Business Ethics

BUSINESS ETHICS

2006

Business Ethics

The Main Ethical Issues

There are several ethical issues discussed within the article . Most (if not all ) of them are derived from the emergence of increasingly enhanced communication and information technology . Besides providing companies with various forms of advantages , communication and information technology has been suspected to be the cause of declining corporate ethical performances . This is because of the fact that due to the enhanced communication and information technology , management has a better and easier way to monitor its employees in their work

stations thus reducing privacy in the workplace . Furthermore , the use of global positioning system (GPS ) and other information technology extends employer 's reach beyond the traditional workplace . The issues that can be extracted from several business ethics cases are

I .1 . E-mail Surveillance

The first issue that relates to workplace privacy for employees is about email surveillance . The issue discusses the justifications of the human resource department tapping into personalized employee 's email for security reasons and control . The issue could lead to discussions about what can and cannot be done by companies relating to use of e-mails in companies . Nevertheless , current tendencies lead to a conclusion that employees have no capacity of expecting privacy in the workplace especially when the warnings of lack of privacy in the workplaces are made public (`Bill McLaren , 1999 I .2 . Keeping Corporate Promise

The second issue is about the human resource department keeping their promise regarding privacy rights in the workplace . It is one thing to expect privacy when a company has made public statements that there would be the lack of privacy and it is another thing to expect privacy when management of the company has promised employees that their e-mails were ensured of privacy and confidentiality . However , there seem to be a view that employers have the right to exercise control and power in managing employee 's working stations . Management reserves the right to set the rules in the workplace and punishing employees for violating them . Thus , the general tendency in this issue is in favor of the employers (`Employee Privacy , 2002

I .3 . Access Restrictions

Long-time employees or managers even put personal s or records in their working stations at work . It is customary for business colleagues to respect that privacy by not accessing into his colleague 's s Nevertheless , this culture of privacy and respect does not exist in legal perspectives . Most states in America do not recognize any right of privacy in the contents of electronic mail systems and storage that are provided to employees by employers . In other words , in case of a condition where the company felt the need to access an employee 's working station , it can do that without any restriction from the law I .4 . Phone Call Surveillance

A slightly more delicate issue related to worker 's privacy is the phone-call surveillance issue . In the United States , large companies often recorded and review telephone conversations from employee 's work stations . There is a prevailing...