Nelofer Siddiqui Week 4 A01

Browsing our assigned readings for the week, the one that stuck out to me the most was Whistleblower, by Amy Block Joy. The narration was informal and expressive. Engrossed in her tale of a police "interrogation," I felt Joy's anxiety in trying to formulate answers for the detective's questions. This was probably the reason I was so struck by the article - I felt like I could relate to Joy, even though I had never found myself in a situation similar to hers.

I had to quickly google search the term "whistleblower" before I read the article; the term was familiar but I wasn't quite sure what it meant. When I read the definition, I was immediately nervous to read it, for Joy's sake. From my limited prior knowledge, the whistleblower is usually the person who becomes the victim in a situation of unethical conduct. It constantly frustrates me that this happens. It should be easy to be a good, principled person, but unfortunately, it tends to be easier to revert to unethical behavior in order to get things quicker and in greater quantity. Embezzlement, which is the topic that the article centers around, is too common in large institutions.

However, I was inspired by the article after Whistleblower: Ethics and "Breaking Bad": Developing and Practicing Ethical Skills, also by Amy Block Joy. It centered around how nobody ever wants to "rock the boat" so to say, but if universities or employers provide ethics education, people are given the confidence to make their own decisions based on what they think is morally right. I think this education should be mandatory in higher education and by employers, so that conflicts like the one in Whistleblower would likely happen less.

Question: In what way can we encourage confidence in people to report ethical misconduct in large institutions, and how can we promote moral justice being served?

Joy, Amy Block. Whistleblower. Bay Tree Publishing, 5 Jan. 2011.

Joy, Amy Block. "Ethics and 'Breaking Bad': Developing and practicing ethical skills." Compliance and Ethics Professional. May 2014, p 71-74.

Luckovich, M. (2015, May 5). Mike Luckovich's Editorial Cartoons [Cartoon]. Retrieved October 15, 2017, from http://cartoonistgroup.com/properties/luckovich/art_images/cg5567ceb7e01bb.jpg