Issiue surronding whistle blowing - Essay Example

We will look at four separate cases, two corporate, and two public sectors or government. A whistleblower can be defined as a person who reveals the wrongdoing within and organization to the public or to those in positions of authority (Whistleblower). The importance of whistleblowers is relatively easy to see especially since the not so recent events of Worldcom and Enron destroyed tens of thousands of lives and ended with billions of lost revenues. According to Lilanthi Ravishankar a researcher with Santa Clara University, “When Time magazine editors named WorldCom's Cynthia Cooper and Enron's Sherron Watkins two of their People of the Year for 2002; they were acknowledging the importance of internal whistleblowers” (Ravishankar).

These were two of the most well-known of the corporate world’s whistleblowing events. These are followed by two of the highest profile public sector whistleblowing events with drastic differences in the public arena. Worldcom’s Cynthia Cooper stated in a 2002 interview with Time magazine, “It was easy to empathize with the investors. WorldCom was the only Fortune 500 Company headquartered in Mississippi. My parents had invested in the stock” (Ripley). This brings up the first of the ethical dilemmas that exists for whistleblowers, how their stance to tell the truth will affect their families.

While this is a serious dilemma Cynthia Cooper later stated that she realized it was her only choice, she realized far more people would be hurt if she did not come forward. Her family while being important was the lesser of the two problems and she was forced to choose the greater good. While the loss to her family was great is it easier to make the decision when it is someone else’s future and loss at stake, the next whistleblower was personally affected by her whistleblowing. Sherron Watkins the publicly acclaimed “whistleblower” who also made Times person of the week was quoted as saying, "Has Enron become a risky place to work?

For those of us who didn't get rich over the last few years, can we afford to stay?" (Pellegrini). This brings out another issue of whistleblowing, personal loss; the individual committing the whistleblowing or what seems to others like whistleblowing is surely committing personal career suicide, or are they? While to some this question may seem to be something that cannot be brought up and would be “easy” to ignore. However, for this woman who had clawed her way to a very high position in a nation where very few women make it to this position of authority the mere thought of losing something she had spent her entire adult life gaining may seem difficult.

What would each of us do here, it would be difficult for myself in the same situation. Personal loss seems like it may be easier to handle than social ridicule as the next whistleblower has experienced personally. In the public arena there are a few very high profile cases of whistleblowing, one in particular that involved a president. President Bill Clinton’s lurid affair with Monica Lewinski was brought to light by one of the more infamous whistleblowers of our time, Linda Tripp. Unfortunately for Linda Tripp instead of acclaim she received the public service send off for those who tell secrets, she was summarily fired and has found it almost impossible to gain employment.

This brings to light another ethical dilemma or issue with whistleblowing, while it is a good thing that she did, the public’