The Whistleblowing Guide
Speak-up Arrangements, Challenges and Best Practices
Wiley Finance Editions
1. Edition May 2019
184 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Further versions
Choose the best speak-up arrangements for your organisation
The last five years have seen dramatic and fundamental changes in whistleblower procedures for organisations. Prompted by a spate of important public disclosures, organizations are now mandated by law to implement effective arrangements enabling employees to speak up about perceived wrongdoing. Currently few resources exist to help with this.
To help fill the gap, The Whistleblowing Guide examines the opportunities and challenges associated with different types of whistleblowing and speak-up arrangements, making recommendations based on best practices you can trust.
* Identifies the major organisational, structural and cultural obstacles to speaking up through speak-up arrangements
* Proposes effective whistleblowing and speak-up arrangements
* Explains the specific policy and legislation requirements that can promote or impede the effective implementation of speak-up arrangements, and how these can be translated into commercial and public organizations across sectors and cultures
* Makes a clear distinction between internal and external reporting arrangements
The Whistleblowing Guide offers conceptual clarification about these key issues, including a focus on internal and external speak-up procedures, organisational response and communication, impartiality and trust.
Chapter 1 Introduction: The Importance of Speak-up Arrangements 1
Speaking Up in Organizations 1
Speak Up Arrangements: A New Perspective for Theory and Practice 2
Sustainable Speak-up Systems: A Model 3
Rationale 4
Who Should Read This Book? 7
Purpose of the Book 8
About the Authors 9
About the Book 10
Endnotes 11
Chapter 2 Why Speak-up Systems: Why Now? 13
Introduction 13
Background: Why Speak-up Systems, Why Now? 13
Endnotes 37
Chapter 3 A Comparative Study of Speak-up Arrangements in Banking, Engineering, and Healthcare Sectors 41
Introduction 41
Banking 42
Engineering 55
Healthcare 66
Conclusion 76
Endnotes 78
Chapter 4 Challenges and Obstacles to Effective Speak-up Arrangements 83
How Do People Speak Up? 84
Whistleblowing Is a Protracted Process 88
What Expectations Do Speak-ups Entail? 92
Challenges of Operating Speak-up Arrangements 97
Barriers to Responsiveness 106
Strategies for Trustworthiness (and Their Potential Pitfalls) 108
Facilitators of Responsiveness 117
Using Speak-up Data 119
Bringing It All Together: A Model for Developing Sustainable Speak-Up Systems 121
Conclusion 122
Endnotes 123
Chapter 5 Speak-up Procedures: A Guide for Professionals 127
Executive Summary 127
Benefits of Effective Speak-up Arrangements: 128
Recommendations 129
Endnotes 137
Chapter 6 Conclusions 139
Academic Literature 139
Empirical Work 142
A Framework for Understanding Speak-up Arrangements 144
Practical Relevance and Recommendations 146
Endnotes 147
Bibliography 149
Appendix 1 Speak-up Arrangements - Key Theories 163
Appendix 2 Project Methodology 167
Appendix 3 Other Resources 169
Index 171
WIM VANDEKERCKHOVE is Reader in Business Ethics, University of Greenwich Business Faculty, and co-director of the Centre for Research in Employment and Work (CREW). He has published extensively on whistleblowing, socially responsible investment and global ethics and serves as an expert for Transparency International Belgium and the Council of Europe.
MARIANNA FOTAKI is Professor of Business Ethics, Warwick Business School and a Senior Editor for Organization Studies. She has a PhD from London School of Economics and was a Network Fellow at EJ Safra Centre for Ethics, Harvard University (2014-15). She has worked as a medical doctor for Médecins Sans Frontières and Médecins Du Monde, as advisor to the governments of Armenia, Georgia and Russia, and has co-directed the Centre for Health and the Public Interest (2014-2017).
