Ethical issues are situations that require organizations or individuals to choose between alternatives that should be evaluated as unethical or ethical. The most important ethical issues include:
Confidentiality the act of keeping something secret .
Reasons against confidentiality
Individuals are not informed of what information will be communicated and to whom
Employees may discuss a person’s information with their colleagues who are not directly or indirectly involved in the case ( Anderson, & Seltzer, 2009 ).
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Files and other vital records are not stored or kept under secure and safe conditions.
Confidentiality limits the amount of information that consumers may receive therefore decreasing awareness of a service or product.
Information leaks may result to accompany not being to defend its intellectual property.
Reasons for confidentiality
Protection of sensitive information from the public, competitors, and other unauthorized individuals.
Confidentiality ensures the organizations cannot leak personal information.
Confidentiality ensures the protection of patent rights ( Anderson, & Seltzer, 2009 ). If a person invents a product, he/she can make it his own.
Confidentially prevents the release of sensitive information that can be damaging to a client in civil cases.
When confidential information gets into the wrong hand, it can be used to commit illegal activities.
Diversity issues, understanding each individual uniqueness and individual differences
Arguments for diversity
Inclusion and diversity pull together all opportunities to grow and learn from others.
Diversity plugs the talent gap in the organization.
Diversity allows the organization to grow at the same pace with the community and other organizations ( Herring, 2009 ).
Diversity allows firms to gain a higher competitive edge and higher market share.
Diversity creates equal opportunities for everyone in the organization and society.
Reasons against diversity
Diversity is only limited to reputation management, recruitment, and checking off the boxes.
Diversity only solves for respect and not recognition.
People involved with diversity only think mosaic and not melting pot.
Diversity is mainly a technique and not an end in itself. Therefore it needs to be balanced against other considerations which include clustering of skills ( Herring, 2009 ).
Moreover, when the diversity initiative is not strong the initial success if followed by regression or a flat line.
Social networking ethics, maintaining the privacy of each employee regarding the use of social media.
Reasons for social networking ethics
It increases security with the organization.
It increases productivity within the firm as employees will not spend much time on social media.
It gives insight on the character of the employee mainly during recruitment ( Lannin, & Scott, 2013 ).
It builds a better case for an employee.
It reveals ugly incidents that the employee might have been involved in.
Reasons against social networking ethics
Dishonest employees may post bad comments that damage the organization's reputation.
Organizations are monitoring employees social media accounts such as Facebook as against the right to privacy ( Lannin, & Scott, 2013 ).
Looking into social media account of the staff members reduces morale.
Failure for the organization to comply with social media ethics policies can result to defamation ( Lannin, & Scott, 2013 ).
The organization can get private and confidential information, and the data may get into the wrong hands.
Decision-making ethics, choosing alternatives in a manner that complies with ethical principles.
Arguments for decision-making ethics
Gives the organization completive advantage
Consumers are able to trust ethical brands and also remain loyal to them even when they are facing hard times.
Decision making ethics improve the consumer confidence ( Lehnert, Craft, Singh, & Park, 2016 ).
Further, ethical decision making recognizes the importance of social responsibilities.
Reduces business liability.
Arguments against decision-making ethics
The organization is not able to maximize its profit.
Lack of ethics in decision-making results in discrimination such as child labor and poor working conditions ( Lehnert, Craft, Singh, & Park, 2016 ).
Lack of support from the management as it is mostly geared towards profit making.
It is costly to maintain, develops, and implement ethical compliance programs.
To uphold high ethical standards in most instances, it can be very complicated.
References
Anderson, M. J., & Seltzer, W. (2009). Federal statistical confidentiality and business data: Twentieth-century challenges and continuing issues. Journal of Privacy and Confidentiality , 1 (1), 2.
Herring, C. (2009). Does diversity pay?: Race, gender, and the business case for diversity. American Sociological Review , 74 (2), 208-224.
Lannin, D. G., & Scott, N. A. (2013). Social networking ethics: Developing best practices for the new small world. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice , 44 (3), 135.
Lehnert, K., Craft, J., Singh, N., & Park, Y. H. (2016). The human experience of ethics: a review of a decade of qualitative ethical decision‐making research. Business Ethics: A European Review , 25 (4), 498-537.
