Jim Bower, an employee of Fairway Electric, discovers a design flaw in one of the company's nuclear reactors. When he reports it to his boss Bob, the CEO Ken Deaver decides to suppress the issue. After Ken refuses to address the problem, Jim anonymously reports it to the media. This damages the company's reputation. Ken prioritizes avoiding short-term losses over ethical conduct. Jim faces potential transfer or firing for his whistleblowing actions.

1. Presented By:
Kanwar Sachit Singh
Kartik Kapoor
Manish Jounwal

2. A whistleblower is defined as someone who exposes
wrongdoing, fraud, corruption or mismanagement.
• A whistleblower is a person who alleges misconduct
• Most whistleblowers are Internal whistleblowers, who report
misconduct to a fellow employee or superior within their company.
• External whistleblowers, however, report misconduct to outside
persons or entities like Media
• Whistle blowing is a strong means to deter corporate wrong doing

3. • Fairway Electric is among the most reputed companies in US
market for building nuclear power plants
• Jim Bower, loyal employee of Fairway Electric, accidentally
comes across an old Fairway report regarding a flaw in the
design of the Radon II reactor
• While it didn’t amount to a safety hazard, the flaw would’ve
resulted in additional costs for customers

4. • Jim brings the issue to the notice of his boss Bob, who
turns to the CEO Ken Deaver
• Ken tells Bob to suppress the issue
• Jim then takes matters into his own hand and anonymously
reports the issue to the media
• This results in a public outcry and damages the reputation
of the company
• Jim’s peers say they don’t wish to work with him
• At the end there is a talk of transfer/firing Jim

5. • Clients were kept in the dark about the structural
flaw even when Fairway became aware of it
• The additional costs resulting from the flaw would
not be borne by the company customers and the rate
payers
• Ken’s reaction to Jim’s discovery was to hush up the
entire matter as soon as possible

6. •
Ken’s priorities seemed to be focused on avoiding
any short term losses and not on company values
•
The identity of the whistle-blower was not kept
confidential and became common knowledge to
everyone in the company
•
No attempt was made to make the situation easier
for Jim, instead Ken directs Bob to transfer Jim to
another division to avoid any problems

7. •
Whistle blowing makes the organisation more responsible
•
Employees following unethical practices are caught and
actions can be taken on them
•
Companies having sound whistle blower policy are fined
much less in case of any stray event happening
•
Employees prefer using internal channel to highlight the
problem than taking it to outside media
•
Increased employee satisfaction as all instances of neglect is
noticed and acted upon
•
Helps strengthen employees as well as the customers trust

8. •
Whistle blowing can often bring to light issues
which are of great significance
•
This serves as a way to deter unethical practices by
companies
•
At times, new laws and practices are introduced
which may benefit the whole society
•
Having a whistleblower policy framework in place
keeps an internal check on the organization

9. •
Establish staff confidence that their issues will be taken seriously
by management
•
A clear and well-communicated anti-retribution policy
•
Staff involvement in the development of policies relating to whistle
blowing
•
Offering prompt and continuous responses to internal complaints
•
Promote organization's code of conduct
•
Switch from an internally operated anonymous tip hotline to one
that is managed by an outside party

10. •
Virtue ethics : Jim Bover
•
Teleological (Utilitarian) approach : Bob & Ken
•
Rationalizations :
o
“Best interest of the company”
o
“Not really illegal (no safety hazard)”
o
It is “safe” and will not be caught

11. ◦ US: Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, Corporate and
Criminal Fraud Accountability Act
◦ UK: Public Interest Disclosure Act of 1998
◦ India:

Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Informers) Bill,
2009 was prepared by the department of personnel
and training (DoPT),

Central Agency (per Public Interest Disclosures and
Protection of Informers Resolution, 2004): CVC