Whistleblower’s Opponent:
Silent Observers
Even medium sized organizations involve complex interactions
of people with different responsibilities.
Few, if any, employees see the
production or service process from beginning to end. Even when their actions contribute to a
wrong, employees may contend that they were just small cogs in the machine[1].
Organizational complexity argues for the
importance of the whistleblower in identifying problems whose solutions might
improve organizational effectiveness or defend the public good[2]. This complexity also means that when a wrong
is committed, there are likely to be several witnesses who could, but do not,
disclose the wrong.
In the recent whistleblower cases mentioned
earlier, different organizational witnesses remained silent and avoided
retaliation. Corporate thieves’ exploits
are widely suspected; unsafe working conditions are experienced by all in the
environment; and retaliations against employees are witnessed by co-workers.
When a senior financial manager is aware of accounting
misdeeds – whether on the scale of Enron[3]
or the much smaller San Francisco Fine Arts Museums[4]
– others among the financial staff are aware or have their suspicions. When a company as large and complex as
Volkswagen commits a multi-national fraud[5],
dozens, or even hundreds, are almost certainly aware of misdeeds and management
lies. Yet these observers fail to act.
When observers remain silent they give credence to the
wrongdoers’ arguments and rationalizations.
They allow wrongdoers to define the team that the whistleblower betrays. They implicitly encourage others, who were
not witnesses, to believe that if the whistleblower were right in his
contentions then others would support him.
The issues that I raised at HomeFirst were known to the
Chief Program Officer, but she remained largely silent. Program managers were aware of several of the
wrongs but declined to resist. The Chief
Development Officer received the supporting information that I provided to the
CEO and CPO, but she acquiesced. Members
of the Finance Committee of the Board were informed but chose not to
investigate. By the time the Board
members decided to fire me, about 10% of HomeFirst’s employees and directors
were aware of issues that I had raised, but I alone objected. HomeFirst’s contention
that I failed to cooperate with the team was based on the existence and silence
of these observers.
Edward Snowden, celebrated whistleblower and discloser of
overreaches by the National Security Agency and other governmental agencies,
laments the tragedy of those who sit silent and compliant[6]. Holding to a view of whistleblower as hero, he
encourages people to disclose wrong only when they honestly believe that they will
influence policy. Given the rarity of
whistleblowing, Snowden says, it is critical that whistleblowers maximize the
public good produced by their acts. He addresses
himself not to potential small-time whistleblowers, but to those few who
discover and reveal constitutional violations with international implications.
For my money, Snowden absolves too readily the multitude for
their silence; he expects too little from the many who witness wrongdoing; and
he slights the public benefit obtained from the countless successful and
unsuccessful efforts by small-time whistleblowers. A heroic whistleblower of Snowden’s stature has
little need for the support of observers who opt for silence; his opponent is
the system, the federal government, or major moneyed interests.
Small-time whistleblowers, on the other hand, are not heroes[7]. They are done in by wrongdoers, their
collaborators, and those who could have spoken out but did not.
[1] Arendt, Hannah. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the
Banality of Evil.
Revised and enlarged edition. New York: Penguin Books. 1994
[3] McLean, Bethany and Peter
Elkind. The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and
Scandalous Fall of Enron. New York: Portfolio. 2003
[4] Matier & Ross. “S.F.
museum whistle-blower bounced from her job.” San Francisco Chronicle. November 14, 2015.
[6] Snowden, Edward. “Inside
the Assassination Complex: Whistleblowing Is Not Just Leaking – It’s an Act of
Political Resistance.” The
Intercept. May 3, 2016.
[7] Alford, C. Fred. Whistleblowers: Broken Lives and OrganizationalPower. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University. 2001
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