Whistleblowing at Work

This book addresses a current issue and one that has recently seen a significant degree of legal codification. The book contains 11 chapters dealing with different aspects of the topic of whistleblowing. These chapters also represent different approaches to the topic and this is a strength but also a significant weakness. Some of the chapters are essentially factual, as in the case of the law relating to whistleblowing. Others are more of a “what to do” guide to good practice and one attempts a limited conceptual consideration of the topic. While this heterogeneity keeps the reader alert, it also frustrates, as the reader has to reframe thought processes quite regularly. This review will comment briefly on each chapter in turn.

The first chapter by Lewis is a readable and quite thorough introduction to the topic in which the scene is set well. It provides a considered and well‐balanced perspective. The outline of the book content, whilst comprehensive, could have perhaps been made more enticing to the reader by the use of bullet points linked to key themes. It is never made clear, however, which audience the publication is aimed at and how this audience would benefit from reading it. Given the span of the book, I assume it is largely aimed at a wide range of human resource management and general management students.

The second chapter by Lewis and Spencer on the law relating to whistleblowing is a robust and highly readable description of the current state of UK law. It covers particularly the Public Interest Disclosure Act (1998), aspects of the Employment Rights Act (1996) and, helpfully, relevant parts of the Human Rights Act (1998). Some cases are mentioned, though the chapter would have been further enlivened by additional case material. Nevertheless, the chapter does what it sets out to do in a straightforward and clear manner.

Chapter three by Cutler and Nye on whistleblowing and business ethics does not really fit well in the order of chapters. After the preceding and factual legal chapter, the reader is invited to compare two approaches to responsibility, the “stakeholder” and that espoused by Milton Friedman, where the manager is initially conceptualised as the agent of the shareholder and is there to make as much money as possible while “conforming to the basic rules of society”. Later in the chapter a more refined version of the Friedman approach is used in which the opportunity for autonomy is applied. These three approaches are applied to two case study situations; one related to pesticides and the other to “low tar/low nicotine” cigarettes. The authors conclude that a careful reading of Friedman’s complete argument could allow whistleblowing to happen “because disclosure of information in situations where the autonomy of groups like workers or consumers is being infringed would be entirely legitimate”. The chapter is interesting and well written, but it is not really a discussion of whistleblowing and ethics per se. It might have helped if the title had more accurately reflected the content. Perhaps “The comparative ethics of whistleblowing from a stakeholder and shareholder perspective”. The overall impression was that this was a piece, in reality, drawn from a journal article.

Chapter four by Southwood is a straightforward and informative chapter, but here again the approach was different. This chapter was clearly aimed at providing a practical guide to inform the decisions of a range of trainee and practising accountants. There is quite a lot of factual information in this chapter but the possibility of list overload was reduced by the inclusion of two useful case studies.

Chapter five by Lewis and Sargeant is a useful contribution for those who need to develop a whistleblowing procedure. In this regard it is comprehensive and informative. Here again there was a difference in approach in that the chapter was particularly directive rather than thought provoking. This is not to criticise the value to the practitioner of the material set out but again reflects the heterogeneity of the chapters. This chapter would really benefit from a good case study or two. Given the range of material available, the chapter could have been much richer than this.

Chapters six and seven are contributions on the health service (Vickers) and local government (Homewood). The former is an impressive chapter that contains a healthy mixture of principle and practice, written convincingly. However, a considerable amount of the material here and in other chapters is really more about ethics and standards rather than the process and consequences of whistleblowing. The chapter by Homewood is a largely factual and structural treatment of the topic in the local government sector. The Nolan report is dealt with well, as are other key developments but the overall feeling was that the chapter lacked vitality.

The chapter by Ruff and Lewis on education is an interesting chapter, particularly given the reviewer’s own occupation. The authors attempt to deal with schools, further education and universities in one piece. This is laudable but given the large range of material covered, detail was inevitably sacrificed for breadth. It would have been of great interest if the author had addressed the growing feeling amongst many academics that given the plethora of avenues for reviewing their performance and complaints, the time has now come for greater protection to be available for those who make their living for developing knowledge within others.

Chapter nine by Frieze and Jennings on the trade union perspective on whistleblowing is largely a practical selection of good practice tips and advice for trade union negotiators. It is sound and given my own background in trade union affairs, I found it to be useful and fair. It deals particularly with the implications of the 1998 PIDA and related in‐house procedures.

I feel about chapter ten (“A whistleblower’s perspective”, by Schroder) in the same way I did for chapter three. It is interesting but it does not really fit here. The author, herself a whistleblower, considers a number of case studies in different settings. They are dealt with effectively and are certainly interesting and alarming in terms of the treatment meted out to the whistleblowers. The chapter ends with a list of good practice points if the reader has occasion to find themselves in a similar position. I enjoyed reading it but by this time the lack of fit between the various chapters had reduced the overall impact of the book.

The final chapter by King on providing advice on whistleblowing exacerbated this feeling of fragmentation. This was written by a barrister who was formally a senior legal officer at Public Concern at Work, a charity providing advice and support in the field. Yet again the material was sensible and easy to read but also again there was no thread linking it to the other chapters. The chapter also contains such very good case study material as well as good practice advice.

My overall feeling was that insufficient editorial effort had been applied to the material. There was no real attempt to link the chapters together and this feeling was supported by the fact that there was no general concluding section. There is good material in several of the chapters but the value to the reader is reduced by the differences in level and approach taken by the different authors. The book will certainly be purchased but more likely by libraries than individual readers. Some material will find its way into academic essays and other parts may help individuals with cases or help managers design policies, but it is not the definitive book on the topic of whistleblowing!