Question 2 Whistle-blowing 1 Required:

1. If Ben decides to raise concerns about the product quality of the Benfield Voyagers, he will become a whistle-blower. Explain the term whistle-blower, and distinguish between internal and external whistle- blowing. Which approach should Ben follow if he does decide to raise his concerns?

2. If Ben decides to be a whistle-blower, discuss the five conditions that must exist for his action to be ethical.

en is a sales team leader at a large chain of tire stores. The company is aggressive and is opening new stores every month. Ben is very ambitious and sees plenty of opportunities to move up in the organization-especially if he is able to make a name for himself as a star salesman. As with any retail organization, Ben's company is driven by sales, and it is constantly experimenting with new sales campaigns and incentive programs for its salespeople. Ben didn't expect this morning's sales meeting to be any different-a new incentive tied to a new campaign, supported by a big media campaign in the local area. Ben's boss, John, didn't waste any time in getting to the point of the meeting: "OK guys, I have some big news. Rather than simply negotiating short-term incentives on specific brands to gener- ate sales, the company has signed an exclusive contract with Benfield Tires to take every tire produced in the new ontract comes with a huge discount based on serious volume. In other words, the more tires we sell, the more money we'll make--and I'm talking about good money for the company and very good bonus money for you--so put everybody into these tires. If we do well in this first contract with Benfield, there could be other exclusives down the road. This could be the beginning of something big for us." John then laid out the details on the sales incentive and showed Ben and his fellow team leaders how they could earn thousands of dollars in bonuses over the next couple of months if they pushed the new Benfield Voyagers. Ben could certainly use the money, but he was concerned about pushing a new tire model so aggressively when it was an unknown in the marketplace. He decided to talk to their most experienced tire mechanic, Rick. Rick had worked for the company for over 25 yearsso long that many of the younger guys joked that he either had tire rubber in his veins or had apprenticed on Henry Ford's Model T. "So, Rick, what do you think about these new Benfield Voyagers?" asked Ben. "Are they really such a good deal for our customers, or are they just a moneymaker for us?" Rick was very direct in his response: "I took a look at some of the specs on them, and they don't look good. I think Benfield is sacrificing quality to cut costs. By the standards of some of our other suppliers, these tires would qualify as 'seconds'and pretty bad ones too. You couldn't pay me to put them on my carthey're good for 15,000 miles at the most. We're taking a big risk promoting these tires as our top model