BUL 4310 Legal Environment of Business Prof. Gelman By Joel D Valencia Ethical Dilemma Flowers Power 1.

r 1. Identify the ethical dilemmas. The main ethical dilemma here is privacy. To take this kind of action would be a complete interference of privacy. From the employers perspective; the company is looking at the fact that they want to know what the employee is doing at all times, what resources are being properly used, wasted or mismanaged. They have the right because after all, it is their money and resources being wasted. From the employees perspective; the employee must have the privacy to work on his/her own without the fear that his/her personal property will be exposed to the public, in this case in a first stage the MIS staff. But consequently, it could be exposed to further personnel in the company as items of investigation scale up the ladder to senior management, etc. The ethical dilemma is where you draw the line. Where does the companys right of knowing what the employee is doing at all times with companys resources and where it ends (within the premises or when they are working outside the company but connected to the network) and where the employees right to privacy begin.

2. Evaluate how stakeholders would be affected by various solutions t your dilemma(s). In the case that I approve the proposal as it is; there are serious consequences and challenges for the company and the employee as well. In one hand the company might be faced lawsuits in regards of invasion of privacy due to the fact that when an issue is unveiled the harm would have been already made to that employee. The employees information would be already in possession of the company and the employee would feel exposed to a flagrant invasion of privacy because it was not done with his/her consent. The companys reputation will be also affected as a policy like this is not a standard in most industries. This action would probably give an undesirable reputation to the company that would lead to greater challenges in obtaining qualified personnel to work with. On the other hand and after such event, the companys environment surely will be of extreme caution to what is said in the office, or over the network and this could clearly lead to lower levels of efficiency. Employees would be working defensively at all times as they would not know when and where they are being monitored. This would create a very tense atmosphere that at the end would not benefit the company output. 3. Discuss the pros and cons of alternative courses of action. An alternative course of action would be to promote the companys culture in regards of goals, philosophy, and feedback. Among the pros would be the fact that the company would show its willingness to listen to the employee and as a consequence the employee will feel more identified with the companys goal and will work more in line to what the companys goal are.

The biggest cons would be that there would always be employees that would like to take advantage of the company resources by misuse and abuse. To spot this kind of people, peer reviews and superiors evaluations should catch these types of individuals. 4. Recommend a decision. My personal recommendation is to bring the employee closer to the company. There are many ways of doing this: Promoting a company culture of listening to the employee through surveys and suggestion boxes. Creating task forces to improve specific areas of the company. Promoting company events. Doing what it takes to make the employee welcomed in the company and that he/she is part of it. 5. Make sure to provide the rationale for your decision. The main purpose of bringing an employee closer to the company, to make him/her feel part of the company is to create a sense of ownership. If an employee feels that the company he/she works for is his/hers, that employee would take care of it as his/her own. A simple example would be, if an employee A sees employee B physically harming companys property or abusing a network system, etc.; employee A would whistle blow or directly try to resolve the issue. This would immediately create a benefit to the company as not only MIS staff would be looking out for possible irregularities or violations but every single involved employee would. By creating a positive, instead of negative atmosphere, the whole company would benefit by having: a lighter environment to work in, more employees working towards the companys goal, and ultimately more creativity. All of this will generate a strong competitive advantage based on human resources which in the long run, is the most important asset that a company may have.