The Tiger: The Rise and Fall of Tammany Hall
The first complete history of America's most bizarre and longest-running political act. Stories of chicanery and finagling and rigged elections abound in this look at a bygone era in American politics.
Layers of decision: Linking social definitions of corruption and willingness to take action
The literature available about social definitions of corruption is surprisingly discrete from that which addresses the issue of “whistleblowing” or the reporting of crime and corruption. The current study, however, empirically links the two. A survey of more than 1300 public sector employees was undertaken to explore: i) how and why public sector employees define some behaviours as corrupt; ii) factors which may hinder public sector employees taking action about corruption which they may observe at work; and iii) the link between i) and ii). The study found that within the New South Wales (NSW) public sector, views about what constitutes corruption are diverse and that this has a significant, though not exclusive, impact upon the action respondents said they would take in response to workplace corruption. The study discusses other factors which also impact upon the stated decision not to take action about corruption and suggests some possible courses of action for addressing these factors.
The Whistleblowing Process
Little empirical work has been completed on the whistleblowing process in organizations. This study examines questionnaire data from 72 respondents who blew the whistle on their employers with regard to alleged sex discrimination. Results indicate that whistleblowers considered the process to be more effective when their cases were determined to have merit and when they felt they had succeeded in changing management's attitudes. Retaliation by employer had little influence on whether the whistleblower considered the process to be effective. Further, retaliation was less likely to occur when the whistleblower's case was determined to have merit.