Unsavory Problems at Tasty’s: A Role-Play about Whistle-Blowing

Abstract

This article presents a role-play exercise to make the topic of whistle-blowing personally salient to undergraduates. Students identify with the prospective whistle-blower, whose decision affects several stakeholders. The protagonist merely suspects her manager of stealing, until she hears concrete evidence of his thefts from her assistant manager, who does not want to take action. The exercise helps prepare students to decide how to act if they observe workplace wrongdoing, demonstrates that different ethical frameworks may point to different decisions, promotes examination of possible consequences of whistle-blowing, and highlights how organizational factors affect employees’ ethical behavior and the outcomes of their behavior.