Whistleblowing and Organizational Social Responsibility: A Global Assessment (Corporate Social Responsibility)

357 Pages·2006·1.943 MB·English

by  Wim Vandekerckhove

WHISTLEBLOWING AND ORGANIZATIONAL
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Corporate Social Responsibility Series
Series Editor:
Professor David Crowther, London Metropolitan University, UK
This series aims to provide high quality research books on all aspects of corporate
social responsibility including: business ethics, corporate governance and
accountability, globalization, civil protests, regulation, responsible marketing
and social reporting.
The series is interdisciplinary in scope and global in application and is an
essential forum for everyone with an interest in this area.
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Whistleblowing and
Organizational
Social Responsibility
A Global Assessment
WIM VANDEKERCKHOVE
Ghent University, Belgium
© Wim Vandekerckhove 2006
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Wim Vandekerckhove has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
Published by
Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company
Gower House Suite 420
Croft Road 101 Cherry Street
Aldershot Burlington, VT 05401-4405
Hampshire GU11 3HR USA
England
Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Vandekerckhove, Wim
Whistleblowing and organizational social responsibility : a
global assessment. - (Corporate social responsibility
series)
1. Whistle blowing 2.Social responsibility of business
I.Title
174.4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vandekerckhove, Wim.
Whistleblowing and organizational social responsibility : a global assessment / by
Wim Vandekerckhove.
p. cm. -- (Corporate social responsibility series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7546-4750-1
1. Business ethics. 2. Whistle blowing. I. Title. II. Series.
HF5387.V36 2006
174'.4--dc22
2006009526
ISBN-10: 0 7546 4750 1
ISBN-13: 978 0 7546 4750 3
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire.
Contents
List of Figures vii
List of Tables ix
Preface x
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction 1
1 Developing Research Questions 7
Whistleblowing in an Organizational Context 7
Whistleblowing Policies and this Research 19
Possible Definitions of Whistleblowing 21
Limitations of this Research 25
Data Collection 27
2 Developing the Framework for an Ethical Assessment 29
Normative Legitimation and Meaning-giving 29
Niklas Luhmann 31
Max Weber – Verstehende Soziologie 37
A Foucauldian Perspective – and Some Deleuze 49
Alain Touraine 59
The Individual, the Organization and the Semantic 67
3 Possible Legitimation of Whistleblowing Policies 73
Introduction 73
Globalization Semantic 75
Whistleblowing as a Human Right 92
Whistleblowing and Organizational Social Responsibility 101
Whistleblowing and Responsibility – Accountability 108
Whistleblowing and Integrity 116
Whistleblowing and Loyalty 124
Whistleblowing and Efficiency 134
Organizational Inefficiency 136
Drawing Up the Screening Grid 142
Actor, Subject and Recipient Element 145
4 Screening Whistleblowing Policies 163
United States 163
Australia 187
New Zealand 206
vi Whistleblowing and Organizational Social Responsibility
United Kingdom 210
South Africa 221
Japan 231
Belgium 236
Whistleblowing Legislations Passing Through Parliaments 243
Others 263
Intergovernmental Bodies and Whistleblowing Policies 270
5 Towards what Legitimation of Whistleblowing? 279
Tendencies in the Legitimation of Whistleblowing Policies 279
How Ethical are these Tendencies? 295
Lobbying for Ethical Whistleblowing Policies 307
Suggestions for Future Research 314
References 317
Index 339
List of Figures
2.1 Linking Luhmann, Weber, Foucault and Touraine 30
2.2 Inserting the institutional level in the enterprise 63
2.3 Touraine’s double and interrelated use of the term ‘political’ 65
2.4 IOS-diagram 70
3.1 Globalization semantic (primary concepts) 73
3.2 Freeman’s 1984 ‘hub’ model 93
3.3 Freeman and Evan’s 1990 shift in perspective 93
3.4 Rowley’s 1997 network perspective 93
3.5 Globalization semantic (human rights) 101
3.6 Globalization semantic (OSR-network) 107
3.7 Globalization semantic (OSR-stakeholder) 109
3.8 Globalization semantic (responsibility) 112
3.9 Globalization semantic (accountability) 116
3.10 Globalization semantic (integrity) 124
3.11 Globalization semantic (loyalty) 134
3.12 Globalization semantic (efficiency) 142
3.13 Human rights construct in IOS-diagram 156
3.14 OSR-network construct in IOS-diagram 157
3.15 OSR-stakeholder construct in IOS-diagram 157
3.16 Responsibility construct in IOS-diagram 158
3.17 Accountability construct in IOS-diagram 159
3.18 Integrity construct in IOS-diagram 160
3.19 Rational loyalty construct in IOS-diagram 161
3.20 Efficiency construct in IOS-diagram 161
4.1 Evolution of legitimation lines (US) 186
4.2 Evolution of legitimation lines (Australia) 207
4.3 Evolution of argumentation lines (New Zealand) 212
4.4 Evolution of legitimation lines (UK) 223
4.5 Evolution of legitimation lines (South Africa) 233
4.6 Evolution of legitimation lines (Japan) 237
4.7 Evolution of legitimation lines (Belgium) 242
4.8 Evolution of legitimation lines (the Netherlands) 252
4.9 Evolution of legitimation lines (Ireland) 254
4.10 Evolution of legitimation lines (Canada) 260
4.11 Evolution of legitimation lines (India) 264
4.12 Evolution of legitimation lines (Germany) 267
4.13 Evolution of legitimation lines (Switzerland) 269
4.14 Evolution of legitimation lines (intergovernmental bodies) 276
5.1 IOS-diagram of legitimation constructs with high usage 301
viii Whistleblowing and Organizational Social Responsibility
5.2 IOS-diagram of legitimation constructs with low usage 302
5.3 Whistleblowing 1970–2000 – from dilemma to paradox 313
List of Tables
1.1 Number of publications on whistleblowing in academic journals 12
1.2 Matrix of possible whistleblowing definitions 24
3.1 Possible normative legitimation main lines of argument 143
3.2 Grounding ethical theories of the legitimation constructs 146
3.3 Actor, subject and recipient elements derived from the
legitimation constructs 153
3.4 Screening grid 154
4.1 Whistleblowing elements specified in US policies 185
4.2 Early 1990s recommendations (Australia) 190
4.3 Australian state legislation on whistleblowing 197
4.4 New Zealand Bills and Act 211
4.5 Subsequent UK whistleblowing Bills 222
4.6 South Africa Bills and Act 232
4.7 Whistleblowing policy in Japan 238
4.8 Flemish whistleblowing legislation (Belgium) 241
4.9 Whistleblowing policies proposed in the Netherlands 251
4.10 Whistleblowing policies proposed in Ireland 255
4.11 Whistleblowing policies proposed in Canada 259
4.12 Whistleblowing policies proposed in India 265
4.13 Whistleblowing policies developing in Switzerland 268
5.1 Clarification of the distinction subjectivation/subjectaffirmation 300
5.2 Distinction subjectivation/subjectaffirmation and IOS-
movements 300
5.3 IOS-movements of current legitimation tendencies 301
5.4 Subjectaffirming movements in the legitimation constructs 308
5.5 Lobbying positions for more ethical whistleblowing policies 311