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Professor Niamh Brennan

Professor Niamh Brennan. Quinn School of Business, UCD. A Governance View on ‘Whistleblowing’: Have Boards woken up?. Resolve Ireland Annual Conference A Governance View on ‘Whistleblowing’: Have Boards woken up? Prof Niamh Brennan Michael MacCormac Professor of Management,

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Professor Niamh Brennan

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  1. Professor Niamh Brennan Quinn School of Business, UCD A Governance View on ‘Whistleblowing’: Have Boards woken up?

  2. Resolve Ireland Annual Conference A Governance View on ‘Whistleblowing’: Have Boards woken up? Prof Niamh Brennan Michael MacCormac Professor of Management, University College Dublin Thursday 24 November 2016

  3. UCD Centre for Corporate Governance (www.corporategovernance.ie) • Established February 2002 Training for company directors • Director Development Programme – 10 half day courses on various aspects of corporate governance • In-house, customised courses for individual company boards • Diploma in Corporate Governance Promote research in corporate governance

  4. Overview • What is whistleblowing? • Examples of whistleblowing • The Case of Siemens

  5. What is whistleblowing? • “Where individuals disclose illegal, immoral or illegitimate practices under the control of their employer, to persons or organisations that may be able to affect change” (Near & Miceli 1995) • Very subjective in practice

  6. What is whistleblowing? • Common perception – sneaks, spies, squealers, snitches or informers

  7. What is whistleblowing? • Frequently resulting in victimisation and isolation

  8. What is whistleblowing? Shift in public opinion? • Post 9/11? • Post Michael Neary, Drogheda Hospital? • Post banking crisis?

  9. What is whistleblowing? Differentiate • Raise-your-voice policy • Escalation policy • Serious-incident policy • Whistleblowing policy

  10. What is whistleblowing? SEC whistleblower nets $20m for enforcement tip Jessica Dye Financial Times, 14 November 2016 • SEC programme created in 2012 - Dodd-Frank financial reform law • Whistleblowers get 10-30% for monetary sanctions >$1m • Largest SEC award $30m in 2014 • Second-highest $22m August 2016 • Seventh SEC whistleblower award 2016

  11. Some whistleblowers THE WHISTLE-BLOWERS: (left to right), Cynthia Cooper, WorldCom Coleen Rowley, the FBI Sherron Watkins, Enron

  12. Some whistleblowers • Concerted attempts to vilify • Concerted campaign to discredit • ‘Vile’ story from Garda Commissioner • Vile and abusive material posted on social media about McCabe by gardai • A powerful cohort that sought to undermine his reputation and to attribute the basest motives to him 

  13. Why doesn’t whistleblowing work? • Investigators have discovered, however, that more than 40 people knew about the "secret" FitzPatrick loans. (Sunday Times 14 March 2010)

  14. Why doesn’t whistleblowing work? • When RTÉ broke the story of the X-rays fiasco at Tallaght hospital in Dublin on Monday night, I experienced a great sense of relief. • I was surprised at how many people knew about the X-ray problem internallybut felt they could do nothing about it. (Prof Tom O’Dowd, Irish Times 12 March 2010) • I told a variety of people over the last 15 months of the situation regarding X-rays and GP referral letters, including consultant colleagues, GP colleagues and senior management in Tallaght. I have not endeared myself to colleaguesin some areas of the hospital. Prof Tom O’Dowd, System ensures services go to those who shout loudest, Irish Times, 12 March 2010

  15. Why doesn’t whistleblowing work? • I have been asked why was I, a GP, was the only one who was blowing the whistle, even if to deaf ears? • I am glad that I have been able to provide a paper trail because I have no doubt but that my complaints would become a casualtyin all of this. • Why are high-achieving grown men and women with fine university educations and highly specialised training afraid to speak out? • Hospital staff, like kids in the playground, are often controlled by cliques and peer pressure. Prof Tom O’Dowd, System ensures services go to those who shout loudest, Irish Times, 12 March 2010

  16. Why doesn’t whistleblowing work? Insights from social psychology • By-stander theory • Herd effect • In the bush, the price of being caught out of the herd is certain death

  17. Improving whistleblowing policies and mechanisms? The Case of Siemens • Paid out €1 billion in bribes over a 20-year period to obtain foreign contracts • Suffered largest ever SEC fine - €1.6 billion • Major change programme implemented to change the culture • Strong compliance programme now in place

  18. Improving whistleblowing policies and mechanisms?

  19. Improving whistleblowing policies and mechanisms?

  20. Improving whistleblowing policies and mechanisms?

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