within their company. One of the most interesting questions with respect to internal whistleblowers is why and under what circumstances people will either act on the spot to stop illegal and otherwise unacceptable behavior or report it. There is some reason to believe that people are more likely to take action with respect to unacceptable behavior, within an organization, if there are complaint systems that offer not just options dictated by the planning and control organization, but a choice of options for individuals, including an option that offers near absolute confidentiality. External whistleblowers, however, report misconduct on outside persons or entities. In these cases, depending on the information's severity and nature, whistleblowers may report the misconduct to lawyers, the media, law enforcement or watchdog agencies, or other local, state, or federal agencies. In some cases, external whistleblowing is encouraged by offering monetary reward. COMMON REACTIONS: Ideas about whistleblowing vary widely. Whistleblowers are commonly seen as selfless martyrs for public interest and organizational accountability; others view them as 'tattle tales' or 'snitches', solely pursuing personal glory and fame. Some academics (such as Thomas Alured Faunce) feel that whistleblowers should at least be entitled to a rebuttable presumption that they are attempting to apply ethical principles in the face of obstacles and that whistleblowing would be more respected in governance systems if it had a firmer academic basis in virtue ethics. It is probable that many people do not even consider blowing the whistle, not only because of fear of retaliation, but also because of fear of losing their relationships at work and outside work. Because the majority of cases are very low-profile and receive little or no media attention and because whistleblowers who do report significant misconduct are usually put in some form of danger or persecution, the idea of seeking fame and glory may be less commonly believed. Persecution of whistleblowers has become a serious issue in many parts of the world. Although whistleblowers are often protected under law from employer retaliation, there have been many cases where punishment for whistleblowing has occurred, such as termination, suspension, demotion, wage garnishment, and/or harsh mistreatment by other employees. For example, in the United States, most whistleblower protection laws provide for limited "make whole" remedies or damages for employment losses if whistleblower retaliation is proven. However, many whistleblowers report there exists a widespread "shoot the messenger" mentality by corporations or government agencies accused of misconduct and in some cases whistleblowers have been subjected to criminal prosecution in reprisal for reporting wrongdoing. As a reaction to this many private organizations have formed whistleblower legal defense funds or support groups to assist whistleblowers; two such examples are the National Whistleblowers Centerin the US and Public Concern at Work in the UK. Depending on the circumstances, it is not uncommon for whistleblowers to be ostracized by their co-workers, discriminated against by future potential employers, or even fired from their organization. This campaign directed at whistleblowers with the goal of eliminating them from the organization is referred to as mobbing. It is an extreme form of workplace bullying wherein the group is set against the targeted individual. Whistle-Blower Ethics: Whistle-blowing occurs when an insider calls attention to dangerous or illegal practices within an organization. Whistle-blowing arouses controversy because whistle-blowers find their loyalties divided between the organization on one hand and their ethical values on the other. Benefits Whistle-blowers often alert authorities to dangerous, unstable or detrimental situations within organizations. This action may preempt further abuses and ideally leads to greater transparency within the organization. Negative Consequences Whistle-blowing can have