FCA 231 Term Project: Analyzing Unethical Practices and Whistleblowers

This report delves into unethical business practices, specifically examining the hiring practices of JP Morgan in China and comparing them to North American standards. It analyzes the moral principles at stake, the consequences of such practices, and the importance of whistleblowing policies. The report explores the critical success factors of a whistleblowing program and reviews the OSC Whistleblowing system, considering its issues and concerns from a financial institution's perspective. The analysis highlights the significance of ethical conduct for companies and the role of whistleblowers in uncovering misconduct. The report references several sources to support its arguments and provides a comprehensive overview of the topic.

Ethics/Professional conduct and liability

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UNETHICAL PRACTICES AND IMPORTANCE OF WHISTLEBLOWERS
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Analysis of the case studies........................................................................................................2
Case of hiring practices of JP Morgan...................................................................................2
Hiring process of next generation of Chinese elite different from hiring practices in North
America..................................................................................................................................3
Moral principles involved in this case...................................................................................3
Consequences of this practices...............................................................................................4
Whistle blowing policy..........................................................................................................4
OSC Whistleblowing system.................................................................................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

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UNETHICAL PRACTICES AND IMPORTANCE OF WHISTLEBLOWERS
Introduction
In this assignment an analysis will be done over the ethical and unethical conducts of various
companies by using different case studies. The unethical practices adopted by JP Morgan in
China have been described. The focus will be given over the whistle blowing concept and its
benefits. Whistle blowing program of OSC is also analysed in order to protect the benefits of
whistle-blowers. An analysis will also be done over the strategies adopted by various
companies regarding moral principles and its consequences.
Analysis of the case studies
Case of hiring practices of JP Morgan
The higher authorities of federal government find out that JP Morgan hired the children of the
leaders of the political parties of China to get a favour from the government of China. It was
found that the Company is adopting immoral hiring practices in China. It has been found that
Company is hiring the children of elite Chinese leaders so that it can get the benefit in
clearing the deals from the government of China. A kind of bribery case is found over here.
However the Company argued that hiring of well-connected people are a part of Chinese
culture but still the federal government found that bankers constantly hire those people which
help them in securing deals. JP Morgan had to pay $264 Million to settle the foreign bribery
(Times, 2020). Most of the people consider the practises of bank as unethical and immoral
because the hiring process should be impartial and unbiased. All the people should get an
equal chance to be hired by the Company but Company has made very partial decisions in
their hiring process for receiving benefit from the political leaders of the China (Veolia,
2020).
The hiring practices of human resource department of the Company in North America do not
prefer the partiality among the candidates on the bases of their political status. JP Morgan
very clearly creates partiality in the hiring process on the bases of political approach of the
candidates that comes into highly immoral and unethical conduct by the Company. This type
of discrimination is also found illegal because every person of the country should get an
equal opportunity to be hired by every country (A Crane, 2019).

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UNETHICAL PRACTICES AND IMPORTANCE OF WHISTLEBLOWERS
JP Morgan is a very good name in the market and if such types of unethical practices done by
the Company, it will surely create a bad name for the Company. Loss of reputation may even
affect the business of the Company that is why ethical practices should be adopted by any
Company at any cost. The overall growth and future of the Company is highly depends upon
the ethical conduct of the Company (LMC Suárez, 2020).
Hiring process of next generation of Chinese elite different from hiring practices in
North America
Hiring of the children of the political leaders of China is very much different than hiring
practices in North America. In China, the companies hire the children of big leaders so that
they can get preference in any dealing inside the country. This is a type of bribery because,
for getting the additional benefits from the side of elite people of China, the Company hire
their children (Times, 2020).
The hiring practices in North America are not at all based on receiving the benefits. The
Clinton’s daughter got a job in a hedge fund Company but that is not at all related to the
bribery like the hiring process in China. In North America usually transparent and fair hiring
process is adopted by the Company. Whistle blowing is also allowed in the Company because
of stopping the unethical practices take place inside the Company (Times, 2020).
Usually the hiring process of North America offers clear practices in hiring from the start to
the end. A very transparent hiring process is appreciated by the people of the country. Criteria
of hiring are strictly based over the educational qualifications, experience and talent of the
candidates. The selection criteria are only based over the performance of the candidate in the
interview (Veolia, 2020). On the other hand, in China the hiring process is highly influenced
by the political approach of the candidates. This type of hiring process create high level of
dissatisfaction among the already exists employee inside the Company and the candidates
who have applied for the job (Times, 2020).
Moral principles involved in this case
According to the Utilitarian ethics, the ethical decisions should be based on the consequences
of the action. According to the analysis of this case, it is very clear that this immoral act of
the Company is harmful for those candidates who do not have any political approach. The
hiring conduct of JP Morgan in China is not at all beneficial for all the people of the society
that is why it comes into an immoral act (Brenkert, 2019).

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UNETHICAL PRACTICES AND IMPORTANCE OF WHISTLEBLOWERS
Hiring the children of elite people make the eligible candidates very demotivated and then
they will not do any types of hard work (SB Friend, 2020). They will realise that doing well
in education or in work is not the criteria for hiring, it will create a very negative assumption
in the mind of the people of the society (Leong, 2017).
Consequences of this practices
This practice creates high level of dissatisfaction among the employee of the Company. Job
dissatisfaction takes place among the employees because of the unethical hiring practices
done by the Company. The moral of the employees may goes down and their performances
may affect negatively. The eligible candidates will also become demotivated because of
hiring of those candidates who have the political approach. Overall it can be said that not
only society but also the Company itself will have to face the consequences of immoral hiring
practices (DG Arnold, 2019).
It can be said that illegal and unethical practices are very harmful for the performance and the
future of the Company (M Teresi, 2019).
Whistle blowing policy
Whistle blowing is defined as a process of revealing the misconducts or immoral activities
done by Company by any person of the Company. Many private or government companies
sometimes adopt immoral activities in order to get benefit but these practices are extremely
harmful for the long run of the Company (N Keith, 2016). Whistle blowing is to stand for
something which is not good in terms of society. Before sometime there was a threat exist for
losing the job by whistle blower, if he stands against the practices of the Company (Alam,
2018). But now days, Companies are making a lot of efforts for making safety and security of
the person who is revealing the misconducts done by Company (Paharia, 2020).
Government of many countries like US framed regulations in order to safeguard the whistle
blower for the Company. It also ensure about the financial safety of the person including
safety of his job (Alam, 2018).
OSC Whistleblowing system
OSC that is Oriental Security Commission launched the office which manages the whistle
blowing program. This office has been made to encourage the whistle blowers for reporting
any type of misconducts related to securities and exchange related problems. Even OSC is

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UNETHICAL PRACTICES AND IMPORTANCE OF WHISTLEBLOWERS
providing compensation of around $5 million for those people who voluntarily reported the
fraud and immoral acts done by the people of the Company (Neal, 2016).
OSC whistle blowing system not only motivates the whistle blowers but also it ensure about
the safety of all the aspects related to whistle blowers (Markiewicz, 2020). This is one of the
very effective methods to recognize the fraud cases found inside the Companies. This is the
first paid whistle blower program of Canada. However, some specific eligibility criteria are
adopted by the OSC in order to ensure about the criteria of a whistle-blower so that not
anyone can receive the benefits of becoming a whistle-blower (Neal, 2016).
Conclusion
On the bases of above stated analysis it can be concluded that the companies should adopt
ethical practices in their day to day working practices. The Company should avoid any types
of bribery and unethical hiring practices because of the overall good for the Company as well
as for the society. Many of the countries are making rules and regulations for the safety of the
organisations and the people of the society. OSC has also maintained an office for the welfare
of the whistle-blowers. Hiring of the children of elite people, violation of laws, misleading
financial statements, fake corporate disclosures and other illegal activities are comes into the
field of serious crimes and the people who reported these illegal activities to government or
superior authorities has to be secured by government of the country.

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References
A Crane, D. M. S. G. L. S., 2019. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. USA: Oxford University Press.
Alam, H., 2018. Empowering Whistleblowers: How United States Qui Tam Provisions Can
Be Used in Malaysia. Asia Proceedings of Social Sciences, 1(1), pp. 1-4.
Brenkert, G., 2019. Mind the gap! The challenges and limits of (Global) business ethics.
Journal of Business Ethics, 155(4), pp. 917-930.
DG Arnold, T. B. N. B., 2019. Ethical theory and business. London: Cambridge University
Press.
Leong, C., 2017. A critical look into the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010. Policy Ideas,
Volume 36.
LMC Suárez, J. L. B. C. S., 2020. The Influence of Heuristic Judgments in Social Media on
Corporate Reputation: A Study in Spanish Leader Companies. Sustainability, pp. 1-1640.
M Teresi, D. P. M. B., 2019. Ethical climate (s), organizational identification, and employees'
behavior. Frontier in psychology, Volume 10.
Markiewicz, A., 2020. Canada: OSC Whistleblower Program Explained. [Online]
Available at: https://www.mondaq.com/canada/CorporateCommercial-Law/676540/OSC-
Whistleblower-Program-Explained
N Keith, S. T. C. O., 2016. An international perspective on whistleblowing. Criminal Justice,
Volume 31, p. 14.
Neal, B., 2016. Ontario Securities Commission Whistleblower Protection Program. Law &
Bus. Rev. Am., Volume 22, p. 271.
Paharia, N., 2020. Who Receives Credit or Blame? The Effects of Made-to-Order Production
on Responses to Unethical and Ethical Company Production Practices. Journal of Marketing,
84(1), pp. 88-104.
SB Friend, F. J., 2020. Ethical Climate at the Frontline: A Meta-Analytic Evaluation. Journal
of Service Research.

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Times, T. N. Y., 2020. JPMorgan Is Said to Settle Bribery Case Over Hiring in China.
[Online]
Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/17/business/dealbook/jpmorgan-is-said-to-
settle-bribery-case-over-hiring-in-china.html
Veolia, 2020. Hiring Process. [Online]
Available at: https://www.veolianorthamerica.com/careers/hiring-process