How Program Managers Can Use Whistleblowing to Reduce Fraud Within Government Organizations

Abstract

The objective of this project is to recommend how U.S. program managers can use whistleblowing policies to combat fraud within the Department of Defense. Whistleblowers are an underused asset for revealing hidden, immoral, fraudulent, or inappropriate actions within an organization. Not only may whistleblowing identify undetected problems, it may save lives and vast sums of money. This research project answers the following questions: 1) Why is whistleblowing important to a program management office and its chain of command? 2) What makes someone want to, or not want to, blow the whistle within their organization? 3) How can U.S. defense organizations position themselves to fully utilize the potential power of whistleblowing? The history of whistleblowing in the United States, its positive and negative impacts, and whistleblower decisionmaking are discussed and an open-systems organizational model is used to demonstrate why a formal whistleblowing process is beneficial. Finally, recommendations are provided as to how organizations can create or strengthen their whistleblowing polices.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2014
Accession Number
ADA619503

Entities

People

  • Angel F. Cruz
  • Brian A. Ernst
  • Jeffrey J. Kubik

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Congress
  • Contractors
  • Contracts
  • Databases
  • Department Of Defense
  • Employment
  • Governments
  • Law
  • National Governments
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Program Management
  • Public Health
  • Public Policy
  • United States
  • United States Government

Readers

  • Educational Psychology
  • Government and Public Administration Law.
  • Organizational Process Management (OPM).