Business Ethics Title of Assignment: Term Paper Whistle Blowing This assignment was done in partial fulfillment of therequirements of the Finance Major course (BBA 4) The term paper will provide a critical analysis of issues in business ethics. . reference should be made to the views of other writers (agreeing or disagreeing with their views) 2. Group size: 5-7 persons per group. You may choose a topic from current issues in the news. Particular reference should be made to the Jamaican organisations 5. Make recommendations as to how the issue can be managed 6. utilitarian. Identify. moral rights justice etc. Describe the relevance and impact of the issue on the business firm. society and employees. The following guideline should assist: 1. or select one from the chapters in the text or from the course outline.Term paper (GROUP ASSIGNMENT) THE PAPER WILL REQUIRE SOME RESEARCH AND CRITICAL REFLECTION ON WHAT HAS BEEN COVERED IN THE LECTURES AND TUTORIALS. double space. This will require further readings with an examination of the views of other writers on the selected topic. The term paper will be on a topic of interest to the student. but requires the approval of the tutor. Conclusion Format: the paper is in the form of an essay and should be 12-15 pages. with: table of content. analyse and discuss the ethical concerns related to the area of interest 3. Discuss the issue using the ethical perspective. Describe the content area. references and bibliography Headings can be used but the essay should flow with good transitional sentences to guide the reader. 4. abuse of power. The act of whistle blowing may have a detrimental effect on interpersonal relations between the whistleblower and their co-workers (Davis. The act of blowing the whistle by an individual is sometimes considered as being disloyal to the organization or company that he or she is attached with. 1995). miscarriage of justice. danger to health and safety of any individual and any other misbehavior or malpractice (Kloppers. In general. It is personal if harm is reportedly done only to the whistle blower and impersonal if harm observed is done to another. internal. 1997). personal and impersonal.Literature Review on Whistle Blowing Whistle blowing can be defined as “an attempt by an employee or former employee of an organization to disclose what he or she believes to be wrongdoings in or by the organization” (James. improper or unauthorized use of public and other funds. Whistle blowing can be external. Business corporations anticipate the possibility . the activity is seen as whistle blowing if the disclosure of information is considered to be in the public interest which would entail information about criminal activity. a contravention of any statute. enforcement agencies or public interest groups (Weiss. The generally prevailing view of the whistle blower within business. Some might become enemies. Another definition of whistle blowing is “the disclosure of illegal. It is internal where the whistle blower talks to people higher up in the organization or external where it is reported to the media. 2006). other might avoid the whistleblower in order not to become tainted while others might start looking at the whistleblower differently. is that this person is a traitor to the organization (DeGeorge. 1985). 1989). 2000). unethical or harmful practices in the workplace to parties who might take action” (Uys. on the part of the management and colleagues. misadministration. 2002). Richard Ceballos. The Supreme Court ruled in Garcetti v. It can represent a cover for incompetence on the part of the whistleblower or some kind of vendetta or personal crusade that is imposed on the realities of regular business practices (Grant.” This Act is also endorsed by Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act of 2002. assenting to the principle that the business of the corporation is the business of the corporation (Grant. It helps to ensure that the whistle-blower is treated fairly after the “whistle has been blown. Ceballos that whistleblowers that make statements while performing their jobs may not be constitutionally protected. . The FCA was established to offer incentives to individuals who reported companies or individuals defrauding the government.of disloyalty by requiring employees to sign confidentiality agreements. a supervising deputy attorney wrote a memo to his supervisors. The Whistle-blowers Protection Act provided for the protection of the persons who reveal the harmful information to the public. The petitioners retaliated against him thus reversing the ruling of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The case that had spearheaded the decision to ensure whistle-blowers’ protection was settled in the Supreme Court in May 2006. 2002). Bok (1981) identified three central elements of whistle blowing – dissent. petitioners and the trial court about significant misrepresentations that turned up in an affidavit which was used to obtain a search warrant. The term whistle-blowing actually originated over a century ago from the federal government’s False Claims Act. breach of loyalty and accusation. The memo was unprotected because Ceballos wrote it while performing his job duties. Whistle-blower violated their role as loyal agents of the corporations and betrays their employees and coworkers. . The policy should indicate who is covered under the policy. The principal was not aware of the problem before the letter. and point out confidentiality and process. boarders at the Westwood High School in 2003 had a problem with the scarcity of water on one of the boarding facilities. This example shows us that management sometimes is unaware of the problem and employees make situations worse if they go outside the company to fix it without using the internal channels first. How can a school for young ladies teach students proper hygiene without water? Students had written a letter to the principal stating their concern. The whistle-blower if they follow the appropriate channels could save the company a lot of losses and reduction in revenue and public humiliation.All organizations are expected to implement a whistle-blowing policy in these modern days. For instance. provide non retaliation provisions. This is due to the fact that management and stakeholders are better able to address situations before they are made public. Ravishankar (2010) stated that an arbitrator in a 1972 case told an employee that it is wrong to bite the hand that feeds you. but to manipulate the system in order to gain benefits like incentives. e. On one side whistle-blowing can be seen as disloyal and on another. it is misleading to talk of a company having interests. Disloyalty arises when the person has ulterior motives. It is often assumed that employees have a vow to protect the dealings of the organization. instead. They may also be called untrustworthy and a trouble maker. much less two reciprocally self-sacrificing individuals. He may not be seeking to help the organization. Loyalty does not imply that we have a duty. since its primary goal is to maximize profit. An . although it is convenient.g. recognition or promotion. Since. The organization does not have a mind of its own. There are some employees that are labelled as an “informer” which is unacceptable in some cultures. Loyalty depends on ties that demand self-sacrifice with no expectation of reward. Indeed. Some researchers argue that it is impossible to associate loyalty with an abstract entity. loyal. it is made of individuals working towards the same goal. the ties of loyalty that bind a family together the second is that the relation between a company and an employee does not involve any surrender of self-interest on the part of the company. the relation between a company and an employee does not fulfill the minimal requirement of being a relation between two individuals. then. it is felt that it is a mistake to suggest the employee has any duties of loyalty to the company.to refrain from reporting the immoral actions of those to whom we are loyal.Ethical Issues Related To Whistle Blowing Whistle-blowing is a conflicting subject in terms of employee loyalty.. for example. but this would not mean that the father should let the child continue to steal. the argument can be made that the employee who blows the whistle may be demonstrating greater loyalty than the employee who simply ignores the immoral conduct. Similarly. loyalty requires that. e. it is not possible to be disinterested and loyal. while it is possible to be disinterested and just. A whistle blower draws the attention of people to . gross waste and mismanagement.g. however. There is a direct benefit in having instances of illegal corporate conduct. and dangers to the public brought to light. Loyalty implies a desire that the person to whom one is loyal take no moral stumbles. a father might be loyal to a child even though the child is guilty of stealing from him. in reality.employer who is acting immorally is not acting in their own best interests and an employee is not acting disloyally in blowing the whistle. by blowing the whistle externally. The problem is that the good and bad effects are in equal measures. whenever possible. Loyalty. as he is attempting to prevent his employer form engaging in selfdestructive behaviour. Is there a right to blow the whistle? Utilitarian right rests on the contribution whistle-blowers make to society. These benefits must be balanced against the undeniable harm that a greater incidence of whistle-blowing would have on business firms. Nobody can answer whether whistle blowing is good or bad. in trying to resolve a problem we deal directly with the person to whom we are loyal. but that if moral stumbles have occurred that the person be restored and not simply punished.. goes beyond considerations of justice in that. an employee may be loyal to an employer even though she takes steps to protect herself against unfair retaliation by the employer. Thus. Second. then the whole office environment gets affected. It is therefore beneficial to all employees to act ethically and demonstrate their loyalty to the company by not only complying with rules and regulations but by identifying and reporting unethical practices that may affect the company’s survival as well as the public at large. Also. the claims of whistle blowers are not always genuine and sometimes a person may be doing it for their selfish reasons. they would have already spent thousands of dollars dealing with the case. However. then it has to be channelled through the right authorities like an ombudsperson. impact everyone in the company negatively. Only the lawyers get to make the money in the bargain. one hand doesn't know what the other is doing. Sometimes this aspect causes more problem than good. whistle blowing causes severe problems to the industry and the industry has to deal with false claims and law suits. As a result of unethical practices they are often involved in several lawsuits. Even in society this could lead to common people taking some extreme measures to control the wrong doing. Especially in health care industry. Employees do have an ethical obligation to report wrongdoing. A whistle blower lawsuit can cost a company millions of dollars and sometimes it may have been spent unnecessarily.any wrong doing in the society or office environment or just about anywhere. a lot of people get dragged into it unnecessarily. If a whistle blower continues to talk to people about the wrong doing of someone. These lawsuits. Companies are very large places and oftentimes. whether or not they were involved in the illegal actions. In an office environment whistle blowing is often considered wrong. If there is an issue that has to be addressed. By the time the company tries to prove its innocence or justify the case. . A lot of people would blow the whistle on a company that is making unsafe products. To knowing let innocent people get hurt because of something that you could have stopped.Ethical Perspectives on Whistle Blowing There are quite a few views of whistle blowing identified in our present business environment. It would be wrong not to inform the public for their safety. and said to be impersonal if the wrongdoing affects other people. If a person should have to blow the whistle on a company they should know that for every action there is a reaction. It would be following the moral law to do so. it is morally required of someone. but not all. Morality is the biggest and best reason because people generally want to do the good moral thing. One of the most controversial types of whistle blowing is that of impersonal whistle blowing. If a company is cutting corners and hurting others it would be morally unacceptable not to blow the whistle on this company. Whistle blowing is said to be personal if the wrongdoing affects the whistle blower alone (like sexual harassment). Take for instance a company is making products that are unsafe because they are trying to save a few dollars. They would not do it out of fear that they might loose there job or even be blacklisted from the industry altogether. A number of people would not inform the public of the company's wrongdoings. and the reaction of whistle blowing might lead to getting fired. Many people whistle blow for two main reasons: morality and revenge. If they are not fired they will most likely be outcasts at . The whistle blower would do this based on Kant's theory. An employee sees this as immoral and tells the media about it. But if the converse of either of these conditions is true. because moral obligation has nothing to do with consequences. and image must be taken into account. Usually whistleblowing is someone who exposes some wrongdoing. the well being of the company’s employees. From a Utilitarian perspective if there is a high probability that the whistle-blower is in a position to know what he or she is talking about. often at a great risk. Whistle blowing is not morally required because of the rights theory. then whistle-blowing should be encouraged. of speaking out. and in a position to evaluate whether making the disclosure would likely result in a significant increase in overall happiness and success of the organization. If they would blow the whistle on this company they would more than likely be fired. the welfare of the general consumer must be accounted for. On one side. One has a welfare right.). he or she will able to make a calculation based on the overall good and harm to society.their work and looked over at promotion time. A Kantian view would say blow the whistle if it is morally right to do. without protection. stakeholders. On the other hand. Whether or not to blow the whistle can be one of the hardest questions in a person's life. to make a living and support themselves and a family. Whistle blowing contains many moral venues. Although Utilitarianism is most clearly illustrated by way of cost-benefit analysis. If a potential whistle-blower knows that he or she would be protected. They could not do this without a job. Utilitarians once again simplify whistle blowing into a . then whistle-blowing should be discouraged. the effects of this theory can also be seen when it comes to corporate whistle blowing. the potential whistle-blower is likely to overvalue the harmful consequences to himself or herself (loss of job. and undervalue the beneficial consequences to the rest of society. A strong utilitarian argument for encouragement of whistle-blowing is that. etc. Based on environmental ethics we should conserve our environment and hand over to our successors a world that is in no worse of a condition than the one we received from others. Additionally. while still leaving in place social restraints on those who might want to blow the whistle when costs outweigh benefits. many Ford employees would loose their jobs and subsequently their lives would be devastated. the utilitarian argument for a policy encouraging whistle-blowing would be that such a policy would alleviate certain pressures that a person might feel to make the incorrect cost benefit analysis for society. that the unchecked conduct of their organization will do more harm than good. Ford’s engineers were aware of the Pinto’s potential for catastrophe. If the act of whistle blowing will generate less pain than pleasure to a greater number of people. then it is a good act. then it is wrong.pleasure versus pain issue. In essence. This was to be weighed against the loss of life that the Pinto would cause. however. if we look at ethical dilemmas in terms of environmental ethics. In this situation. Taking this into consideration an ethical employee would be in a position to blow the whistle on . in which it is a well-known fact that prior to production. If not. By using cost-benefit analysis. a fictional Utilitarian employee could have performed a calculation that indicated not to blow the whistle. If a controversy such as this were to leak into the public eye. the Utilitarian weighed the pain inflicted upon the general public versus the pain bestowed upon Ford and its associates. depending on the consequences of a company’s actions whistle blowing would again be justified. and the defective car flooded the market for eight years. Take for example the Ford Pinto case. A whistle blowing policy from a utilitarian point of view would encourage those who reasonably believe. No one blew the whistle. and especially those who reasonably and firmly believe. their responsibility in view of their role within the organization. Unless culture. losing their job or damaging their career. the whistle-blower knows the best way to blow the whistle. when blowing the whistle one must consider the conditions in which whistleblowing is morally justified. often fear they have most to lose if they do. Yet these people. if possible any at all. reducing opportunities for Jamaican entrepreneurs and hindering the country’s economic growth. practice and the law indicate that it is safe and accepted for them to raise a genuine concern about corruption or illegality. all internal channels and steps short of whistle-blowing have be exhausted. Finally. usually the first people to realize or suspect the wrongdoing will be those who work in or with the organization. the situation is of sufficient moral importance. Relevance to the Jamaican Society Whistle blowing is relevant to all Jamaican organizations and all citizens. . workers will assume that they risk victimization. Where such a risk arises. Public trust in business is difficult to repair.activities that could cause serious damage to not only fellow citizens but also the very surrounding which we depend on for our survival. the whistle-blower has all facts and properly understand their significance. If there is a continuous decline in public trust this may strengthen pressures for greater governmental regulation of business. It is deemed to be morally justified if. not just those few who are corrupt or criminal. This is because every business and every public body faces the risk of things going wrong or of unknowingly harbouring a corrupt individual. who are best placed to sound the alarm or blow the whistle. and know what are their chances for success. kickbacks. risks and schemes related to unethical or illegal behaviour including topics such as conflicts of interest. embezzlement. Therefore implementing a successful whistle blowing policy is extremely important to Jamaican companies on a whole that desires success in our very competitive business environment. It is important to explain that every employee has a role in preventing and detecting fraud. The impact of unethical practices extends beyond the company. as investors. and as citizens. This type of awareness can be part of a fraud risk management or ethics and compliance awareness program.Every organization desires honesty amongst their employees. They should make sure that they have followed the established procedures for reporting wrong doing. and success. clear communication. Such an element allows for complete dedication to the organization's mission. More importantly. as consumers. By encouraging a whistle blowing culture within Jamaican organization. they should consider all available options before blowing the whistle. Although employees have this role. also that the product or service may cause serious harm to society if a report is not made and the employee doing the reporting must have documentary evidence that can convince an impartial observer. . bribery. organisation or the government. Recommendations A key aspect of system awareness is educating employees about the red flags. the organizations promote. It reaches to and affects us all as entrepreneurs. whistle blowing can protect the organization's clients. financial statement manipulation. and fraudulent regulatory reporting. as employees. transparent structure and effective. All things considered.it protects organizations from fraud. failure. What is of outmost importance is the motive behind an employee blowing the whistle. . misconduct. By promoting clear communication. If it is done out of genuine concern for the public then it is good for the organization. keeping the organization's goals in focus for the entire organization. However if the employee does it to get back at a supervisor or a fellow employee it may be detrimental to the companies wellbeing. it is necessary to outline that whistle blowing can be both good as well as it may be harmful to an organization. Conclusion In concluding. one can certainly minimize their chances of reaching an organizational disaster. whistle blowing is a necessary facet within an organization. They may also reward employees for using the appropriate channels and appoint executives to investigate all reported wrong doings. and to some degree.It is also recommended that employers develop an internal grievance system in which employees can report wrong doing. Public Duties: The Moral Obligations of Government Officials. (2002).“Blowing the Whistle”. pp. “Whistle blowers: Saints of secular culture”.). Cambridge CN. Journal of Business Ethics. R. De George. 39(4). Heungsik Park (2004). Fleishman (ed). (1981). S.A. in F. Business and Professional Ethics Journal. (1985). 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