How personal can ethics get?

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate an ethical dilemma in transparency. This is a true story. Names have been changed to protect identities.

Design/methodology/approach

Provides a true real life story. A classmate and close friend of the author told her about an ethical dilemma, and they decided it would make a good ethics case for business school students. The paper tells a story about a person having to make a difficult decision, and the way ethics can play out for an individual whose entire career could be at stake because of that decision.

Findings

Companies should show more support for whistleblowers even though that can be problematic. It should not be a risk to say what we know and think.

Originality/value

This paper will hopefully make people aware of the problems faced by whistleblowers.

Citation

Dench, S. (2006), "How personal can ethics get?", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 25 No. 10, pp. 1013-1017. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621710610708649