MANAGEMENT
that he or she risks being portrayed as an alarmist or disloyal on the one hand, or tacitly approving of illegal or unethical activity on the other.
“Most people who perceive that there is some wrongdoing oſten do not know the specific law that would apply.” –Janice Bellace
“People are more likely to blow the whistle when they can see how the organization or an external actor might do something about it,” says Julian Jonker, Wharton professor of legal studies and business ethics. “There might be ramifications for employees doing the reporting, and if there is nothing good to come from this, they will ask themselves, ‘why do it?’ One change could be to make it so that not only will there be protections for whistleblowers, but we also make explicit the way in which complaints will find a response. Setting aside the perceived usefulness of reporting, an employee is also faced with an ethical question about whether he or she should blow the whistle. The employee must make the ethical decision of whether there is in fact wrongdoing, and whether the wrongdoing is so bad that it outweighs any duties of loyalty they have to the organization on the ethical scale.” When the wrongdoing is really
severe, “it can be thought of as a way of saving the organization,” says Jonker.
But the price in many organizations for whistleblowing can be high, ranging from being socially ostracized to being fired in retaliation. Making an accusation can indeed transform workplace relationships, but the exact way in which relationships are changed depends on a variety of factors, according to findings by Maurice Schweitzer, Wharton
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professor of operations, information and decisions, and Jessica A. Kennedy of Vanderbilt University in a study published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes in 2018. Accusations, especially those
regarding ethical violations, are prevalent in organizations, and an accusation influences perceptions of both the accuser and accused, they report in “Building Trust by Tearing Others Down: When Accusing Others of Unethical Behavior Engenders Trust.” In five experiments, Kennedy and Schweitzer determine that accusations harm trust in the accused, harm group functioning, and boost trust in the accuser. People are perceived to be more trustworthy and to have greater integrity when they make accusations than when they do not, the study reports — “as long as the accusation appears to be motivated by a desire to defend moral norms; in this case, making an accusation increases cognitive trust by projecting integrity and high ethical standards.” In other words, the accuser’s motive
must be seen as pure. In addition, when organizational members make accusations, the benefits may ripple out to the entire organization by “enforcing norms and promoting ethical behavior,” according to the authors. Ethical conduct stems from the organization setting an ethical tone, “and a culture that tolerates or promotes accusations may guide employees to recognize the high costs of engaging in unethical behavior.” Still, whistleblowers are routinely
perceived as disloyal to the organization, “so what’s playing out in the federal government is disappointing … but it’s not unusual by any means,” says Schweitzer. “Moral courage is hard, and in the moment it is far easier to be complicit. This is related to a psychological construct termed
pluralistic ignorance. Imagine being in a class and the professor isn’t making any sense to you. You are not sure what to do. You look around and nobody is asking questions. At the same time, everyone else is looking around to see the same thing — nobody asking any questions. So, when we are uncertain about what to do, we look to others for guidance. In this setting, everyone is looking around … and not asking questions. The same thing happens when it comes to observing unethical behavior.” The first thing that needs to happen in an organization interested in promoting an ethical culture is for the leaders to lead by example, says Schweitzer. “Their commitment to ethics really drives what subordinates are likely to do,” he says. The second thing is to promote the idea that while organizations care about favorable outcomes, the process is even more important. The recent Wells Fargo scandal is a case in point. Employees were getting the clear message that the company didn’t care that its sales goals were unreasonable. Goals were to be met even if it meant signing up customers to new accounts without their consent or knowledge.
“The reality of human interaction is that we oſten suspect that when we report, we’ll be punished. It starts at the playground when you are a kid and it doesn’t go away.” –David Skeel
“We all care about outcomes,” says
Schweitzer, “but what is important is how we get to those outcomes. And so again this means that as leaders, we need to model the behavior we expect others to follow — we penalize wrongdoing, we have a
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