The Whistleblower
There are instances where an employee will choose to report actions that threaten their life as well as that of other employees. In this case, the employee will alert the society about the potential danger of continuing a specific service or action highlighting the potential risks. There are arguments whether whistleblowing is ethical from both managerial and personal perspectives considering the effect it has on an organization.
Brief Overview of Case
Two decorated pilots who fly the F-22 military jet decided to speak about the dangers they experienced in the air. These military whistleblowers were protected by the U.S. Representative Adam Kinzinger. The pilots claimed that they did not have enough oxygen while flying and experienced severe disorientation leading to hypoxia.
Barriers and solutions to Whistleblowing
Whistleblowing from a managerial perspective includes the reporting of miscellaneous activity of an organization that puts employees’ lives in danger. Barriers to whistleblowing from a managerial perspective include a lack of trust in the internal system, fear of retaliation, and fear of alienation. To overcome these barriers, leaders of the military base, in this case, need to carry out routine checks of their jets in efforts to minimize the risk of their pilots running out of oxygen. In this way, the organization would indicate its seriousness and commitment towards ensuring the safety of its pilots. Whistleblowing from a personal perspective involves speaking out against company actions with the potential individual gain. This means that employees may receive financial remunerations speaking out against hazardous company actions. In this case study, the two pilots would not receive any money from outside sources speaking out against the F-22 military jet malfunction. As such, they chose to be whistleblowers from a managerial perspective since they believed that pilots’ lives were in danger.
Competition and Recommendation
Competition can lead to employees displaying unethical behavior through whistleblowing from a personal perspective. In such cases, Coworkers will whistle blow against each other to get ahead career-wise or get a salary increase. From the case study, competition did not play a role when the two pilots decided to whistleblow as they were concerned about their lives and safety while flying. My recommendations are for the whistleblower policy, which protects whistleblowers against retaliatory actions. In this case, the whistleblowers are protected by a third party, which is the government.
To conclude, whistleblowing is a necessity if wrongdoings in an organization endanger the lives of employees. From this case study, pilots experiencing hypoxia and disorientation while flying puts their lives at risk. As noted above, whistleblowers need protection to avoid retaliatory actions from their superiors.