Abstract
This paper explores the ethical dilemma of conflicting loyalties found in whistleblowing. Central to this dilemma is the internal/external disclosure dichotomy; disclosure of organisational wrongdoing to an external recipient is seen as disloyal, whilst disclosure to an internal recipient is seen as loyal. Understanding how the organisation and society have dealt with these problems over the last 30 years is undertaken through an analysis of Vandekerckhove’s (Whistleblowing and organisational social responsibility, 2006) project, which seeks to place the normative legitimisations of whistleblowing legislation and organisational whistleblowing policies within a globalisation semantic able to contain this conflict between society and the organisation. This project fails, it is argued, because of Vandekerckhove’s particular understanding of the organisation as an autopoietic system, i.e. an operationally closed system. A case is made to understand organisations as complex systems, i.e. operationally open systems. Critical Complexity theory sees the identities of systems and components as coterminous. In the context of the organisation, this means that the identities of the corporation and its corporate members arise and die together. The whistleblower’s disclosure reconfigures the organisation by forcing the organisation to open up and make its boundaries flexible, making the designation ‘internal’ or ‘external’ to the organisation, and, therefore, who qualifies as a recipient of a disclosure of wrongdoing, flexible. The organisation is restrained from retailing against the whistleblower, because its identities are coterminous. Furthermore, as the disclosure cannot be categorically defined as either internal or external, the question of whether an external disclosure can qualify as an act of organisational loyalty becomes moot.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Vandekerckhove (2006, p. 104) uses the term Organisational Social Responsibility instead of the more commonly used Corporate Social Responsibility to make explicit the idea that social responsibility is applicable to both corporate and non-corporate actors.
Vandekerckhove (2006, pp. 73–136) also describes five other ways that whistleblowing policies are normatively legitimated throughout the globe today, viz. accountability, integrity, loyalty, efficiency and whistleblowing as a human right.
French (1979, p. 232) locates corporate agency in a CID structure (Corporations Internal Decision structure) which he argues ‘licenses the predication of corporate intentionality’.
Ladd (1984, p. 249) argues that attributing moral agency to corporations is not only a category mistake but a moral mistake because ‘corporations are not people but organizations of people’.
The triple bottom line is a term coined by Elkington (1999). He argues that business should concern itself with adding not only economic value (profit), but also environmental (planet) and social (people) value.
References
Alford, C. F. (2001). Whistle-blowers: Broken lives and organisational power. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Bok, S. (1980). Whistleblowing and professional responsibility. In T. Donaldson, P. H. Werhane, & M. Cording (Eds.), Ethical issues in business (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Bowie, N. E., & Duska, R. F. (1990). Business ethics (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Calton, J. M., & Lad, L. J. (1995). Social contracting as a trust-building process of network governance. Business Ethics Quarterly, 5(2), 271–295.
Cilliers, P. (1998). Complexity and postmodernism: Understanding complex systems. London: Routledge.
Cilliers, P. (2001). Boundaries, hierarchies and networks in complex systems. International Journal of Innovation Management, 5(2), 135–147.
Cilliers, P. (2005). Complexity, deconstruction and relativism. Theory, Culture and Society, 22(5), 255–267.
Cilliers, P. (2008). Complexity theory as general framework for sustainability science. In M. Burn & A. Weaver (Eds.), Exploring sustainability science: A Southern African perspective (pp. 39–58). Stellenbosch: African Sun Media.
Cilliers, P. (2010). Difference, identity and complexity. In P. Cilliers & R. Preiser (Eds.), Complexity, difference and identity (pp. 3–18). New York: Springer.
Cilliers, P., De Villiers, T., & Roodt, V. (2002). The formation of the self. Nietzsche and complexity. South African Journal of Philosophy, 21(1), 1–18.
DeGeorge, R. T. (1986). Business ethics (2nd ed.). New York: MacMillan.
Duska, R. (2000). Business ethics: Oxymoron or good business? Business Ethics Quarterly, 10(1), 111–129.
Duska, R. (2004) Whistleblowing and employee loyalty. In Reprinted from T. Beauchamp & N. E. Bowie (Eds.), Ethical theory and business (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Dworkin, T. M., & Baucus, M. S. (1998). Internal vs. external whistleblowers: A comparison of whistleblowing processes. Journal of Business Ethics, 17, 1281–1298.
Elkington, J. (1999). Cannibals with Forks: The triple bottom line of 21st century business. Bloomington, MN: Capstone.
Freeman, R. E. (1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston: Pitman.
French, P. (1979). The corporation as a moral person. In T. I. White (Ed.), 1993 Business ethics: A philosophical reader. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company.
Jones, C., Parker, M., & Ten Bos, R. (2005). For business ethics. Oxon: Routledge.
Jubb, P. B. (1999). Whistleblowing: A restrictive definition and interpretation. Journal of Business Ethics, 21, 77–94.
Ladd, J. (1984). Corporate mythology and individual responsibility. In T. I. White (Ed.), 1993 Business ethics: A philosophical reader. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company.
Luhmann, N. (1980). Gesellschaftsstruktur und Semantik. Studien zur Wissenssoziologie der modernen Gesellschaft. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Luhmann, N. (1995). Social systems (J. Bednarz Jr., & D. Baecker, Trans.). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Luhmann, N. (2000). Organisation und Entscheidung. Opladen, Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag.
Maturana, H. R., & Varela, F. J. (1980). Autopoiesis and cognition: The realization of living. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.
Morgan, G. (2006). Images of organization. London: Sage.
Morin, E. (2008). On complexity. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
Painter-Morland, M. (2006). Redefining accountability as relational responsiveness. Journal of Business Ethics, 66, 89–98.
Painter-Morland, M. (2008). Business ethics as practice: Ethics as the everyday business of business. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Parsons, T. (1951). The social system. New York: Free Press.
Paulsen, N. (2003). Who are we now?: Group identity, boundaries, and the (re)organizing process. In N. Paulsen & T. Hearnes (Eds.), Managing boundaries in organizations: Multiple perspectives (pp. 15–34). Hampshire, MA: Palgrave Macmillan.
Poli, R. (2009). The complexity of anticipation. Retrieved May 26, 2011, from http://robertopoli.co.cc/wpcontent/uploads/papers/Poli%202009%20Complexity%20of%20Anticipation%204.pdf.
Preiser, R., & Cilliers, P. (2010). Unpacking the ethics of complexity’ concluding reflections. In P. Cilliers & R. Preiser (Eds.), Complexity, difference and identity (pp. 265–287). London: Springer.
Seabright, M. A., & Kurke, L. B. (1997). Organisational ontology and the moral status of the corporation. Business Ethics Quarterly, 7(4), 91–108.
Singer, P. (2009). Animal liberation. New York: Harper Perennial.
Solomon, R. C. (1993). Ethics and excellence: Cooperation and integrity in business. New York: Oxford University Press.
Stacey, R. D. (2003). Complexity and group processes: A radical social understanding of individuals. Sussex: Brunner-Routledge.
Vandekerckhove, W. (2003). Ethische problemen voor en van NGOs in de strijd tegen mensenhandel. In W. Vandekerckhove (Ed.), NGOs in de strijd tegen mensenhandel (pp. 76–97). Antwerpen: EPO.
Vandekerckhove, W. (2006). Whistleblowing and organisational social responsibility. Burlington, VT: Ashgate.
Vandekerckhove, W., & Commers, M. S. R. (2004). Whistle blowing and rational loyalty. Journal of Business Ethics, 53, 225–233.
Westenholz, A. (2004). Emerging identities beyond organizational boundaries. In T. E. Jensen & A. Westenholz (Eds.), Identity in the age of the new economy: Life in temporary and scattered work practices (pp. 122–145). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Woermann, M. (2010a). A complex ethics: Critical complexity, deconstruction, and implications for business ethics. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, University of Stellenbosch.
Woermann, M. (2010b). Corporate identity, responsibility and the ethics of complexity. In P. Cilliers & R. Preiser (Eds.), Complexity, difference and identity (pp. 167–192). London: Springer.
Woermann, M., & Cilliers, P. (2012). The ethics of complexity and the complexity of ethics. South African Journal of Philosophy, 31(2), 447–463.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Andrade, J.A. Reconceptualising Whistleblowing in a Complex World. J Bus Ethics 128, 321–335 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2105-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2105-z