The Economist: “The age of the whistleblower”

Abstract from the articte “The age of whistleblower” on December 2015:

” Ideally, firms would put in place a formal system for hearing and noting complaints – for their own sakes, as well as those of whistleblowers… studies consistently show that most are driven to right a wrong. That is why more than 90% of them sound the alarm internally first, rather than running straight to the authorities or newspapers. Given the choice, they would rather warn than accuse.

So, to stifle whistleblowing is to harm the business. Bad news tends to come out eventually, and looks worse if it appears that bosses tried to suppress it. Apart from which, wrongdoing is less likely to occur in the first place if employees know that their bosses are more inclined to hug a whistleblower than to put him in a headlock.”