Dynamics of Whistle Blowing

Daniel Goleman
Vital Lies -Simple Truths, The Psychology of Self Deception
Full Interview can be seen at:
http://www.theopenmind.tv/searcharchive_episode_output.asp?id=574

Following is transcript from Interview excerpt shown here.

Heffner: But you know, its interesting that you say the modern day hero is the truth-teller, the investigative reporter, the whistle-blower. Are you really sure that blowing the whistle brings great praise to an individual?

Goleman: No. Blowing the whistle is probably the most dangerous thing anyone can do. And the reason is that when people joins a group, the tacit understanding, remember, is Heres what we dont notice here. Along with that is And in return for you not noticing, that is for only paying attention to what ostensible what were about, youre one of us, youre okay. To whistle-blow, to bring up the thing that is not to be paid attention to is to violate that essential understanding. The universal consequence to whistle-blowers is that they get booted out. They get demoted, they get transferred, they get fired, lots of research shows us. In fact, its worse in government than in private industry. But about seventy to eighty percent of whistle-blowers suffer immensely. And on the other hand, the paradox is that the whistle-blower, it turns out, is highly loyal to the organization. Hes not doing it or shes not doing it because they want to get someone, but because they feel the basic mission, the higher ideal of whats going on Is being violated and they cant live with that. So their own ethics drive them to tell the truth. But the paradox is that the organization feels betrayed and angry and retaliates

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Whistle Blower
• deception
• lies
• truth
• psychology
• daniel goleman
• social engineering