Analysis Of Whistleblowers: Broken Lives And Organizational Power

Superior Essays
Throughout my accounting studies so far, whistleblowers have been praised for their heroic actions that lead to the collapse of a giant corporation. However, the heroic actions and collapse are the seldom times that whistleblower protection laws work. In C. Fred Alford’s book: Whistleblowers: Broken Lives and Organizational Power, Mr. Alford explores the corporation and systems irrational behavior that makes whistleblowers lose faith in humanity and the justice system. Throughout the book, Mr. Alford tries to provide analysis and conclusions on the reasoning behind why whistleblowers and corporations act the way that they do. In the end, every whistleblower responded that they would not have blown the whistle if they could do it again.
The
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He sums them up as narcissism moralized. “The whistleblower feels empathy for others, is ashamed at being associated with unethical acts, and acts himself so as not to feel the greater shame of failing to fulfill his own ethical obligations. The trouble is that this is not how it sounds when the whistleblower is talking” (Alford Chapter 4 – Page 15). The idea of whistleblowers being narcissism moralized is compared to the ethical ideologies of impartialism, particularism, and virtue ethics. These ideologies all have the same characteristics of, placing others equally or ahead of one’s self. They preach on building relationships with the people around you, and treating others as you would want to be treated. So, if whistleblowers stand for all the correct ethical actions, why do they achieve gratification from their own actions? Could it be that whistleblowers attain more gratification from attempting to protect innocent people then protecting the corporation that they work for? The simple answer is yes, but the consequences associated with standing up for innocent people makes whistleblowers question their heroic …show more content…
Going back to the first paper we wrote this semester, I commented that I would blow the whistle every time I had the chance to. After reading C. Fred Alford’s book Whistleblowers: Broken Lives and Organizational Power, I want to retract that statement. In a twisted tail of events, Mr. Alford describes the stories and actions of what really happens to whistleblowers. The book steps out of bounds compared to most whistleblowing books, and talks about topics that most people dare not to speak about. The once promising careers for whistleblowers, are destroyed and dismantled when they attempt to blow the whistle. Corporations stand as a decentralized power that destroys anyone or anything that walks in their path. Whistleblowers posse all the same characteristics that a normal typical employee would demonstrate, besides the fact that they are shameful to work for a corporation that takes advantage of innocent people. Once they express their concerns and nothing is done, they report their concerns to outside parties. Once outside parties are notified, corporations intervene to ensure that the employee will never be treated the same. In the end, whistleblowers who have lived this experience say they would never blow the whistle again after knowing what really

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