MORAL CHOICE

FACING
EMPLOYEES
TOPIC 7
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Define abuse of official position, bribes,
kickbacks, gifts and entertainment
Discuss the obligations to third parties
Define whistle blowing
Explain what motivates whistle blowers
Evaluate when whistle blowing is
justified


Abuse Of Official Position
The act of using ones position of power
in an abusive way. This can take many
forms, such as taking advantage of
someone, gaining access to information
that shouldnt be accessible to the
public, or just manipulating someone with
the ability to punish them if they dont
comply



Bribes
persuade (someone) to act in
one's favor, typically illegally or
dishonestly, by a gift of money or
other inducement.

Kickbacks
A kickback is an illegal payment that occurs when
a portion of some payment is paid back kicked
back- to the payer as an incentive to make the
original payment.
Eg. A manager who awards a contract to a
construction company might receive money or
other benefits back from that company as a
condition of receiving and incentive of awarding.

Gifts
A gift or a present is an item given to someone in
dealing business with the expectation of reciprocity
in terms of awarding a contract or for inside
information.
Discuss the obligations to third
parties
Three topics that involve employees responsibilities
to parties other than their employers.

Honesty

Whistleblowing

Insider Trading
Honesty
There are three reasons to explain the ethical responsibility
to be honest:
o Dishonesty undermines the ability of people to communicate
o Honesty and trust create essential preconditions for all
cooperative social activities
o A dishonest person must have more than one identity, which
undermines his integrity

A bluff can only work as a bluff if the person being bluffed
believes that it is true (is being deceived).

While a dishonest act can have beneficial social
consequences, routine dishonesty erodes the trust that
seems essential to social cooperation
Whistleblowing
A whistleblower is an employee or other insider
who informs the public or a government
agency of an illegal, harmful, or unethical
activity done by their business or institution.
- Whistleblowing puts the employee at risk
- Whistleblowing pits responsibilities to third
parties at odds with employees
responsibilities to their employer
Whistleblowing
Richard DeGeorge argues three conditions
must be met before whistleblowing is
ethically permissible:
- There must be a real threat of harm that
needs to be addressed
- The whistleblower should first seek to
prevent the harm through channels
- The whistleblower, if possible, should
exhaust all internal procedures for
preventing the harm
11
Insider Trading
Insider Trading generally refers to the
practice of buying or selling
securities on the basis of nonpublic
information that one has obtained
as an insider.

Honesty, Whistleblowing & Insider
Trading
Three arguments are cited in ethical
criticism of insider trading:
- Property rights
- Fiduciary duties
- Unfairness claims