Whistleblowing in healthcare: exploring the role of trade union representatives (Advert Reference: SEL17/BUS/BLENKINSOPP)

Trade unions have played a pivotal role in getting bullying and harassment at work taken seriously by policymakers and employers, through national and sectoral campaigns, local activism, use of grievance procedures etc. The importance of dignity at work is now widely acknowledged, and staff complaining of bullying and harassment have access to procedures by which they can raise these issues, and are afforded a degree of employment protection, though both are far from perfect. The act of raising concerns over bullying and harassment has many parallels with whistleblowing. Some whistleblowing cases involve staff blowing the whistleblowing over mistreatment by colleagues or management (for example in health care see Bjørkelo 2013; Jackson et al 2010), and many whistleblowers experience bullying, harassment and victimisation as a result of their actions. Given this, the relative silence of trade unions on whistleblowing is striking.

Lewis and Vandekerckhove (2016) suggest that trade unions could view this as an opportunity for ‘strategic expansion’. This analysis focuses on how unions might position themselves, but there is also a need to consider the role that individual trade union representatives could play in the process. This is particularly relevant in sectors where the concerns raised by whistleblowers are often about the actions of their colleagues, rather than of management. Reps may find it easier to support a member in some form of conflict with management, than to support a member in pressuring management to deal with the wrongdoing of a colleague (who may also be a union member). Such situations may arise in various settings, but perhaps the most significant is healthcare, which is still highly unionized and also has acknowledged problems with poor practice in responding to whistleblowers. In addition, the issues which trigger whistleblowing in the NHS are often themselves ambiguous and contested (Blenkinsopp & Edwards, 2008), making it more difficult for reps to assess the situation.

The proposed PhD project will focus on the NHS, and explore:

a) The attitudes of trade union reps towards whistleblowing, and their experience of involvement in cases;

b) Former whistleblowers’ experience of union involvement (or lack of involvement), and how it influenced the process;

c) The attitudes and experience of NHS managers (HR and otherwise) to trade union involvement in the whistleblowing process.

As there is very little research in this area the research would be exploratory and guided by the literature on employee voice (Mowbray, Wilkinson & Tse, 2015).

Bjørkelo, B. (2013) ‘Workplace bullying after whistleblowing: Future research and implications’. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 28 (3) 306-323.

Blenkinsopp, J. & Edwards, M. (2008). On not blowing the whistle: treating quiescent employee silence as an emotion episode. In W.J. Zerbe, C.E.J. Hartel & N.M. Ashkanasy (Eds.), Research on Emotion in Organizations Volume 4: Ethics, Emotions and Decision-making. Bradford: Emerald Publishing.

Jackson, D., Peters, K., Andrew, S., Edenborough, M., Halcomb, E., Luck, L., Salamonson, Y., Weaver, R. and Wilkes, L. (2010) ‘Trial and retribution: A qualitative study of whistleblowing and workplace relationships in nursing’, Contemporary Nurse, 36 (1–2) 34–44.

Lewis, D. & Vandekerckhove, W. (2016) Trade unions and the whistleblowing process in the UK: An opportunity for strategic expansion? Journal of Business Ethics. pp. 1-11.

Mowbray, P.K., Wilkinson, A. and Tse, H.H.M. (2015). An integrative review of employee voice: Identifying a common conceptualization and research agenda, International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 17, pp. 382–400.

Eligibility and How to Apply

Please note eligibility requirement:
• academic excellence i.e. 2:1 (or equivalent GPA from non-UK universities [preference for 1st class honours]); or a Masters with distinction.’
• Appropriate IELTS score, if required.

For further details of how to apply, entry requirements and the application form, see
https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research-degrees/how-to-apply/
Please ensure you quote the advert reference above on your application form.