Whistleblowing is something that a particular company is finding difficult to explore and communicate to its workforce. I am involved in training that will incorporate whistleblowing and am unable to find anything that would help me run an exercise to help people understand its impact. Please help. I need something within the next 10 days. I can be reached via email on brenda.isles@btinternet.com. Many thanks. Brenda Isles
brenda isles
5 Responses
Whistleblowing exercises
Brenda, would this be relevant? Get them to look at typical scenarios that relate to their business. Ask them to analyse the implications of whistleblowing/not whistleblowing for both the business, its clients, and themselves. Could they also devise a company policy/protocol which complies with the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, if one is not available at the moment?
You may find some useful resources at http://tinyurl.com/2ozs
whistleblowing exercises
Brenda
Sorry I don’t have any exercises to offer. Have you considered using actual case studies? There have been a few ET cases based on whistleblowing claims, try the HRZonw associated site Lawzone for actual cases.
Alternatively have you thought of linking it to business ethics and environmental awareness?
You could as groups to develop Ethical codes of conduct for the various aspects of the business such as dealing with suppliers, maintainig the environment etc.
Have them explore their own, then corporate Values
Whistleblowing is essentially a case of helping organisations, and individuals, live by certain Values. Two conditions are essential
1) The organisation needs clearly espoused Values
2) Individuals need to know what they are and trust that they can operate by them.
I would be tempted to start at the personal value level and then shift the model into the corporate arena..
Ask them what they would/would not do – steal from a shop (or from the office stationery cupboard!), mug an old lady, beat up someone, abuse a child. Start with things that many people WOULD do that may be slightly illegal (break the speed limit, park on double yellows…) and move into the more difficult examples, as a way of demonstrating that we all have our limits. WHich of these illegal activities would they report to the Police if they became aware of them?
Likewise, organisations have their limits; work with examples of whistleblowing fromo the past and then into examples that may be real in their own organisation.
Hope these ideas help…
building trust
Hi Brenda,
This sounds like a fantastic piece of work to be involved in – luck you!
My nearest experience was in training EO policy/procedures. The issue of whistle blowing was nearly always raised in the context of bullying. It always lively debate and had to left with indviduals using their descretion.
If I were tackling whistleblowing I would certainly want to explore values and aspects of systems thinking to encourage people to see the whole picture.
Trust is another area that I would want to explore. Trust could well be at the heart of whistleblowing – I have to know I will be OK if I blow the whistle. I have a trust audit that could be a useful way of exploring what makes/prevents trust and if you would like a copy let me know.
Use Scruples
Just adding to Geoff Roberts (17 Nov) comments on getting them to examine their own values/beliefs first… Using the game ‘Scruples’ would make it fun and would build rapport and team spirit. I use it a lot.
Good luck!