Public Relations to Whistleblowers: The Real Troublemakers?

The effect of whistle blowing to a company may vary depending on the situation of the problem itself. It could do bad, horrible things to a company’s image but it could also do good, or even, no affect at all—if, only if, the company’s PR team is the master in handling mishaps, especially whistleblowers.

But what exactly is a whistleblower?

Apparently, the definition that most researchers like to use is that whistleblowers are the people working within an organization to disclose an illegal, immoral, or illegitimate unethical activity to persons inside or outside the company that may be able to do something to the situation. It may sound to be the right thing to do, but it can be real depressing for the public relation people in handling these kinds of issues, especially if the information shared could harm the company’s image—which some whistle-blowing cases are mostly controversial.

Generally speaking, having someone within a company to disclose information of the business is already an issue to be dealt with. So how does Public Relation supposed to react to such problems? They are the ones who should jump in to the root of the crisis and handle it for the company’s sake, not just for its prestige, but also for the sake of the actual employees that are working in it. Public relation officers should be the ones who are responsible to make sure the communication shared between a company and the public is going through effectively, and the ones who should avoid all possible miscommunication to happen in the future. 

It might have been a nightmare for any PR officer to encounter such issues like whistleblowers to erupt within a company, especially if it could put that company’s reputation at risk. If we are talking in worst possible situations, not only the business is at stake, but it could also cause a tremendous consequences to the company’s economical progress, and putting them to a sudden exposure to the media could also put the company's image at harm.

So what can PR do? In any given situation, they need to make sure that the condition wouldn’t go worst than already is, especially to the public’s eyes. No matter how bad the circumstances, PR people need to stand behind the company’s back, and fight for them to protect, or even “rescue” its reputation from crumbling down. They need to put aside everything else and try to suppress the situation from getting out of hand. Even a few scholars have stated whistle blowing is an act of communication because of the concerns shared between people in the organization, and as communication officers, PR need to ensure that these messages are being transmitted efficiently and dodge any problems to occur.

If you think about it, the PR team is all the company has, the ones who could actually save them from going downhill. Whistleblowers may look like the savior or “the angel” from unveiling the unethical actions within an organization, but to the eyes of the company itself, in some cases they may be dubbed as the troublemakers, and they need to be taken care of before they can cause problems to the whole business.