Corruption exists all over the world and thrives at all layers of organization. Whistleblowing is a necessity within an organization. Its absence encourages fraud, misconduct, and failure. But then it has both negative and positive aspects. HR is considered an impartial department in organizations and can play a critical role in listening to what the employees have got to say. This article attempts to explore what prevents employees from blowing the whistle, benefits of whistleblowing, and the role of HR in encouraging whistleblowing in an organization. The emotional, psychological, professional, monetary and personal risks associated with whistleblowing are massive. By promoting clear communication, developing an open and candid culture, and identifying ‘killing the messengers’, HR can certainly minimize the chances of an organizational disaster.

If you must sin, sin against God, not against the bureaucracy. God may forgive you, but the bureaucracy never will!

-- Hyman Rickover
US Admiral

When Time magazine editors named WorldCom’s Cynthia Cooper and Enron’s Sherron Watkins as two of their People of the Year for 2002, they were acknowledging the importance of internal whistleblowers—employees who bring malpractices at their own organizations to the attention of superiors. Imagine that one day you happen to overhear two of your colleagues plotting a conspiracy against a junior employee in your organization. What will you do? Imagine you are an employee of a Fortune 500 company and you find your boss and your colleague indulging in fraudulent activities like false tendering, false projects etc., to make money. What will you do? We can imagine many such incidents because we all are actually coming across such things in our day-to-day working life. Our working places are packed with unethical practices. We all are surrounded by it. But the gravity of such unethical, fraudulent practices may vary from organization to organization. And these are the sources of corruption, which have successfully contributed to making India rank No. 87 out of 178 countries in Transparency International’s 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index. This alarming rate of corruption in India demands a determined rethink.

The dynamics and turbulence of business today calls for corporate ethics. It’s time to stop imagining and actually start acting, start blowing the whistle. Thoughtfulness is a requirement. It is a part of everybody’s responsibility in an organization. However, the initiative should come from HR side, to work with people to assist them to think through their roles logically and stop unethical practices. Also, it is the responsibility of HR to encourage its workforce to establish a culture that actively motivates employees to share information without fear of retaliation. HR can create a platform to practice whistleblowing histrionically in any organization.

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