WHISTLEBLOWER PROBLEMATICS IN DENMARK – AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT, PART II Tor Zander Smit (20180454), Sebastian Søgård Jensen (20155760) AALBORG UNIVERSITY, COPENHAGEN TAN-10 MASTER THESIS Disclaimer from Head of Studies and Head of Study Boards COVID19 and the consequences of the lock-down of society and the university since March 13, 2020 have had influence on which activities that have been possible to stage and carry out as part of the project work. More specifically, this means that activities have been limited to online activities, and that activities such as Lab activities; surveying activities; on-site ethnographic studies and on-site involvement activities have not been possible. When assessing this project, please bear this in mind. Added here: the students' own reflections on the challenges they have experienced and how they have sought to overcome these. We had, before the COVID-19 pandemic, plans for conducting multiple future workshops with stakeholders of the project. The plan was to conduct them in a physical space, but due to the pandemic, we soon figured out that this would not be possible. We then started to adapt and think about how we could still conduct future workshops despite being limited from a physical setting. We still wanted to conduct future workshops, as we found it essential for the project that we had this collaborative activity. We researched digital alternatives, and were recommended a software, which made it possible for us to conduct future workshops online. As we shifted to a digital platform for the future workshop, we did not know the tool very well, and so we decided to have a rehearsal with the action research network at Aalborg University. This was done to see how it would work in practice when conducting a future workshop digitally. It was a great learning experience, which led to beneficial knowledge on how to conduct a workshop digitally. However, we would have preferred to organize and facilitate the workshop in a physical space, which we were unable to do. We also did not get to facilitate multiple future workshops with stakeholders, as we were also personally affected by the pandemic, which slowed down the work process. We did, despite the challenges, end up conducting a future workshop digitally, which we were satisfied with, given the circumstances. 1 Abstract Dette projekt er anden del af et todelt projekt, i samarbejde med whistleblowerorganisationen Veron, der drejer sig om whistleblowere i Danmark. I første del af projektet blev der foretaget en etnografisk undersøgelse af whistleblowere, med målet om, at komme til bunds i, hvorfor en medarbejder træffer det valg, at whistleblowe. Dette stykke arbejde har lagt fundamentet for denne del af projektet, hvor det bliver undersøgt, hvordan nuværende whistleblower ordninger kan forbedres, så det tager hensyn til fremtidige whistleblowere, som typisk direkte eller indirekte bliver undertrykt af disse ordninger. Med en ‘aktionsforsknings’ tilgang bliver whistleblowere, som den undertrykte gruppe, inkluderet i denne proces i form af et fremtidsværksted, inspireret af Robert Jungk og Norbert Mullert. I dette fremtidsværksted bliver negative aspekter af nuværende whistleblower ordninger udpeget, så som kritisable eller fejlagtigt design, der kan medbringe uretfærdige konsekvenser for whistleblowere. Derved bliver nuværende whistleblowerordninger dekontekstualiseret. Herefter rekontekstualiseres de med værdier, udtrykt af whistleblowers og to relevante NGOer, som bør overvejes at blive implementeret i fremtidige whistleblower ordninger. 2 Content Abstract................................................................................................................................. 2 1. An Introduction to Whistleblowing Cases .......................................................................... 5 1.1 Project Design ............................................................................................................. 8 1.2 Problem Analysis ....................................................................................................... 10 1.3 Problem Formulation ................................................................................................. 11 1.4 Collaboration with Veron ............................................................................................ 12 2. Summary of the First Part of the Project .......................................................................... 14 2.1 Narrative Analysis ...................................................................................................... 14 2.1.1 Symptoms of Wrongdoings in the Workplace ...................................................... 17 2.1.2 The Situation Gets out of Hand ........................................................................... 17 2.1.3 The Decision to Blow the Whistle ........................................................................ 18 2.1.4 The Whistleblowing Happens .............................................................................. 19 2.1.5 Leaderships Reaction to Whistleblowing ............................................................. 20 2.1.6 Unions, Allies and External Organizations ........................................................... 20 2.1.7 Quitting/Getting Fired after Whistleblowing.......................................................... 21 2.1.8 The Aftermath ..................................................................................................... 22 2.1.9 Vision for a Better Future .................................................................................... 23 2.2 Discussions and Preliminary Conclusions .................................................................. 27 2.2.1 The ‘Specialist’ Problem ...................................................................................... 27 2.2.2 Political Influence in Whistleblowing .................................................................... 27 2.2.3 What is a Successful Whistleblower? .................................................................. 28 2.2.4 External Influence in Whistleblower Reporting Systems ...................................... 29 2.2.5 Including Whistleblowing Guidance ..................................................................... 29 2.2.6 Including Lawmaking in Whistleblowing .............................................................. 30 2.2.7 Final Words ......................................................................................................... 30 3. Theoretical framework ..................................................................................................... 31 3.1 Action Research ........................................................................................................ 31 3.1.1 What is Action Research? ................................................................................... 31 3.1.2 Action Research in our Project ............................................................................ 32 3.2 Critical Theory of Technology .................................................................................... 33 3.2.1 Critical Theory of Technology, what is it? ............................................................ 33 3.2.2 “Technical Citizenship” and our Role in the Field................................................. 37 3.2.3 CTT & Whistleblowing Reporting Systems .......................................................... 40 4. Methodology ................................................................................................................... 42 3 4.1 Future Workshops ..................................................................................................... 42 4.1.1 Future Workshops and Action Research ............................................................. 42 4.1.2 The Origins of the Future Workshop method ....................................................... 43 4.1.3 The Phases of Future Workshops ....................................................................... 44 4.1.4 Reflections .......................................................................................................... 45 4.1.5 Our Future Workshop .......................................................................................... 48 5. Analysis .......................................................................................................................... 55 5.1 Introduction to the Participants of the Future Workshop ............................................. 55 5.2 Future Workshop analysis ......................................................................................... 58 5.2.1 Analysis - Critique phase..................................................................................... 58 5.2.2 Analysis - Visionary Phase .................................................................................. 65 5.2.3 Analysis – Planning Phase .................................................................................. 71 5.3 Rounding off the analysis .......................................................................................... 76 6. Discussing Findings and Essential Topics ....................................................................... 79 7. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 84 8. Reflections on Digital Tools ............................................................................................. 86 9. Moving Forward