Whistle blowing in the organization

Abstract

In his speech at the Anti-corruption Summit Conference in Cape Town in 1998, the deputypresident of South Africa said that the culture of entitlement, so prevalent in ourcommunity, had contributed to the ‘name it, claim it’ syndrome where individuals soughtan elusive moral justification for engaging in criminal activity and that public servantswere obliged to serve the public with integrity (Speech of the …: 1998 [O]).Although the problem of corruption can be traced back to the 1960s in America and the1980s in South Africa, the concept of whistle blowing has become an importantphenomenon in modern organizations in the last decade. Subsequently, it is clear thatthe concept of whistle blowing should be conceptualized in terms of a theoreticalframework to provide a context for the analysis thereof. The main aim of this article istherefore to conduct an exploratory study, based on a comprehensive literature review,to explore, elucidate and critically assess the current status of whistle blowing in SouthAfrica. The first section of this article explores the development and theoretical perspectiveson the concept, and proposes perspectives on whistle blowing as a communicationphenomenon. The second section deals with the current status of whistle blowing inSouth Africa in terms of legislation and ethical considerations. The last sectionoperationalizes the whistle blowing process and proposes criteria for dealing with whistleblowing in the organization.