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An assistant professor at Middle Tennessee State University has launched a website to recruit participants for her study of government whistleblowers and reporters who use whistleblowers as sources. Dr. Cary A. Greenwood, APR, Fellow PRSA, is a former corporate and government public relations manager who knows somthing about the problems of government whistleblowers. If you are a government whistleblower who is willing to be interviewed for an anonymous study about the impact of whistleblowing on your relationship with your government agency, or if you are a reporter who has used whistleblowers as sources, please contact her at cary.greenwood@mtsu.edu. You can also review her credentials.

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Professionals for the Public Interest (PftPI) will be hosting an event April 4, 2011, from 9:00 am to 2:15pm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to discuss challenges to research integrity. It is called “Exploring Best Practices in Research Integrity.” It will be at the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center Hotel located at 201 North 17^th Street, Philadelphia, PA. The Department for Professional Employees at the AFL-CIO organized PftPI in 2007.

The event is free and open to the public, however registration is required. During the forum experts will talk about the challenges facing research integrity in the fields of hard science and engineering, public health, and education. Attendees can have their ideas and observations welcomed during full discussion break out sessions.

The featured speakers for this event are:

• Phillip J Langlais, Ph.D. Professor, Old Dominion University, Co-Founder and Co-Director, National Advisory Panel on Research Integrity

• Linda Rae Murray, MD, MPH, President, American Public Health Association, Chief Medical Officer, Cook County Department of Public Health

• Kyle Snow, Ph.D. Senior Scholar and Director, Center for Applied Research, National Association for the Education of Young Children

• Moderator: Doug Lederman, Editor, Inside Higher Ed

PftPI hopes this forum will enable research professionals to use the ideas presented in their own workplace to improve the integrity of their research.

The group's last panel in October of 2010 featured keynote speakers on the “Appropriate Use of Science in Public Policy.” A previous panel covered whistleblower policy.

This blog post was written by intern Jesse Meade.

 

 

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A graduate student in business administration would like to study whistleblowers for her doctoral dissertation.  Lorie Plegue has contacted the National Whistleblowers Center (NWC) asking if any whistleblowers would like to participate in her study of what happens to whistleblowers in the workplace.  Lorie currently works as a workers compensation specialist for the 2010 U.S. Census. She is starting her third year of residency for her doctorate in business administration through the University of Phoenix.  She is proposing that her dissertation focus on the ethics of whistleblowing.  "Many companies, leaders, and members of the public do not realize that" whistleblowers go through a traumatic experience," Lorie says, "they do the right thing but are punished by others through retaliation, loss of job and financial matters."  Anyone interested in contacting Lorie Plegue can email her at:  pljp2@email.phoenix.edu

 

Lorie adds the following about her interest in the whistleblowing experience:

Whistleblowing is hard to prove in court because the burden of proof is on the plaintiff, documents get destroyed, not given to the plaintiff by the corporation. Top executives are finally being held responsible for bad decisions that are harmful to stakeholders and the public. The most frightening thing is someone always knows, but doesn't come forward, like the salmonella and peanut episode.  Nine people died and someone knew. There are so many examples of how if someone came forward, we could have saved lives.  Take Firestone and Ford, for example. But workers do not. They are still not protected.  Until we can change the minds of workers and executives and boards of corporations that the whistleblowers are doing the right thing so change can be done before deadly results happen then we will continue to experience harm to the public. The whistleblower will get the blunt of the retaliation and continue to receive harm in different ways. My goal is not only awareness but to find a solution to the problems whistleblowers endure, and to make a safe passage for future whistleblowers so they do come forth before harm is done.

 

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In a recent University of Chicago study, researchers determined (again) that whistleblowers are the best tool for fighting corporate fraud. One unfortunate, but not surprising, finding was that  of whistleblowers whose identity was revealed, 82% of them were either forced from their position or quit under duress.


This new research comes on the heels of another study done by Price Waterhouse which found that whistleblowers expose more fraud than anyone, including corporate auditors or the SEC.

• View the Study Here>>
  
• Canadian Business Online reports on this study here>>

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