Use at least 3 outside sources for research. Your discussion must be in your own
ID: 391175 • Letter: U
Question
Use at least 3 outside sources for research. Your discussion must be in your own words (no copying and pasting please).
You have recently assumed ownership of a small retail business. The prior owner had a laissez-faire (rather hands off) management style, and the current employees spend a lot of time on the Internet, particularly on social media. This is true both on their personal smart phones (over the company Wi-fi) as well as on work devices. Your initial impression is that they are discussing business-related issues online, work is not getting done, customers are not being satisfactorily cared for, and you are beginning to see why the business is not doing as well as it could.
In light of the current situation, you plan to hold a meeting. You do some research and decide to cover the following in your meeting (meaning, discuss this in your original posting):
Explain why this is an ethical issue and identify ethical principles involved (note: do some research) about the use of employee comments on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, as well as the use of them during business hours.
Identify the policies you would put in place as the business owner.
How might you discipline someone who is not compliant with your new policies?
Research and include an outside article (provide the URL) demonstrating what can happen when social media at work 'goes bad' in a real-world situation and summarize the article for us.
Explain the article's significance to a discussion on ethics in the workplace.
Explanation / Answer
The ethical issues involved in employers monitoring internet usage of the employees within the workplace relates to protection of personal interests of both parties, with no unfairness being caused to either. Employees maybe post to monitor internet usage in the workplace to avoid legal problems resulting out of deliberate or negligent or ignorant sharing of important company information and data over the internet, wild indulging in personal work interacting with friends and family on social network sites. Another major issue is browsing of adult sites accessing other inappropriate material during office hours. Employers resort to monitoring and control of all internet access within the workplace through use of various softwares available. Employees have gone to the extent claiming this act of employers as unconstitutional and violating the rights accorded under the fourth amendment relating to illegal search and seizure of property. However, this has been mostly rejected as been unfair two employers as the property in question is the computers and all connected resources, which belong to the employer and not to the employee. Employees therefore have the right to monitor usage of their property to maintain an environment promoting productivity, and to protect themselves from any legal action in the future resulting out of activities of employees from their premises which may lead them to be involved with and accountable for actions of their employees which they are ignorant of also.
Employers can ensure that they are backed by law by being careful in implementation of monitoring with ensuring it is restricted to internet usage for business related reasons and should not be contradictory to any of the recommendations of the Nolo law. At any given point should the employer tresspass into unethical territory of accessing extensive personal information resulting in breach of privacy. It is therefore important that the company formulate clear internet monitoring and usage policies and inform the same to all employees in writing along with the monitoring of their online activities by the company and the extent to which it is monitored. The employees should also be clearly informed about ethical stance of the company relating to productivity an optimal output of every employee as the company is pain for the person to be performing certain work they have every right to make them accountable for the time spent in the office be productive and father growth and benefit of the company.
The company also needs to outline clearly what disciplinary action will be initiated against employees refusing to comply with company policy on Internet usage within the workplace. It is essential that the company take strict action if it has to ensure absolute implementation with strict compliance as this is the only way to send the strong message to all employees that the company will not tolerate any deviation from or non-compliance with the policy. It would be best to issue a strict warning to the offending employee with blocking of the access to certain sites to disable continued violation of the policy. Employee should be informed that they will be under greater surveillance and if found to be not complying with the policy they may face dismissal from the job.
Social media at work can go bad due to people not being able to effectively maintain the fine line that exists between the personal and the professional. It is important to understand that socual media is a vast platform with exceptionally wide outreach and an individual represents not only themselves but also their organisation within the external environment. Simple tweets by employees or posts on other social networking sites, minute only cause them to lose their job but create an irreparable dent in the reputation of the company itself. Social networks are like wild forest fires where information is transmitted and spreads faster than lightning and it may become impossible to control both the spread of the information or adequately manage and control the damage resulting to the organisation. The article provides 15 examples of how simple minimal quotes or comments on social media led to the downfall of famous personalities along with simultaneous impact on the organisation. Just one discriminatory tweet from Justin Sacco resultant in her being fired from IAC and similarly a sexist one having the same result for Firefighter Matt Bowman.
https://www.careeraddict.com/15-outrageous-social-media-posts-that-got-people-fired
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