Technology and Ethics, Essay Example

Understanding the relationship between technology and ethics requires an understanding of each one of these concepts separately. Most people learn some form of ethical values when growing up as children. Consequently, most people have some preconceived notion about what is ethical and what is not ethical, and this differs from person to person because each person may have a different definition of ethics in their own minds. Oxford Dictionaries defines ethics as “Moral principles that govern a person’s or group’s behavior”(Ethics, n.d.). Therefore, what ethics means in the minds of the individual sometimes depends on what that individual sees as moral. Technology, on the other hand, is more likely seen the same by most people because it does not have an emotional element to it like ethics does. Technology, as defined by Oxford Dictionaries, is “The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes” (Technology, n.d.). This definition, however, seems somewhat vague, considering it does not include the contributions of information and communication advancements specifically, so it is included here.

Privacy in the Workplace

Workplace privacy has become one of the most pressing issues in society today. However, according toHartman (2001), workplace “privacy cannot be adequately addressed without considering a basic foundation of ‘ethics’”. This has much to do with individual concerns and organizational motivations. As stated, ethics is a matter of perception, which impacts how people behave in the workplace when using technology. The notions of technology and ethics often merge when it comes to their use in the business context, such as in the workplace. This often leads to issues that arise as a result of the differences in people’s perceptions of ethics and their level of access to technology in the workplace. In addition, issues also arise when employers choose to use technology ethically or unethically for or against their employees in the workplace. This highlights the issue of privacy in the workplace.

Companies acquire certain personal information from employees, shareholders, customers and vendors. Companies should, and most do, have privacy and ethical policies in place to protect personal information. This information includes names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, federal identification numbers, etc. Companies also have knowledge of employees’ income, investment and some health information. In addition, companies have access to and often keep track of employees’ computer activities by monitoring their Internet surfing at work, their emails or their phone conversations. According to Akcay (2008), these are things that most people would consider private. However, these are not necessarily always kept private in the workplace. Sometimes unscrupulous companies actually sell personal information to telemarking companies. This scenario is certainly unethical and a clear violation of employee privacy by the employer.

Privacy issues relating to technology and ethics in the workplace can also take another form, which is the use of social media in the workplace to post negative things about co-workers, subordinates or managers, or even using social media to do these things from home. In addition, privacy and ethical breaches can occur when employees inadvertently post private or image-damaging information about shareholders, customers, vendors or the company, as well. For example, two employees were fired from Dominos Pizza in North Carolina after one of the employees shot a video of the other stuffing cheese up his nose at work, while he was making a customer’s sandwich. They posted the video on YouTube, which went viral, thereby damaging the image and reputation of Dominos Pizza and sparking allegations against the food chain for improper food preparation standards (Chen, 2010). This is definitely an example of how technology, ethics and privacy come together and, in this case, produced a negative outcome for both the employees and the company.

Witnessing Unethical Activity

There have been instances where I have witnessed unethical activities in the workplace related to technology, but one particularly sticks out in the mind. That is a time when I witnessed a co-worker pirating software from the company to take home to install on his own computer. He even bragged about it to me and another co-worker. This activity was definitely unethical because that software was not free. It was paid for and licensed by the company. Therefore, taking it without permission was stealing it. What we did not know was the fact the IT department ran a weekly report on all computer activity and they saw that he had done this. He was subsequently called into the director’s office, shown the proof of what he had done and he was fired. Some would say that they spied on him and that was unethical, but the company’s privacy and ethics policies state that employees are not to assume privacy while using workplace systems.

Privacy in the workplace, in my opinion, should be minimal when it comes to a company protecting their investments and making sure employees are working diligently and being good stewards of company resources. After all, no one would want someone misusing their personal assets.

References

Akcay, B. (2008). The Relationship Between Technology and Ethics; From Society to Schools. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 9(4), 120-127. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ816485.pdf

Chen, S. (2010, May 12). Workplace rants on social media are headache for companies. Retrieved from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/05/12/social.media.work.rants/

Ethics. (n.d.). Retrieved from Oxford Dictionaries: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/ethics

Hartman, L. P. (2001, Spring). Technology and Ethics: Privacy in the Workplace. Business & Society Review, 106(1), 1, 27.

Technology. (n.d.). Retrieved from Oxford Dictionaries: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/technology