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Whistleblowing: Ethics and Impact

Whistleblowing represents an interesting ethical issue where loyalty to a company may conflict with responsibilities to society. Whistleblowers often experience hardship, such as negative attention, job loss, or even prosecution, for doing what they believe is right in exposing illegal or immoral actions. One famous example is the James Hardie case in Australia, where a company engaged in misleading practices to avoid compensating victims who contracted mesothelioma from asbestos in its products, despite warnings from whistleblowers. More recently during the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese doctor Li Wenliang attempted to warn others early on but was reprimanded by police before dying from the virus, highlighting issues some whistleblowers have faced.

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128 views2 pages

Whistleblowing: Ethics and Impact

Whistleblowing represents an interesting ethical issue where loyalty to a company may conflict with responsibilities to society. Whistleblowers often experience hardship, such as negative attention, job loss, or even prosecution, for doing what they believe is right in exposing illegal or immoral actions. One famous example is the James Hardie case in Australia, where a company engaged in misleading practices to avoid compensating victims who contracted mesothelioma from asbestos in its products, despite warnings from whistleblowers. More recently during the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese doctor Li Wenliang attempted to warn others early on but was reprimanded by police before dying from the virus, highlighting issues some whistleblowers have faced.

Uploaded by

Tayba Awan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Whistle-blowers

Loyalty versus right?


Whistleblowing represents an interesting ethical issue to consider for business. They are
often considered somewhat controversial in business, highlighting the emphasis companies
place on loyalty over the responsibilities people feel towards the broader society where
organisations may be engaging in illegal or immoral actions. Whistle-blowers often
experience significant hardship associated with their actions. Negative attention, potential
impacts at work, including the potential for job loss, or even in some cases, prosecution in
the courts – a high price to pay for doing what one considers to be the right thing!

There are numerous examples of famous cases of whistleblowing, including recent examples
like Julian Assange or Edward Snowden. Further back, we have other examples in industries
such as building and construction, with the James Hardie case in Australia. In the case of
James Hardie, the organisation was involved in the manufacture and sale of products with
asbestos in them. Despite a number of workers and customers contracting mesothelioma,
the company engaged in misleading and deceptive practices to avoid providing
compensation to the victims.

Most recently, an interesting case has arisen stemming from the COVID 19 pandemic. A
number of individuals have attempted to ‘blow the whistle’ on issues relating to the
outbreak and spread of the virus. Most notably, Li Wenliang a Chinese doctor who is
recognised as an early whistle-blower who came forward to warn people of the outbreak
and risk of the virus early on, only to be reprimanded by police, and later die from the virus
due to exposure while treating patients.

Choose one of these cases, or another for your report (although it is best to make sure the
case selected is a well-known one, to ensure there is a lot of information available about the
case).

Links to websites for articles to start your research:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-05/james-hardie-up-to-same-old-tricks-on-
asbestos-compensation/9391708
https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/one-person-a-week-suing-james-
hardie-as-wa-becomes-only-state-with-asbestos-cases-still-on-the-rise-20191114-
p53ari.html
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-07/doctor-who-warned-of-coronavirus-dies-in-
china/11941948
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/20/chinese-inquiry-exonerates-
coronavirus-whistleblower-doctor-li-wenliang

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