Dark Side Case: Elizabeth Holmes and the Rise and Fall of Theranos Inc.

Purkayastha, Debapratim; Dutta, Sanjib; Chakravarty, Shubhanjali

doi:10.5465/ambpp.2020.12239abstract

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…argued it is not only desirable but also a matter of organisational survival to ensure organisations behave ethically. Yet examples of large-scale unethical behaviour in organisations continue to be plentiful including for example, at the BBC (Dobbs, 2016), Rotherham Child Sexual Exploitation (Jay, 2013), the Volkswagen emissions scandal (Rhodes, 2016), NHS Mid-Staffs (Francis, 2013), Enron (Tourish & Vatcha, 2005) and Theranos (Debapratim et al, 2020). Voice is one of the most important ways for organisations to learn about unethical behaviour as it allows employees to raise concerns and issues so they can be addressed by managers (Hirschman, 1970;Sherf et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying a Lens of Temporality to Better Understand Voice About Unethical Behaviour

2023

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The relationship between time and voice about unethical behaviour has been highlighted as a key area for exploration within the voice and silence field (Morrison Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior 10:79–107, 2023). Previous studies have made only modest progress in this area, so we present a temporal lens which can act as a guide for others wishing to better understand the role of time and voice. Applying the concept of theory adaptation (Jaakkola AMS Review 10:18–26, 2020), a method which attempts to build on a given field through the application of a new theoretical lens, we begin by reviewing what is known in relation to voice about unethical behaviour specifically. Then we introduce two temporal frameworks, one suggested by Ancona, Okhuysen, and Perlow (Ancona et al. The Academy of Management Review 26:645–663, 2001a; Ancona et al. The Academy of Management Review 26:512–529, 2001b) as a useful way of analysing time in organisations, and a second one by Bansal, Anna, and Wood, (Bansal et al. Academy of Management Review 43:217–241, 2018) focusing on the way organisations include voice into their temporal rhythm. We then draw conclusions about the role of time in relation to voice about unethical behaviour and identify three insights; a) it takes time for voices to generate evidence for unethical behaviour, b) perceptions of unethical behaviour change over time, and c) it is most difficult to voice about unethical behaviour at the time it is most needed. Our recommendations for future avenues of research based on these insights recommend new research designs better suited to explore the relationship between voice and time and a focus on how the formality of voice mechanisms shapes the timing of voice.

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