Thesis

Vandivier, as whistleblower at B.F. Goodrich, presented his side of the incident in this well-crafted account. The self-proclaimed ethical actor in the case, Vandivier skillfully caricatured the other central actors in the case, detailing how events at B.F. Goodrich lead inevitably to his blowing the whistle on unethical conduct surrounding qualification testing and reporting falsification at the Troy, Ohio Wheel and Brake Plant that caused possible danger to aircraft flight testing pilots. As one of the most famous cases in the literature of whistle blowing, Vandivier's narrative is held as a paradigm example of one courageous individual challenging corporate corruption, and his account went unchallenged for nearly 20 years.

His criteria are that: 1) the company must be engaged in a practice or about to release a product which does serious harm to individuals or to society in general; and the more serious the harm, the more serious the obligation; 2) the employee should report his concern or complaint to his immediate superior; 3) if no appropriate action is taken, the employee should take the matter up the managerial line (before he or she is obliged to go public, the resources for remedy within the company should be exhausted); 4) the employee should have documentation of the practice or defect...without adequate evidence his chances of being successful...are slim; and 5) the employee must have good reason to believe that by going public he will be able to bring about the necessary changes. According to his argument, the first three of his criteria must be met in order for whistle blowing to be permissible, that engineers should, whenever possible, avoid putting their jobs in jeopardy because of their personal convictions.