Please help with the following problem found in the textbook: Business Law: The Ethical, Global, and E-Commerce Environment 13th edition written by Jane Mallor, A. James Barnes, Thomas Bowers, and Arlen W. Langvardt (2007). Please answer questions in detail.
Enron employee Sherron Watkins received considerable praise from the public, governmental officials, and media commentators when she went public in 2002 with her concerns about certain accounting and other business practices of her employer. These alleged practices caused Enron and high level executives of the firm to undergo considerable legal scrutiny in the civil and criminal arenas.
In deciding to become a whistleblower, Sherron Watkins no doubt was motivated by what she regarded as a moral obligation. The decision she made was more highly publicized than most decisions of that nature, but was otherwise of a type that many employees have faced and will continue to face. You may be among those persons at some point in your career. Various questions, including the ones set for the below, may therefore be worth pondering. As you do so, you may find it useful to consider the perspectives afforded by the ethical theories discussed in Chapter.
Guidelines for Ethical Decision Making Chapter.
1. What FACTS impact my decision?
2. What are the ALTERNATIVES?
3. Who are the STAKEHOLDERS?
4. How do the alternatives impact SOCIETY AS A WHOLE?
5. How do the alternatives impact MY BUSINESS FIRM?
6. How do the alternatives impact ME, THE DECISION MAKER?
7. What are the ETHICS of each alternative?
8. What are the PRACTICAL CONSTRAINTS of each alternative?
9. What COURSE OF ACTION should be taken and how do we IMPLEMENT it?
Questions:
1) When an employee learns of apparently unlawful behavior on the part of his or her employer, does the employee have an ethical duty to blow the whistle on the employer?
2) Do any ethical duties or obligations of the employee come into conflict in such a situation? If so, what are they, and how does the employee balance them?
3) What practical consequences may one face if he or she becomes a whistleblower? What role, if any, should those potential consequences play in the ethical analysis?
4) What other consequences are likely to occur if the whistle is blown? What is likely to happen if the whistle isn’t blown? Should these likely consequences affect the ethical analysis? If so, how?