JOEMAR DELA CRUZ

OLCA133A047
ACTIVITY #6
Directions: Do the following activities below. Read first the paragraph below then answer the following
questions.
Read First!!!
Whistle-Blowing and the Duty of Speaking Truth to Power
Whistle-Blowing and the Duty of Speaking Truth to Power Business ethics is a field of applied moral
philosophy wherein the principles of right and wrong (as we are learning about deontology, virtue ethics,
utilitarianism, among others) are made pertinent and relevant to the workplace. Just because the primary
purpose of business is the proverbial bottom-line called profit, it does not mean that profit is the only
motive. More and more people are realizing that to make a business sustainable, we need to make
decisions that balance a triple bottom-line; namely, people, planet, and profit. This requires that we must
improve our competence in decision-making that calibrates benefits for the stakeholders (people), the
environment (planet), and the investors (profit). Often, those business decision-makers who do
everything, especially the illegal and immoral acts to maximize profit in a single-minded way, somehow
harm their company's long-term sustainability. For example, they may lose customers if they produce
substandard goods and services just to make short-term profit. On the other hand, their employees might
keep resigning and they have to continuously hire new people because the compensation is not fair and
just. They lose money in the long-term because they spend more for training costs because they pay
below minimum wage salaries therefore hiring employees that lack certain qualities they need for their
company. Thus, there is a place for ethical principles in business, insofar as a business decision-maker's
goal is sustainability and not merely profit. But what can someone in the workplace do in the face of
unethical business practices? Recent history in the Philippines has witnessed many controversial whistle-
blowers. Names such as Primitive Meares, Heidi Mendoza, and Rodolfo Lozada Jr. have become part of
the narratives of different ethical scandals in the past few decades. But what is whistle- blowing? We can
consider it as a kind of speaking truth to power. It happens often in the workplace that an authority figure
violates a law or makes an unethical decision, such as bribery or extortion, deception, and exploitation of
labor, among others. When it happens that an authority figure instructs a subordinate to do an unethical
act, the subordinate may not agree with undertaking the act if he wants to live by certain moral principles.
There is a problem that arises here. On one hand, the subordinate must follow the instructions of the
authority figure because the employer-employee contract binds the subordinate to follow the orders of the
authority figure. To do otherwise would be insubordination, which can be grounds for termination. He
could lose his job. On the other hand, if the unethical act that is instructed by the authority figure is
clearly against the principles of the subordinate, can he refuse to do it without fear of losing his job? In
this problematic scenario, the subordinate needs to find a solution. Whistle blowing is one way of making
an ethical intervention
However , the whistle-blowers that we named above resorted to one kind of whistle- blowing; namely,
exposing the wrong doing externally either by testifying in a public panel or by going to mass media such
as a radio announcer or journalist. While external whistle- blowing can be effective, it is not the only
manner by which a subordinate can blow the whistle against an erring authority figure. Here are three
other intervention methods: (1) secretly informing a higher authority figure (the "boss of the boss”) about
the unethical act, (2) writing an anonymous letter to the authority figure threatening to expose the wrong-
doing, and (3) collaborating with like-minded colleagues to sabotage the undertaking of the unethical act
and to prevent it from being done. It takes a strong moral character to stand up to authority in the spirit of
doing the right thing. But more than moral character, it is important to be wise and clever in choosing
which intervention method to use in order to uphold one's moral principles.
1, Go online and look for news items on whistle-blowers. Identify the crime or unethical act that they are
exposing as well as the perpetrators of the crime. Detail your findings and opinion below.
- the crime or unethical act that they are exposing was the arguing between Philips and cohen
partner Erika Kelton about cheats

2, Reconcile these two topics: our discussion of autonomy and the duty to "speaking truth to
power." Suppose you are already working for a company and your boss tells you that you should
offer a bribe to a government agent to obtain permit to build and operate a factory in a province.
What would you do? What are your alternatives if you believe that it is wrong to bribe
government agencies?

-For me we should tell the truth like that that's not good for company i hope Company will
understand Us. Truth is everything.

3, Consider other topics in the field of business ethics. Select one and give a presentation of the
significance of discussing this topic.
Ethical behavior not only improves profitability but also fosters business relations and
employee's productivity. Business ethics is concerned with the behavior of businessman in
doing a business. Unethical practices create problems to businessman and business units

for your presentation:

What is Business Ethics?

Various business management concepts, principles, theories, practices, goals and strategies have
been under evaluation, revalidation and constant change consequent upon massive
liberalization, privatization and globalization of business initiated towards the end of the 20th
Century and geared up in the beginning of the present century.
Governments, which were hitherto discharging the responsibilities of safeguarding the
customers' interest in respect of quality, price, safe and timely delivery of the product etc.,
protecting the companies from unhealthy competition, restricting the concentration of
economic power in the hands of a few which should be otherwise enjoyed by the majority of the
population and the like, relegated and shifted the responsibility on to the shoulders of the
business organizations, often simply by encouraging trade liberalization and privatization

4, In what way does a rational will distinguish a human being from an animal insofar as the animal
is only sentient?
-The crucial point is the use of language as a means of communication between human beings.
Rationality seems to be a byproduct of this evolution. It is the parallel development of language
and rationality that seems to be the main reason for the development of our current civilization,
civilization which is really the only thing that sets us apart from other animals.

5, What is the difference between autonomy and heteronomy? What does autonomy have to do
with free will in contrast to animal impulse?

-Autonomy is the ability to know what morality requires of us, and functions not as freedom to
pursue our ends, but as the power of an agent to act on objective and universally valid rules of
conduct, certified by reason alone. Heteronomy is the condition of acting on desires, which are
not legislated by reason
6, How does the method call universalizability work? What are the steps to test if an action is
rationally permissible?

-The principle of universalizability is a form of a moral test that invites one to imagine a world in
which any proposed action is also adopted by everyone else. In this way, the principle of
universalizability works as a litmus test to determine the morality of a proposed action.

7, What is meant by enlightenment morality as opposed to paternalism? Why is deontology a kind

-Enlightenment morality is your duty as you are creation, not someone placed into
creation as someone separate from it. Paternalism is non-sense, in that as an
enlightened group of human beings
if we were and that is very doubtful — we would
nip the bullshit of those that treat us as less than themselves.
We don't threaten those in power, instead, we allow them to stay in these positions and
continue this horrible act of corruption on the masses they are working for.
Example: A corporation doesn't have a corporation without employees and employees
don't have jobs without corporations. But corporations make us falsely believe that we
should just sit back and let them handle everything. We allowed this and now we
created this dictatorship in the corporate board members.