Warm-up | Corporate Cover-Ups

• Do you know of any companies or industries that may have received bad press over some of these issues:
  • Questionable hiring and promotion practices, including -- but not limited to -- nepotism or sexual favoritism?
  • Financial irregularities or fiddling with the numbers?
  • The mislabelling of products?
  • Product price fixing?
  • Predatory selling and provision of services to vulnerable clients?
  • Systematically violating human rights legislation, and  engaging in union busting.

Pre-Reading | Corporate Cover-Ups

• Have you heard of any cases of whistleblowers exposing the companies they worked for?
  • Do you think companies should be able to operate in secrecy, or should transparency be forced?
  • Do you think whistleblowers deserve protection from possible repercussions?
  • Should you encounter serious wrongdoing in your company, for example illegal activity -- would your report it, if it could affect your career?

Reading | The Whistle Blowers

Reaction | The Whistle Blowers

• Sherron Watkins said, ‘It should have been a huge warning flag’ when she first spotted unethical practices. Why is it sometimes easier to ignore warning signs?

• Is it a good idea to pay whistleblowers? Why? / Why not?

• Is anything really ever gained by the actions of whistleblowers in companies?

Group Thinking | How Could You Respond to These Situations?