Whistleblowing, Communication and Consequences Whistleblowing, Communication and Consequences offers the first in-depth analysis of the most publicized, and morally complex, case of whistleblowing in recent Scandinavian history: the Norwegian national lottery, Norsk Tipping. With contributions from the whistleblower himself, as well as from key voices in the field, this book offers unique perspectives and insights into not only this fascinating case, but also into whistleblowing and wrongdoing in organizations more broadly. An international team of scholars use 14 different theoretical lenses to show the complex and multi-faceted nature of whistleblowing. The book begins with an ethnographic account by the whistleblower story and proceeds into an analysis of the literature and conceptual topics related to that whistleblowing incident to present the lessons that can be learned from this extreme example of institutional failure. This fascinating, complex, and multi-theoretical book will be of great interest to scholars, students, and industry leaders in the areas of public relations, corporate communication, leadership, corporate social responsibility, whistleblowing, and organizational resistance. Peer Jacob Svenkerud , Ph.D., Ohio University, Professor and Dean at the School of Business and Social Sciences, Inland University of Applied Sciences, Norway. Jan-Oddvar Sørnes , Ph.D., Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Organizational Communication, Nord University, Business School. Larry Browning , Ph.D., The Ohio State University, Professor Emeritus, William P. Hobby Centennial Professor of Communication, Department of Communication Studies, University of Texas at Austin, Moody College of Communication and Adjunct Professor of Management, Nord University Business School, Bodø, Norway. Routledge Studies in Communication, Organization, and Organizing Series Editor: François Cooren The goal of this series is to publish original research in the field of orga- nizational communication, with a particular—but not exclusive—focus on the constitutive or performative aspects of communication. In doing so, this series aims to be an outlet for cutting-edge research monographs, edited books, and handbooks that will redefine, refresh, and redirect scholarship in this field. The volumes published in this series address topics as varied as branding, spiritual organizing, collaboration, employee communication, corporate authority, organizational timing and spacing, organizational change, organizational sense making, organization membership, and disorganization. What unifies this diversity of themes is the authors’ focus on communication, especially in its constitutive and performative dimensions. In other words, authors are encouraged to highlight the key role communication plays in all these processes. Authority and Power in Social Interaction Methods and Analysis Edited by Nicolas Bencherki, Frédérik Matte and François Cooren Organizing Inclusion: Moving Diversity from Demographics to Communication Processes Edited by Marya L. Doerfel and Jennifer L. Gibbs Whistleblowing, Communication and Consequences Lessons from The Norwegian National Lottery Edited by Peer Jacob Svenkerud, Jan-Oddvar Sørnes and Larry Browning For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/ Routledge-Studies-in-Communication-Organization-and-Organizing/ book-series/RSCOO Whistleblowing, Communication and Consequences Lessons from The Norwegian National Lottery Edited by Peer Jacob Svenkerud, Jan-Oddvar Sørnes and Larry Browning First published 2021 by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 Taylor & Francis The right of Peer Jacob Svenkerud, Jan-Oddvar Sørnes and Larry Browning to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The Open Access version of this book, available at www. taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-0-367-42133-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-82203-3 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC Contents List of Figures List of Tables List of Contributors Preface viii ix x xiii PART I Introduction 1 1 Alone Against the Organization—Peer ʼ s Whistleblower Story P E E R J AC O B SVENKERUD 3 2 Whistleblowing, Voice, and Monomythology: The Prospect for Analysis L A R RY B ROWNING, JAN-ODDVAR SØRNES, AND PEER J AC O B SV E N KERUD 15 PART II What Goes Wrong? 29 3 Truth-Telling and Organizational Democracy: The Rhetoric of Whistleblowing as an Act of Parrhesia RO N A L D WALTER GREENE, DANIEL HORVATH, AND L A R RY B ROWNING 31 4 Smothered by Paradoxes and Swamped by Procedures: The Legal Context of the Case A N N E O L I N E HAUGEN 46 5 Whistleblowing, Identity Construction, and Strategic Communication C O R E Y B RU NO AND CHARLES CONRAD 61 vi Contents PART III How Does It Happen? 79 6 Sensemaking and Whistleblowing K A R L E . W E ICK 81 7 Ethical Blindness as an Explanation for Non-Reporting of Organizational Wrongdoing E I N A R ØV E RENGET AND ÅSE STORHAUG HOLE 93 8 Chronotopic Distinctions in Whistleblowing Events: X-Rays of Power and Sustaining Values SA R A H A M I RA DE LA GARZA 110 9 Whistleblowing: Making a Weak Signal Stronger B J Ø R N T. B A KKEN AND THORVALD HÆREM 122 PART IV What Makes Whistleblowing a Risky Business? 137 10 Blowing the Whistle Is Laden With Risk J O S E P H M c GLYNN 139 11 Hero or “Prince of Darkness”? Locating Peer Jacob Svenkerud in an Attributions-Based Typology of Whistleblowers B R I A N K . R I CHARDSON 151 12 Norsk Tipping’s Loneliest Stakeholder: Crisis, Issues, and the Stakeholder Voice AU D R A D I E RS-LAWSON 164 PART V How to Encourage Employees to Report Wrongdoing 183 13 The Influence of Psychological Contracts on Decision- Making in Whistleblowing Processes Å S E S TO R H AUG HOLE AND THERESE E. SVERDRUP 185 14 Culture Eats Control for Breakfast: The Difficulty of Designing Management Systems for Whistleblowing J U N E B O R G E DOORNICH 201 Contents vii 15 Whistleblowing as a Means of (Re)Constituting an Organization W I L L I A M ROTHEL SMITH III, JEFFREY W. TREEM, AND J O S H UA B . B ARBOUR 214 PART VI Epilogue 229 16 Epilogue: God and Devil, Hero and Villain, and the Long Journey Ahead R I TA L . R A H OI-GILCHREST 231 Index 240 Figures 11.1 Typology of Whistleblowers 154 12.1 Examples of Some of Norsk Tipping’s Stakeholders 169 12.2 The Stakeholder Relationship Management Model 171 13.1 The Whistleblowing Process 188 Tables 2.1 Campbell’s Monomyth 22 14.1 Management Control Systems Package 203 Contributors Bjørn T. Bakken , Ph.D., BI Norwegian Business School. Associate Profes- sor of Crisis Management, Inland Norway Business School (Campus Rena), Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Elverum, Nor- way. bjorn.bakken@inn.no Joshua B. Barbour , Ph.D., The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies, Univer- sity of Texas at Austin, Moody College of Communication, barbour- josh@utexas.edu Larry Browning , Ph.D., The Ohio State University. Professor Emeritus, William P. Hobby Centennial Professor of Communication, Depart- ment of Communication Studies, University of Texas at Austin, Moody College of Communication and Adjunct Professor of Management, Nord University Business School, Bodø, Norway. lbrowning@mail. utexas.edu Corey Bruno , B.A. Communication, Texas A&M University, Operations Manager, Abraham Logistics LLC, cjbruno13@gmail.com Charles Conrad , Professor of organizational communication and organi- zational rhetoric in the Department of Communication at Texas A&M University, cconrad@tamu.edu Sarah Amira de la Garza , Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, Associ- ate Professor, Southwest Borderlands Scholar, Hugh Downs School of Human Communication, Affiliated Faculty in School of Transborder Studies and School of Social Transformation, Arizona State University, Tempe. delagarza@asu.edu Audra Diers-Lawson , Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin. Senior Lec- turer at Leeds Beckett University, United Kingdom. audra.lawson@ leedsbeckett.ac.uk June Borge Doornich , Ph.D., Associate Professor in Strategy and Control at Nord University Business School, Bodø, Norway. June.b.doornich. nord.no Contributors xi Ronald Walter Greene , Ph.D., The University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. Professor and Chair, Department of Communication Stud- ies, University of Minnesota (Twin Cities), green179@umn.edu. Thorvald Hærem , Ph.D., Copenhagen Business School, Professor of Organizational Psychology, Norwegian School of Management, thor- vald.harem@bi.no Anne Oline Haugen , Cand. Jur., Professor of Law, Inland School of Business and Social Sciences, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Department of Law and Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Architecture and Design, Department of Design, anne.haugen@inn.no Åse Storhaug Hole , Cand Scient., Norwegian School of Sports. MPA, University of Karlstad. Professor at the Department of Organization, Leadership and Management, Inland Norway School of Business and Social Sciences, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (INN), ase.storhaug@inn.no Daniel Horvath , Ph.D., University of Minnesota (Twin Cities). Part-time faculty, California State University, Stanislaus, dhorvath@csustan.edu Joseph McGlynn , Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin. Assistant Pro- fessor, Department of Communication Studies, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, University of North Texas, Joseph.McGlynn@unt. edu. Einar Øverenget , Ph.D. in philosophy, Boston College, USA. Professor at the Department of Organization, Leadership and Management, Inland Norway School of Business and Social Sciences, Inland Norway Uni- versity of Applied Sciences (INN), einar.overenget@inn.no Rita L. Rahoi-Gilchrest , Ph.D., Ohio University. Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts, Professor of Communication Studies, and Adjunct Professor, Healthcare Leadership and Administration, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Winona State University, rrgilchrest@ winona.edu Brian K. Richardson , Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin. Professor, Department of Communication Studies, University of North Texas, richardson@unt.edu William Rothel Smith III , Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin. Assistant Professor, School of Communication, Illinois State University, wrsmit1@ ilstu.edu Jan-Oddvar Sørnes , Ph.D., Norwegian University of Science and Technol- ogy, Organizational Communication, Nord University, Business School, Jan-Oddvar.Sornes@nord.no xii Contributors Peer Jacob Svenkerud , Ph.D., Ohio University. Professor and Dean at the School of Business and Social Sciences, Inland University of Applied Sciences, Norway. peer.svenkerud@inn.no Therese E. Sverdrup , Ph.D., Associate Professor at the Department of Strategy and Management and Vice Rector for Innovation and Devel- opment at Norwegian School of Economics (NHH), therese.sverdrup@ nhh.no Jeffrey W. Treem , Ph.D., Northwestern University. Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies, University of Texas at Austin, Moody College of Communication, jtreem@austin.utexas.edu Karl E. Weick , Ph.D., The Ohio State University, Rensis Likert Distin- guished University Professor of Organizational Behavior and Psy- chology, and Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, karlw@umich.edu Preface What could be more important, in these times of turbulence, than the investigation into the phenomenon of whistleblowing? We focus on one particular story—that of Peer Jacob Svenkerud (hereafter, PJS) in the hopes and beliefs that greater understanding will lead to increased effectiveness in responding to, seeing the warning signs, and establishing cultures that respond to whistleblowing. In this book, our aim is to inves tigate, through various theoretical approaches, one narrative, one data set, from the actual experiences of a whistleblower. This book grew out of an ethnographic chapter that Peer Jacob Sven kerud (PJS) contributed to an earlier book, edited by Soelberg, Brown ing, and Sørnes, titled High North Stories in a Time of Transition . Based on his experience with articulating his story in ethnographic form, PJS invited the second and third editors to participate in developing a book with a multi-dimensional focus on his experience as a whistleblower. His goal, rather than simply sensationalizing his story, was to use it to show case theoretical development. Our question, in inviting writers for chap ters, was this: How does your theoretical stance as a scholar inform the data that PJS developed from his experience? One of our goals was to enjoy the experience while we did the work. In service of that goal, work sessions occurred in delightful places: Crest- one, Colorado; San Pancho, Mexico; Bodo, Norway; and at PJS’s farm northeast of Oslo. These work sessions allowed us to complete 26 hours of interviews and to translate documents central to the whistleblowing event, including news articles, annual reports, governmental reports, and official investigative formal reports contracted by Norsk Tipping. These are the data provided to the chapter writers as a basis for their analysis. As we elaborate in Chapter 2, the total data set was posted on a web site; the chapter writers used the website to access these documents as the data for their analysis. Our goal was to generate independent interpreta tions of the data. Several grants enabled us to complete this book. We thank Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences and Nord University for their generous support through research grants for traveling, transcription, and translation that allowed us to complete the project. xiv Preface We also thank Åse Storhaug Hole and Anne Oline Haugen, as they were pivotal in initiating the project and securing funding at Inland Uni versity; John Trimble, distinguished teaching professor of English, emeri tus, University of Texas at Austin for editing the final copy; François Cooren, for supporting our efforts in securing a contract with Routledge; and Victoria Hoch for taking a final sweep through the galley proofs. As always, we thank Wencke and Victoria for keeping the home fires burn ing. Following is the rationale and outline for this book. A Rationale and Outline This book, Whistleblowing, Communication and Consequences: Lessons from The Norwegian National Lottery , offers the first in-depth analysis of a highly publicized, and morally complex, case of whistleblowing—the take-down of Norsk Tipping (hereafter, NT), Norway’s national lottery, by one of the firm’s senior officials, Peer Jacob Svenkerud, (hereafter, PJS) the Senior Vice President Information and External Relations. It took 29 months for NT ʼ s wrongdoings to be resolved. Meanwhile, PJS was asked to stay in place as a confidential informant and, ironically, also to help create the firm’s communication strategy for responding to the very illegalities he had privately revealed. He agreed to become a double agent and to live a life of secrecy for the 29 months it took for PJS ʼ s identity to become public knowledge. PJS himself gets the opening chapter here to tell us his story from his own viewpoint. The second chapter, which PJS co-writes with his editing partners, turns to a theoretical interpretation of voice and heroism to set expectations for the chapter contributors. Then, in the succeeding chapters, 13 scholars take turns viewing the same incident, but each through his or her own theoretical lens, the better to reveal the case’s multi-dimensional complexity. The book is synthesized with Rita L. Rahoi-Gilchrest’s epilogue. What can we learn from their dissecting of this example of institutional failure? It turns out, plenty. Whistleblowing, Communication and Consequences: Lessons from The Norwegian National Lottery lays out a single case, that of PJS blow ing the whistle while the Senior Vice President Information and External Relations . Our inspiration for this strategy comes from several places: James G. March and his colleagues urge us to learn from samples of one or fewer by trading the analysis of multiple cases to the depth of multiple analyses of a single case. 1 François Cooren follows this model by asking contributors to analyze a single board meeting from multiple perspec tives. 2 The body of the book follows March’s insistence and Cooren’s example by submitting PJS’s outlier case to 13 different theoretical lenses to show its complex and multi-faceted nature. Our aim is to offer fresh takes on what might be learned about wrongdoing in organizations. What follows is an outline of the chapters and the contributing authors. Preface xv Part I: Introduction 1. Alone Against the Organization: Peer ʼ s Whistleblower Story. Peer J. Svenkerud, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences. 2. Whistleblowing, Voice, and Monomythology: The Prospect for Anal- ysis . Larry Browning, Nord University and University of Texas at Austin; Jan-Oddvar Sørnes, Nord University; and Peer J. Svenkerud, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences Part II: What Goes Wrong? What triggers a sense that something has gone desperately wrong? How does communication change when wrongdoing happens? Greene, Horvath, and Browning ʼ s opening chapter on the rhetoric of wrongdoing introduces this three-chapter grouping by locating whistleblowing as a persuasive act articulated in a local culture, with blame and gain activated within a micro- political context. Anne Oline Haugen then addresses Norway’s legal system, especially as to whether its laws support and defend whistleblowers. Corey Bruno and Charles Conrad cap the section by showing how the story dem- onstrates the autonomous choice of the whistleblower—especially how PJS’s corporate knowledge and communication style distinguish his story. 3. Truth-Telling and Organizational Democracy: The Rhetoric of Whis- tleblowing as an Act of Parrhesia. Ronald Walter Greene, University of Minnesota; Daniel Horvath, California State University, Stan- islaus; and Larry Browning, Nord University and the University of Texas at Austin. 4. Smothered by Paradoxes and Swamped by Procedures: The Legal Context of the Case. Anne Oline Haugen, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences. 5. Whistleblowing, Identity Construction, and Strategic Communica- tion, Corey Bruno and Charles Conrad, Texas A&M University. Part III: How Does It Happen? Why do some organization members fail to see wrongdoing, let alone report it? It is hardly uncommon: “Employees, perhaps sensing that man- agers will not welcome complaints, often do not speak up.” 3 It’s much easier to look past the misconduct; blowing the whistle requires a lot of energy and effort, and people are often punished for it. 4 But how, exactly, does an organization’s culture repress or express what to con- sider wrongdoing? How do people decide what to look past and what to report? Karl E. Weick’s lead-off chapter of this four-set grouping shows us that sensemaking occurs when something is set apart from the routine and singled out as worth noticing and then interpreting. Sensemaking is xvi Preface a way to question this situation, to ask, “What’s happening here?” Next, Einar Øverenget and Åse Storhaug Hole argue that ethical blindness con- sists of closing one’s eyes to avoid seeing what is clearly wrongdoing—in effect, it is blindness by choice. For the authors, moral neutralization occurs not when looking past the behavior but instead when seeing and interpreting what is directly visible and common enough to be explicable and acceptable—in short, rationalized and normalized. De la Garza con- tributes to this section by applying the concept of the chronotope to trace the time-space relations of PJS’s story and how then spatio-temporal sequences relate to De la Garza’s own experience with whistleblowing. Finally, Bjørn T. Bakken and Thorvald Hærem apply the concept of weak signals to this whistleblowing case and suggest how a person and organi- zation might move from weak to strong signals. 6. Sensemaking and Whistleblowing. Karl E. Weick, University of Michigan. 7. Ethical Blindness as an Explanation for Non-Reporting of Organiza- tional Wrongdoing. Einar Øverenget and Åse Storhaug Hole, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences. 8. Chronotopic Distinctions in Whistleblowing Events: X-Rays of Power and Sustaining Values. Sarah Amira de la Garza, Arizona State University. 9. Whistleblowing: Making a Weak Signal Stronger. Bjørn T. Bakken, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, and Thorvald Hærem, Inland Norway Business School. Part IV: What Makes Whistleblowing a Risky Business? The three chapters in this part focus on the things that pique atten- tion and stand apart whenever whistleblowing occurs. What happens when an organization is jolted out of the norm by an individual? Joseph McGlynn shows us that risk invariably increases for the person who blows the whistle, especially since others may shrink from taking the same risk. Brian K. Richardson, in his chapter on heroes and villains, shows us that organizations don’t automatically see the whistleblower as a symbol of justice and fairness; instead, they’ll often question the person’s motives. Or they’ll ask: Why does he or she act the morally superior hero while I choose to remain quiet as a morally average per- son? 5 Audra Diers-Lawson shows us that crisis communication typically treats whistleblowing as simply another kind of problem that requires clarity about who the organization’s stakeholders are and what it takes to satisfy them. 10. Blowing the Whistle Is Laden With Risk. Joseph McGlynn, Univer- sity of North Texas. Preface xvii 11. Hero or “Prince of Darkness”? Locating Peer Jacob Svenkerud in an Attributions-Based Typology of Whistleblowers. Brian K. Richard- son, University of North Texas. 12. Norsk Tipping’s Loneliest Stakeholder: Crisis, Issues, and the Stake- holder Voice. Audra Diers-Lawson, Leeds Beckett University. Part V: How to Encourage Employees to Report Wrongdoing Organizations often want to control behavior to increase productivity or to establish a culture. But what about a culture that opposes wrongdoing? The three chapters in this section come to grips with why wrongdoing proves hard to control and whistleblowing is so difficult to support—especially in strong cultures. Åse Storhaug Hole and Therese E. Sverdrup take up the psychological contract—the expectations—between the organization and a person. They describe the obligations that keep the structures of confor- mity intact. June Borge Doornitch’s chapter on internal control systems explores this inquiry: Is it possible to structure a fool-proof organization in such a way that wrongdoing is always handled internally? Can processes be made seamless, so that decision-makers can rectify a problem without the pressure of external controls? Finally, William Rothel Smith III, Jeffrey W. Treem, and Joshua B. Barbour interrogate the concept of authority by analyzing how it is communicated by key players at NT. 13. The Influence of Psychological Contracts on Decision-Making in Whistleblowing Processes. Åse Storhaug Hole and Therese E. Sver- drup, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences and Norwegian School of Economics (NHH). 14. Culture Eats Control for Breakfast: The Difficulty of Designing Man- agement Systems for Whistleblowing. June Borge Doornich, Nord University. 15. Whistleblowing as a Means of (Re)Constituting an Organization. William Rothel Smith III, Jeffrey W. Treem, and Joshua B. Barbour, University of Texas at Austin. Part VI: Epilogue 16. Epilogue: God and Devil, Hero and Villain, and the Long Journey Ahead. Rita L. Rahoi-Gilchrest, Winona State University. Notes 1. March, J. G., Sproull, L. S., & Tamuz, M. (1991). Learning from samples of one or fewer. Organization Science , 2 (1), 1–13. 2. Cooren, F. (Ed.). (2007). Interacting and organizing: Analyses of a board meet- ing. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. xviii Preface 3. Miceli, M. P., Near, J. P., & Dworkin, T. M. (2009). A word to the wise: How managers and policy-makers can encourage employees to report wrongdoing. Journal of Business Ethics , 86 (3), 379–396. 4. Kenny, K. (2019). Whistleblowing: Toward a new theory . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 5. Fishkin, J. S. (1982). The Limits of Obligation . Binghampton, NY: Yale Uni- versity Press; Archer, A. (2015). Saints, heroes and moral necessity. Royal Insti- tute of Philosophy Supplements , 77 , 105–124. Part I Introduction