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Feb 22, 2009 
It’s a strange aspect of large organisations that members might quietly moan to each other about abuses of the systems but many of them will quickly unite against the minority of people who go out on a limb and blow the whistle in a semi-public way. By this I mean, draw attention to the abuses in a legitimate forum accessible only to members of the organisation.
Obviously, at the moment I am thinking of Squidoo but it’s not confined to this kind of network or business. It happens in hospitals, large factories and all kinds of institutions.
People are happy to gossip about problems to co-workers or other members, even sometimes to friends and family outside although they can get bored quite quickly with this kind of conversation.
Once it’s brought out in public debate or reported to a watchdog in the case of hospitals and other vital public institutions, then the whistleblower can be shunned by other members or workers.
Logically, you might expect everybody would be delighted to bring problems into the open so that management has to respond in some positive way. Or, if they don’t, at least everybody can see the abuses are tolerated and not considered serious.
I believe that the more highly you regard an organisation, the better you want it to be and will inconvenience and even embarrass yourself by reporting abuses of the system. Not many people enjoy arguing and even risking the work they have done there and so they think long and hard before acting and speaking out.
In my experience, the practice of killing the messenger (metaphorically not literally!) is something that is not universal amongst all members. Some are glad that a few people have spoken out and are relieved to be able to add their voices to the campaign for improvement. However, many are defensive and seem to take it as a personal criticism of themselves.
Obviously, in an organisation like Squidoo, abuses don’t have the potential for life or health threatening consequences that could occur in hospitals when management or medical staff are not doing their jobs properly.
- Staphylococcus aureus
Antibiotics Test plate
Public Domain – Picture from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Image via Wikipedia
A case in point is the sloppy way many contract cleaning companies were performing in UK hospitals which was implicated in growing numbers of MRSA cases, the antibiotic resistant infection. Whistleblowers and subsequent investigations have led to an overhaul of the system and far more emphasis is laid on the importance of keeping hospitals spotlessly clean. It has also led to patients being empowered to ask doctors and nurses to wash their hands when they forget to do so between touching different patients.
Even when the consequences of abuse, incompetence or sloppy working practices aren’t life threatening, reputations can suffer and, by association, this can effect members and employees as well as the organisation itself.
When you are next tempted to castigate whistleblowers for the actions they take, remember they have probably gone through a lot of soul searching before going public and that they have the good of the organisation at heart rather than malice or a wish to cause trouble.
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