Business Ethics (1 Viewer)

[kidrobot]

I need to write a quick paper on business ethics and I'm having a hard time on getting it started. What are your takes on business ethics? I'm looking to include simple ethics that someone may not think is wrong but can be very wrong. For example, looking at bad websites while at work. Well any help would be great.

 

[KenHigg]

Not trying to be a wise guy - But how is that you wound up in this forum with such a question?

 

[kidrobot]

Not trying to be a wise guy - But how is that you wound up in this forum with such a question?

I made a new user name because I forgot my password.

 

[kidrobot]

I thought of another one, looking through other peoples files on the network.

This is a general paper on ethics I guess that's why it is so hard for me to write. I'm used to writing a paper with one certain subject, but this is so broad and there are many ways for me to approach this. I thought if I get other peoples opinions it'd give me a direction on where I should go with this.

 

[wazz]

http://management.about.com/gi/dyna...www.iit.edu/departments/csep/PublicWWW/codes/

i haven't read much. hope it applies.

 

[DavidRS]

I thought of another one, looking through other peoples files on the network.

I'm not sure if ethics is the right term as it tends to apply to professional codes i.e. medicine, law, accountancy, etc. and it's usually related to standards and, sometimes, morals. Ethics may mean something different to you but it seems to me that you are putting together an acceptable usage policy/protocol. Often this is just applied to internet/email usage but it could be expanded to cover the whole business. In this case it's usually known as an Information Governance policy.

The first thing I would do is list the areas that you want to cover much like you are doing at the moment. Talk to your colleagues to see what they think might be included and check to see if there are any standards that the protocol could align to.

You should also determine whether there is any legislation that would affect the protocol and, in particular, any privacy laws. For example, in the UK we have the Data Protection Act. This makes it a criminal offence to use someone's personal information in a way that was not orginally intended. Apart from the threat, it lends weight to any conditions you might set out such as looking at other peoples files.

I would a note of caution here. Be careful not to put you or the organisation in a position where cannot access critical business files is blocked. In the UK there are a number of different regulations built into many pieces of legislation that do provide an escape route or allow you to bypass other restrictions but you should get that into your protocol.

I don't know of any specific sites for you to look at but if you search for information governance or acceptable use or similar terms you will find that a lot of government sites post theirs to the web because there is legislation that compels them to do so. They could be very good staring points.

Hope it helps.

Cheers

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Business ethics can cover a wide range of sins.

First, unethical business practices relate to being honest with your customers. Which is why consumer protection laws exist. But for every law that exists, there is a leading bleeding edge of practices that barely skate by the boundaries of that law.

Case to consider: The business ethics of Allstate Insurance Co. making a post-Katrina damages claim based on an engineering paper written by someone who never visited the claimant's house. Ethical or not?

Second, unethical business practices relate to how you treat your employees. Which is why labor laws exist. Including things like overtime and various safety and health regulations.

Case to consider: The company has a "use it or lose it" rule regarding accrued vacation hours when the employee doesn't take vacations often enough to keep this in balance. Not "use it or have it bought back." "Use it or lose it." Ethical or not?

Third, unethical business practices relate to how you treat your competitors. Which is why intellectual property rights laws exist.

Case to consider: Lawsuits abounding between Microsoft and Apple some years ago over the concept of Windows "look and feel." Both sides sued the other over what was essentially an unwinnable case for either. (Both had stolen the point-and-click paradigm from a defunct third party whose claim on the design had lapsed.) The lawsuit was essentially a nuisance suit for both parties. Ethical or not?

When you have brushed up against a business and come away hurt or at least disappointed, in the process losing money or something else of value (measurable or not), and the people you talk to seem unresponsive, and they tell you, "It's just business, don't take it personally" ... Does that fly in the face of the concept of ethics? Which, at bottom, has to do with equity and fairness in business activities. Or are the representatives correct, i.e., it was just business and you lost out.

These are topics directed at businesses. But there are employee business ethics, too. For instance, your example of web-surfing at work when the topic is not work-related. If you are on the clock, is that stealing? If you are salaried and are paid by results, is that still theft of services? But the counter question is whether browsing a site that is full of (non-porno) eye candy as a way to relax your mind after a hard slog through rotten code helps productiviy enough that it is actually beneficial.

The issue is going to be defined by corporate culture as well as anything else. In the government, there is a heavy price to pay because of auditors trying to assure that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and well. But in the commercial world, does the time spent away from direct production merely cause prices to go up (because of lower productivity leading to higher overhead leading to higher need to recoup costs) such that employee goof-offs are actually hurting customer pocketbooks? And is that unethical?

If you can't find some stuff to think about in the above, I can't help you.

 

[Fifty2One]

im more confused than usual... is this about codes of ethics or company policies?

 

[wazz]

50-1, i note that the good doc doesn't talk of 'policies' but 'practices'. maybe the approach to take, kidrobot (you still here?), is to clarify the difference between a policy that is in place and how that policy is put into practice. broad, sweeping judgements seem to leave out the human element whereas judgements on a case-by-case basis might help to find the worst offenders and/or the most gray area - which might require a reexamination of the policy and round n round we go...

 

[Fifty2One]

i worked for the last number of years in the aerospace industry... which is regulated to the hilt... so i know about policies, the human element, best practices, codes, directives, etc etc etc

 

[Newman]

There is a practice that I've learned in my computer science classes.
"The program you build shall be made to help the users in their every day work, not to replace them and have them get fired."
Can someone refuse to develop an application if it is well known that it's main purpose is to get rid of many members of the personnel? Could an employer impose an employee to do it?

I had to do with this as a freelancer and didn't take the contract. It was a hard decision, since I needed the money and there is no law against it. It is immoral but legal. I can't imagine what it would have been if I was an employee instead of a contractor.

 

[Ron_dK]

I need to write a quick paper on business ethics and I'm having a hard time on getting it started. What are your takes on business ethics? I'm looking to include simple ethics that someone may not think is wrong but can be very wrong. For example, looking at bad websites while at work. Well any help would be great.

Maybe this might be of any help:

http://humanresources.about.com/od/policysamples/Policy_Samples_and_Examples.htm

It gives numerous examples of company policies which you may use as a start.

 

[Fifty2One]

There is a practice that I've learned in my computer science classes.
"The program you build shall be made to help the users in their every day work, not to replace them and have them get fired."
Can someone refuse to develop an application if it is well known that it's main purpose is to get rid of many members of the personnel? Could an employer impose an employee to do it?

I had to do with this as a freelancer and didn't take the contract. It was a hard decision, since I needed the money and there is no law against it. It is immoral but legal. I can't imagine what it would have been if I was an employee instead of a contractor.

Fortunately my current contract for production improvement envolves a developing company, so technically I am not designing anything that will replace people who are already working here - just minimizing the quantity of future hires...

 

[Fifty2One]

While I was typing that last post something came to mind...

When you develop something are you putting yourself out of a job
Obviously when you are hired for a contract to program that is failsafe and meets certain parameters. So if you do a good job you would be basically putting yourself out of a job but if you do a fairly well thrown together job the will have to keep you on contract or retainer to correct your own shortcomings

 

[Newman]

You should have tell me before!

 

[Pauldohert]

"The program you build shall be made to help the users in their every day work, not to replace them and have them get fired."
Can someone refuse to develop an application if it is well known that it's main purpose is to get rid of many members of the personnel? Could an employer impose an employee to do it?

I had to do with this as a freelancer and didn't take the contract. It was a hard decision, since I needed the money and there is no law against it. It is immoral but legal. I can't imagine what it would have been if I was an employee instead of a contractor.

I don't know if I'm misunderstanding this - but streamlining happens all the time - the capacity could be freed up to do something more profitable, or if they are just being carried - getting rid of them safegueards the jobs of everyone else.

As I say I may have misunderstood - are you a Luddite?

 

[Newman]

Of course not, after all I am a programmer. But when the boss of a big company that makes millions ask if you could build a program to get rid of his employees, it is kind of working against the society itself.

I am not talking about someone who's business is in jeopardy and would have to cut on employees even if there was no computer around. I am talking about big businesses that just wants to upgrade the benefit of the shareholders.

Understand that I am in computer programming and that I have my own business. So I understand how a business works. Somehow, some executive
just work for thier money without thinking about those underneath them. For them, an employee and a computer is the same. But employees are human beings, not objects.

 

[Fifty2One]

Of course not, after all I am a programmer. But when the boss of a big company that makes millions ask if you could build a program to get rid of his employees, it is kind of working against the society itself.

I am not talking about someone who's business is in jeopardy and would have to cut on employees even if there was no computer around. I am talking about big businesses that just wants to upgrade the benefit of the shareholders.

Understand that I am in computer programming and that I have my own business. So I understand how a business works. Somehow, some executive
just work for thier money without thinking about those underneath them. For them, an employee and a computer is the same. But employees are human beings, not objects.

Unfortunately everyone is in business for the same basic reason - to make money - so for those of us who are human beings, not objects we have a different set of moral tools... for executroids that just wants to upgrade the benefit of the shareholders money saved from reducing staff levels and maintain or increase production is an easy choice... keep in mind that at a high executive level in larger companies there are benefits based on performance... and they usually have a large payout tied into their contract as part of their exit strategy...