The Professional in the Middle

1. The Professional in the Middle Thomas Donlin-Smith, Professor of Religious Studies

2. The Professional in the Middle Professionals operate within a complex web of relationships

3. Professionals have relationships with (i.e., obligations to). . . • Employing institution • Superiors within the institution • Subordinates within the institution • Peers within the institution • One’s profession & professional peers • Clients • Competitors • The public, the government • Self and one’s family • God

4. Complexity of living in the web • Each relationship brings its own moral questions • Conflicts of loyalty among the relationships • Metaphors and bureaucratic structures shape how we experience these relationships

5. The moral challenges of supervision • Tendency of professionals to be under-prepared for supervisory responsibilities

6. The moral challenges of relating to peers • What to do about incompetent or corrupt professional peers?

7. Relating to superiors and employers (loyalty) • Most commonly reported area of professional ethics concern. • See Dilbert’s “pointy-haired boss” from Hell

8. Relating to superiors and employers • Professionals in large organizations • Loss of traditional autonomy • The difficulty of being simultaneously a responsible, autonomous pro & a loyal employee. • Loyalty to employer is itself a professional responsibility.

9. Two types of authority in professional relationships • Executive authority (a.k.a. organizational or institutional authority) • Expertise authority • People with less expertise authority can have greater executive authority

10. One possible area of conflict with employers or supervisors: • Public safety, risk, & service quality disputes • 3 models of safety, risk, & quality-related responsibilities (from Mike Martin’s Meaningful Work): • Employer’s Agents • Profession’s Standard-bearers • Shared Agency (Martin’s preference)

11. Model 1 - Employer's Agents • Professionals are hired guns who advise about safety & then carry out orders. Organizational subordinates simply obey.

12. Model 2 – Profession’s Standard-bearers • Professionals stand upon the standards set by their profession & the law. Professionals make their own judgments of the public good, even in conflict with their employers

13. Model 3 - Shared Agency • Managers & the professionals they supervise are shared decision-makers • Professionals are advocates for the public good but must be balanced by goals, cost, schedules, customer demands • Managers too must see themselves as advocates for the public’s good

14. Shared Goals: the compatibility of public & private goods • The dualistic view of corporations as only profit oriented & professionals as devoted only to public goods is inaccurate. • Professionals are interested in more than public goods and institutions/corporations serve more than private goods. • A life of virtue can be cultivated in organizations (at least the right organizations)

15. Loyalty summarized (M. Martin) • 4 basic obligations of professionals: • identify by independent reason problematic orders & regulations • express their views within appropriate limits • create an atmosphere of tolerance & free expression • be willing to refuse involvement in projects that create extreme public danger

16. The professional’s conscientious refusal of employer’s orders • A right based on: • respect for personal integrity • right to pursue & express professional responsibilities • Not an absolute, but specifically entails rights to: • speak without fear of reprisal • alternative assignment if available

17. Features of acceptable situation for conscientious refusal • Potential for great harm to public • No substantial harm is done to one’s organization by following conscience • One acts in good faith, sincerely trying to meet all responsibilities • Situations of partial satisfaction of these features?

18. How does the tension between loyalty to employer and conscientious exercise of professional judgment play out in your prospective profession? Suggest a case where conscience should be followed and a case where conscience claims would be clearly limited and wrongly invoked. Create some general guidelines for determining when personal conscience or respect for authority should have priority.

19. Whistleblowing • Definition: disclosure of evidence of: • violation of law, rule or regulation; • gross waste of funds; • gross abuse of authority; • gross mismanagement; • substantial threat to public health and safety.

20. Whistleblowing • The “double horror” of whistleblowing: the initial trauma + frequent retaliation • The need for greater protections • The special case of whistleblowing within the federal government • See: • whistleblowers.org • U.S. Office of Special Counsel

21. 3 views of whistleblowing • Condemning – unacceptable disloyalty • Necessary evil, a tragedy to be avoided • Obligatory under specific conditions • Need for criteria for obligatory whistle-blowing.

22. Steps in whistleblowing • Assess the seriousness of the issue • Assess your motives • Know your situation – e.g., how high up does the corruption go? • Create lateral links of support

23. Steps in whistleblowing • Realism about available protection • consult attorney? • Evidence - is my information documented & verified?

24. Steps in whistleblowing • Where to take the information? Who is the proper recipient of my information? • internal • external • How much personal exposure? • anonymous • open

25. Assuming internal, open whistleblowing. . . • State your position: • clarity • stick to facts, avoid personal attacks • come with win-win solutions • Going over the supervisor's head • the ethics officer or hot-line

26. Steps in whistleblowing • If unresolved tension grows acute? Choices: • comply • try to change the system from within • go public (classic whistleblowing) • To whom? Media? Law enforcement? Your profession? • exit (variations) • Anticipate & document retaliation

27. Summing up • No apriori system for determining mandatory whistle-blowing • Whistleblowing is: • often a supererogatory expression of personal ideals (rarely “mandatory”) • an appropriate expression of those personal ideals

28. Importance of whistleblower protection laws • Pros can have an obligation to whistle-blow, but it is unreasonable to blame them for failing to do so if society does not provide adequate protections for them. • Must contextualize and personalize.