Business ethics refers to the moral principles that govern an organisation’s transactions and conduct. Many of the principles that people use to be ethical in their personal and professional lives also work well for businesses. While company ethics are often governed by the law of the land and generally accepted by the public, corporate ethics can be adopted to gain acceptance from the public.
Part 1) Check Your Understanding
To grow an organisation, it must invest in technology. When technology is being used to manage employee behavior, it comes with some problems. Consent must be given in writing to any surveillance. The company must inform its employees about the reason for surveillance. Employees who violate company policies cannot be used as an excuse for removing employees’ privacy rights. There are two types of consent. There are two types of consent available: thin and thick (Moore 2000).
An employee’s thin consent allows the company to track them. Consider that there are only a few job openings. An employee must agree to surveillance because it is necessary to perform his job. The surveillance is not something employees can consent to if they do not know. An organization can monitor an individual employee if it discovers they have been using Facebook excessively. (Martin, 2016). A weak consent policy can help companies and businesses claim moral superiority. Nobody is permitted to check office archives and midnight software installation for secrets backdoor passwords which could allow them to access email accounts. This type of employee tracking is problematic.
The employer may have a thick consent that means they are willing to provide employment conditions that make it easy for employees to get a job that respects privacy. Martin (2016). The consent to monitor policies can then be considered thick. The consent may be withheld if the employee finds the policy unacceptable and an alternative job can applied for. Employees can agree to terms that are too complicated. However, this does not mean the employee has to agree with the terms. Employer monitoring policies can include biometric and time clocks to check employee arrivals at work (Moore 2000).
An insurance company might move its office to a bigger location after achieving financial success. One employee finds CCTV cameras in their workplace. The employer did not disclose this to the employees, which left them curious about who could be watching them and why they were needed in an insurance office. The management countered by saying that cameras will only be opposed to those who have something to hide. Management also claims that monitoring will reward hardworking employees and give them recognition.
An employee has two choices. If the consent is weak, it means that the employee has become dependent on the job. In fear of losing their job, they will agree to the monitoring policy. Thicker consent is a sign that senior employees who have worked tirelessly to ensure the success of their company will give more assurance that they will find a job that will suit them and be less restrictive. To retain their employees, companies might pay higher wages.
You’re allowed to remotely work from home if you are given a BlackBerry. Is it your right to be able to help work-related questions from the comfort of your own home? Managers need to ask the question “Why?” If employees have more availability than you, it could be a sign that you’re not available at work. Some employees may be worried about the workload, fearing that they might not be able finish their job on time or that they won’t get their work upheld.
It is important to examine how work was distributed in the situation. Employees should feel empowered and encouraged to speak to their managers to seek a solution. Additional staff may be necessary if the workload is overwhelming. The EU working time directive dictates that an employee should be accorded ample resting time to regenerate the used energy during working hours (Fitzgerald & Caesar, 2012).
Some jobs may require that employees are available for urgent calls and emails even when they’re not at work. Calls or emails regarding patient care or diagnosis may be required to be answered by doctors and medical staff. As it may lead to burnout or fatigue, this should not be done every day.
Your blackberry phone should never be used for personal use. Employees would only use their phones for selling profitable products in a perfect world. Skype meetings can be arranged with an internet data plan. The company has the right to reprimand employees who use the phone for personal reasons. The company retains ownership of the phone. An employee may forget to delete all their personal files when they leave the company. It would not be an ideal situation reading texts about an employee’s personal life as it is an intrusion of privacy.
Social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook have seen a rise in popularity due to technological advancements. Although they offer many features, the main benefit is communication. You can communicate electronically with friends by sharing images, videos and text. Social media has been a huge business in recent years. Small and big organizations have the power to market products directly to the consumer through targeted adverts (Sarikakis & Winter, 2017).
Advertisements will show up in your timeline on social media. The adverts will be tailored to your buying patterns or search results. This has been a contentious issue since these advertisements more often than not appear on a user’s timeline without their approval (Tucker, 2013). This person has the feeling that they are being monitored. This data can be useful and used for a number of purposes. A practical example of privacy infringement is the recent WhatsApp update. The update looks to bring ads to people’s private conversations. People have moved to other sites in fear of being tracked by a company (Al Heeti 221).
The cost of pirated software for companies to resolve malware-related issues or corrupt company data is $359 billion annually (BSA Global Software Survey 2018,2018). This is also a trap for people who use pirated Windows operating system. This makes them vulnerable to computer viruses. This security risk is obvious. This behavior has not been stopped. According to the BSA Global Software Survey 2018 (2018), 37 percent of all computers worldwide run unlicensed programs.
Ransomware has complicated the ethics of technology in recent times. Hackers are able to take control of computer networks and ask for money in exchange for unlocking them. If you don’t pay, your data is gone. To avoid the cost of rebuilding the entire network, managers may pay ransom. Company owners and IT administrators who pay the ransom do so without recognizing that it inspires hackers to target more organizations (Martin, Shilton & Smith, 2019).
Artificial intelligence, although a major success, still presents ethical challenges that are fascinating to work out. Mercedes self driving car test results in 2016 show that it prefers to travel through pedestrians to avoid hitting a truck approaching, rather than smashing into a truck. Nyholm (2018). This artificial intelligence system was created to help protect drivers. Wisconsin Department of Corrections utilized a strange program to determine eligibility for parole. The program appeared to favor Caucasian males than African American and Hispanic males. This was very surprising. Busanyi (2017 Investigations), says it was created by the designers.
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