Businesss Ethics

This is the paradox of missing harm . The third paradox is related with the second paradox . The whistleblower usually does not prevent that much harm to happen . In most cases , harm has already been done and this does not coincide with the standard theory 's moral justification of whistleblowing in which then act must be performed when there is reason to believe that doing so will prevent harm (Gibson 276 . Davis called this the paradox of failure

I agree with Davis that these paradoxes exist because in reality , the standard theory is

incomplete and insufficient when it comes to describing the act of whistleblowing . One example is the famous Enron case . Sherron Watkins was a vice-president of the company and she was concerned about the accounting practices of the company (Miceli 33 She sent a memo to her boss that detailed her concerns . She was ignored and later demoted . She resigned from the company . Her memo became the crucial piece of evidence that validated the accounting irregularities of the company . She later on testified against Enron and revealed other information crucial to the case

When applying standard theory , Sherron Watkins could not be called a whistleblower because she did not inform external authorities . She only came to the picture when her memo was found to be crucial evidence However , she revealed information that was entrusted to her . She was facing the risk of being marginalized because of her actions . Although damage or harm has already been done , her actions prevented helped bring Enron down as a company . Enron could no longer deceive its stakeholders

Works Cited

Gibson , K . Business ethics : people , profits and the planet , McGraw-Hil br

. 276 , 2005

Miceli , M , Dworkin , T , Near , J . Whistle-blowing in organizations , CRC Press ,

. 33 , 2008

Salkind , N . Exploring research , Pearson-Prentice Hall , p...