Cleaning Out the Links Part 5

We're back for some more links and we're starting with the New York Times which is reporting that there are big obstacles for the anonymous tips of misdeeds: "A study published in The Journal of Management Studies has found that corporate audit committee members attributed lower credibility and allocated fewer resources for investigations when reports of malfeasance were received through anonymous tips, compared with nonanonymous reports. The study also found that the audit committee members were more concerned with protecting themselves than shareholders if they faced considerable damage to their reputations as a result of a tip, a clear violation of their fiduciary duties."

Now we head to onwallstreet which talks about the retirement "Catch-22": too young to retire and too old to get hired. Age discrimination is hard to prove but is pretty prevalent in this economy.

Lastly, for everyone looking for a job right now, they probably agree with this FINS article which says that job hunting is often one step forward...and two steps back.

Self-Policing In Your Organization

The Tampa Bay Rays baseball team has hit a rough patch. Although they held on to first place in the toughest division in baseball throughout the first few months of the season, they've been no-hit twice and lost their grip on the division. This past week their centerfielder, B.J. Upton lollygagged his way to the ball. For a team struggling to score runs, this was not the effort you want to see. Upton has been benched before for not hustling and this seemed to be another case of him just giving up on a play. When he got back to the dugout, 24-year-old Evan Longoria approached him about his behavior and the two went face-to-face and had to be separated by teammates. I wrote on a sports blog I post on regularly about this incident and about how it brings back memories to one sports writer of a young Derek Jeter, who had, at 24, called out one of his veteran teammates for showing up another teammate. This is seen as a great leadership skill in an organization--self-policing.

I bring this up because while this type of approach may work in baseball, it most likely has no place in an organization. If a co-worker is not pulling his weight or is trying to show up another co-worker, it should not be left to self-policing. Although a good measure of "that is not right" should come from everyone involved and whistleblowing is encouraged at times, the problem itself should be handled by upper-management and Human Resources. Employees can become embarrassed on confrontational when they are publicly called out. Instead, a manager should be doing the discipline--and doing it in a private environment. Publicly calling out a co-worker for a mistake or leaving an office to be self-policed may work in baseball but it is not a good way to handle an office. 

Scott McClellan's Exit Interview

I wonder if the White House does exit interviews or this is how their employees express their displeasure (via MyWayNews): click here

This is Human Resources worst nightmare. A former employee not only decides to air his displeasure about his former boss and many former co-workers, but decides to do so in a very public and scathing way. And this is not just any boss and any form of public rebuking, but but the President of the United States and a very well-publicized book about his behavior as the Commander-in-Chief.

US News and World report writes the McClellan is just another Dilbert, a powerless employee with a lousy manager: click here

This is not a normal employee-employer relationship where it can be easier for the former to complain about the behavior of the latter. But this certainly brings to light that employees have a hard time expressing their displeasure of their bosses while in the job but after they leave the position, feel more free and easy to express their real feelings.

Maybe Scott McClellan should have just had a good exit interview...

Blow That Whistle

We're in the middle of the NBA and NHL playoffs...but the most important whistleblower story may be in Human Resources...

The Washington Post starts us off this an article about the whisteblower's unending story: click here

Next, from Michigan Live, some news about a lost whistleblower case in Detroit and a document on a computer: click here

And lastly, from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, word about a hospital's large payout following whistleblower's kickbacks: click here