Whistle Blowing: Overview

Blowing a whistle is considered to be immoral if done in the premises of a professional firm for the outsiders; consequently, the choice of blowing a whistle is a major problem in engineering. It is the duty of an engineer to tell others about the harm it contains if the boss or the clients are unable to track the instructions. He must also inform about the harm when they are in favour of not only the security but also the interests of people. Being a professional, a person is empowered at a good rank.

Numerous engineers who are likely to become whistle blowers will look for your suggestions; therefore, you must make sure you pay proper heed to them. Furthermore, involving the engineers in the firm offers a good environment for mutual efforts for helping whistle blowers as well as a way for those engineers who follow the principles for the welfare of all. Blowing a whistle is a realistic implementation of the moral conducts of engineers proves to be an advantage as well as helps in sustaining the honour of people including everyone who is a part of the firm.

In case you are referred to by any prospective whistle blower for any suggestions, you must always try to be as pragmatic as possible and must also try to make sure that the danger which has been described is severe enough. It must also be in the form of a document. You must also find out if the seniors were referred to prior to you. Your advice must be to be point only after knowing all the above mentioned requirements as well as whether the seniors tried to deal with the issue before you (Schinzinger and Martin, 2000).

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Forming documents is considered to be very crucial as there are cases when any discontented worker is only looking for vengeance. So after documentation, it would be made sure that there is an issue and it must be resolved. However, there are exceptions but they are based on the case itself rather than being mentioned prior to it. A document, for instance, may not be formed when the issue is confidential or has secret information (Schinzinger & Martin, 2000). As a result, it is the duty of the firm to make sure that they know about the advantages and disadvantages which are attached to prospective whistle blowers.

The engineers must remember that it becomes hard for the firm to come up with a good case when a document is not formed; however, it is still possible. You must keep a purposeful point of view being a professional. Turning down the statement of the engineer about no proper proof is not must appreciated as your firm will have to face a lot of problems in the long run in case it is proved later that you knew about the problem but you did not pay much attention to it.

So, in the same way, if you take part in the helping of whistle blower, then your firm may be able to get back its honour and sustain it, in case it becomes known that you were a strong part of the problem solving events of the whistle blowing issue. It is good for any firm to give suggestions to engineers as it shows that they care and results in a feeling of belonging and loyalty. There are two conflicting perceptions of people as far as whistle blowing is concerned. For some, such people are “heroic defenders of values” while others believe them to be “traitorous violators of organisational loyalty norms”.

The practice of giving advice by the firm is very much in the favour of whistle blowers as people do not appreciate this habit. Whistle blowing is considered as an heroic action while it actually is that a lot of individuals get an impact made on them by the idea to cancel any procedure or a project (Bouville, 2008). Letting the prospective engineers participate in discussions with other engineers who are not a part of the events at office or chat groups for such discussions about blowing whistles must be mentioned in your website.

As a result, those engineers who have been through this before will be able to talk about the problem by remaining anonymous to others. There are codes of standards like for engineers, their functions to be performed, their loyalty, those individuals who control the engineers, how the engineers must perform for the public and the cost-benefit study about blowing whistle can be talked about generally. With the help of this, the prospective whistle blowers will be able to look for suggestions by their fellows prior to consulting the professionals in your firm.

The advantages of blowing a whistle are not only limited to the engineer but also their boss and his firm. A firm that lacks strong values for the engineers is likely to have poor employment and involvement of their workers. There is a code of standards for every professional firm. Its purpose is to ensure that there is equality among all as well as everyone is aware of how to behave. “Why should we be bothered? ” is the most common reaction to the procedures which have been put forward for dealing with the habit of blowing whistles.

According to Davis, there must be a standard of ethics as it helps the engineers in terms of their behaviour, moral judgement as well as it helps them in understanding their profession (Thinking like an Engineer, 1991). Every professional firm must work for engineering professionals as they communicate with them in a number of ways. Every professional firm has a set of standards which must be followed by all its engineers. According to the NSPE (National Society of Professional Engineers, the engineers must not harm the integrity of the professional firm they work in, in any way.

They must also not harm the way other people work or find fault in their work. In case, any engineer feels that others are not working properly of they are not following the ethics of workplace, then they should go and talk to the higher authority so they will look into it (Schinzinger and Martin, 2000). Everyone working at the firm must follow the ethics even those who are looking into any problem. In case any prospective whistle blower fulfils the above conditions and gets considerable encouragement from the chat forum on website, then the firm must provide assistance for the welfare of ethics of engineering.

According to Davis, ethics and standards must be recognized and valued by the person completely or else they will not be successful (Thinking like an Engineering, 1991). The employees of the professional firm must follow the standard or its advantages will not be attained of engineering being a very organized profession. The primary principle of NSPE (National Society of Professional Engineering) encourages serving the public while the fourth principle encourages serving the boss.

There is consent between Bouville and Harris that not only security but the health and interests of people must be kept foremost. On the other hand, it is also very important for a professional organization that they work and promote professional fraternity which helps in performing duty for the people as well as for one another (Bouville, 2008). Blowing a whistle is not always about trial and error but choices can be made with the help of standards which sustain the professional honour by keeping one’s own point of view aside.

It is the duty of professional engineers to follow the code of ethics of their firm (Davis, 1991). They must not only follow the ethics inside their office but also outside it. They must sustain the behaviour especially in those firms where united man power works. The professional firm you work in offers you a cover under which you can work well and deal with the clients and people in a better way as well as you offer advantages to them. In case whistle blowing is needed for this act, then the professional firm should help the engineer as it will bring benefits in the long run.

References Davis, M (1991). Thinking Like an Engineer: The Place of a Code of Ethics in the Practice of a Profession. Philosophy and Public Affairs [online]. 20, [Accessed 2 January 2012 ], p. 150-167. Available from: . Bouville, M. (2008). `Whistle-Blowing and Morality'. Journal of Business Ethics 81(3):579-585. Schinzinger, R. , Martin, M (2000). Chapter 5: Workplace responsibilities and rights. FROM: Schinzinger, R. , Martin, M, Introduction to Engineering Ethics. Boston: McGraw-Hill, pp 167-184.

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