Divided Loyalties: Whistle-Blowing at BART.

When three engineers of Bay Area Rapid Transit District were fired in 1972 for publicizing what they perceived to be safety defects in the automatic train control (ATC), it set off this study of a professional's relationship with his employing organization. The book, divided into four chronological parts, was not to develop a single explanation of events surrounding the incident. Each of four perspectives--those of the engineers, of BART management, of the BART board of directors, and of the professional societies--was researched and presented by a different author. To explore the phenomenon of whistle-blowing, it is necessary to identify organizational conditions--authority structure, lines of communication, and opportunities to participate in decision making--that give rise to initial disagreement with some organizational practice. This social science research considers the roles of selling the BART project to the public, of political pressures, or inadequate funding mechanisms, and of consultants, concluding that technical professionals often ignore the importance of non-technical influences upon the decision-making process.