College of Business Administration
Organizational Behavior
BUSI 3323
Case Study (15%)
Name & ID:
Zainab AL-Mubarak
200800810
Instructor Name: Kumarashvari Subramaniam
Summer Semester 2011- 2012
Executive Summary
The rapid increase of the technological advancements has positively impacted our daily
lives, the way the organizations are conducting businesses and the way the world operates
(Desjardins, 2009). However, there are some ethical issues that have arisen in the workplace as a
result of the use of these technological developments. These ethical issues have taken place as a
result of having no specific policies regarding the personal use of the technological devices in the
workplace. In such situations, there is no obvious right or wrong / good or bad behavior, but
rather a logical decision that has to be taken. One of the ethical issues is related to the personal
use of the company’s e-mail system. Although many believe that act is an ethical. I personally
believe it is unethical behavior for many reasons. Some of these reasons are (1) the personal use
interferes with the main purpose the service was provided for, (2) it may lead to engaging for
hours in solving social and personal problems, and (3) it is costly for the organization. Another
ethical issue is related the personal use of a Blackberry devise provided to employees by the
organization. In this case, I believe the personal use is an ethical behavior for the following
reasons: 1. the chat service associated with blackberry devise is always prepaid, (2) the use of this
service is not the only option distracting employees from doing their work, (3) the use of this
factor is considered as positive factor increasing productivity and (4) majority of companies that
established polices regarding the personal use are recently started to modify the rule. One more
ethical issue is related to playing computer games during workday. In my opinion, this behavior
is considered as an ethical act for reasons. One main reason is that studies have shown a positive
relationship between playing computer games and increasing concentration and productivity.
Also, the personal use of the internet access provided for working from home jobs is an ethical
issue that requires a critical analysis. One major reason that makes me believe it is unethical issue
is related to the costs that affect the entire performance of the organization. People may have
different perspectives regarding each situation. However, the choice that mostly suits the
individual’s values must be taken.
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Table of Content
1.Executive Summary ........................................................................................................ i
2.Table of Content............................................................................................................. ii
3.Introduction .....................................................................................................................1
4. Using the Company's E-Mail System for Personal Reasons during Workday/
before or after work hours. ..............................................................................................2
5. Using Employer’s Portable Communication Device (Blackberry) for Personal Use
during workday/ after or before work hours. ................................................................5
6. Playing Computer Games during the Workday/After or before work hours. ........8
7. Using a Computer and Internet Access Line Paid for your Employer to Visit
Online Shopping or Social Networking Sites during Normal Working Hours .........10
8.Conclusion .....................................................................................................................11
9.Bibliography ..................................................................................................................12
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Introduction
The field of ethics generally refers to standards of the right and wrong behaviors,
according to which people behave, think and make decisions. Some individuals believe
that following a set of moral principles that guides them through their daily lives is a
clear choice. However, when the choices are not clear, many tend to look at the behaviors
of others in order to determine an acceptable standard for what is right or wrong. The
way people shape their personal standards is not easy as learning the alphabet. Standards
are shaped of various factors including culture, religion, family, friends, social media,
customs and how the person was raised. Having a set of ethical principles controls all the
factors that negatively influence the choices people make and help in differentiating
between what is right and what is wrong, and therefore making the right decisions.
However, there are some situations in which there is no obvious right or wrong decision
in which the individual’s ethical standers are most likely are tested to make a right
choice. Such situations are known as ethical dilemmas (Andrew, 2010).
The business field involves different ethical issues and dilemmas especially with
the intensive increase in the technological advancements. These advancements have had a
great impact on our lives, the development of the economy and also the workplace
productivity. However, there are major ethical issues that have arisen as a result of these
technological developments as well. One major ethical issue is related to the workplace
and the employees' use of technology. Many organizations have designed clear polices
regarding the use of technology during the workday. With such polices, determining the
ethical activities from the nontechnical is an easy task. However, there are some
situations where organizations have no particular policies regarding the personal use of
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the technological devices provided to employees. In such situations, ethical dilemmas
arise (Andrew, 2010).
This research paper will discuss some ethical dilemmas related to employee’s
personal use of some technological devices provided by an organization, which has no
specific policies regarding the use of these devices.
Situation 1/ Using the Company's E-Mail System for Personal Reasons during
Workday/ before or after work hours.
The extensive increase of technological developments has impacted the use of
Internet and electronic mail (e-mail). Over the past few years, there has been a global
growth in the use of email, which has transformed the strategy used in conducting
businesses in many organizations (Mark, 2008). Nowadays, each employee is assigned a
unique email address before holding any position to ease the process of performing jobs
and accomplishing goals. The e-mail technology provided by organizations is usually
attached with some policies that clarify whether personal use activities are permitted or
forbidden. However, there are some cases when organizations have no specific policies
regarding the personal use activities. This leads to an open question of whether the
personal use the company' e-mail service is ethical choice or not.
Although many individuals believe that using the company’s e-mail system
during work hours for personal use is harmless to the organization and therefore they
consider such use as an ethical act, I personally believe it is unethical act for many
reasons. First, organizations are spending much money and effort to provide high quality
e-mail service features such as unlimited storage and high security. The primary goals of
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providing such a service is easing the process of performing jobs, saving time and
increasing the productivity, which will defiantly have a positive impact on the overall
performance of the organization. By using this service for personal reasons, the primary
goals will be negatively affected and therefore the performance of the organization will
be badly impacted. Second, using the email service for personal reasons is distracting
form work. An employee may start with reading a specific personal e-email for few
minutes, but the message may require an urgent reply and contacting more than one party
to solve a particular personal issue. Performing everything needed for solving the
problem might seem to take few minutes, but the minutes become hours and the hours are
counted as losses for the company. Studies have shown that U.S Companies are losing
millions of dollars yearly due to lost productivity resulting from the engagement in
personal activities (Kenneth, 2008). Moreover, employee’s personal use of the
company’s e-mail service may associate with misusing activities that are costly to the
organization. The case of Lockheed Martin's corporation demonstrates this point, where
an employee sent 60, 000 e-mails about a national day of prayer with a request
confirmation of receipt. As a result, the company’s e-mail system crashed for more than
six hours and the company lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The company paid a
high cost for an IT company to ensure that the e-mail system would never crash again and
the employee who is responsible for the crash has been fired (Kenneth, 2008). The
likelihood that a similar situation happens is low. However, the company has made a
sizable investment to obtain a high quality e-mail system in order to advance
productivity. Thus, employees should not engage in personal use of this service.
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Many people claim that using the company’s e-mail service after or before work
hours for personal reasons is an ethical act since it will not be costly to the organization
comparing to using the service during workday. Although I do agree that using the
company’s e-mail service after or before working hours may be less costly comparing to
using the service during work hours, I still believe that it is unethical act. There are some
situations when the employees use the e-mail service to send offensive messages to
internal or external receipts. In such situations, the time of using the service; whether
during workday or after or before work hours will not make a difference. Such personal
use can harm the entire organization. The case of Chevron Cooperation in 1995
demonstrates this point. The company had to pay an individual around $ 2.2 million to
justify a harassment situation that has arisen from inappropriate e-mail sent by an
employee (Kenneth, 2008). Based on this, neither having no specific policy nor the time
of using the company’s e-mail service makes the use of the e-mail service an ethical act.
The morals and values the employee has for being a part of the organization's future
makes me believe that the personal use of the company's e-mail service is unethical since
it might cost the company dollars of losses and it does interfere with main goals it was
provided for.
Situation 2/ Using Employer’s Portable Communication Device ( Blackberry) for
Personal Use During workday/ After or before work hours.
Among the technological advances, the Blackberry device has succeeded in
attracting people attention of different age groups and interests. The provided features
such as staying connected with other parties regardless of the place or the availability of
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Internet access have also attracted organizations to take the step of bringing this new
communication device to the workplace. Nowadays, many organizations provide a
Blackberry device for almost each employee in order to ease communication process and
increase the productivity. Bringing a technology device to the workplace is usually
attached with some rules regarding the personal use activities. However, there are some
situations where organizations do not provide a clear policy regarding the personal use.
Such situations open the question of whether personal use of this device is ethical or not.
Although some people believe that the personal use of the company’s Blackberry device
during workday is unethical since many individuals carry their personal mobile devices
wherever they go. I personally believe that the personal use of this device is an ethical act
based on different reasons. First, the chat service provided with the Blackberry device,
which allows the persona to stay connected with others even without an internet access, is
always prepaid. So, sending one message a day or more will cost the same amount. Based
on this, if an employee uses the service for personal use, this will not add any costs for
the organization’s expenses. Second, some individuals may argue that using this
Blackberry device for personal reasons will be distracting for the employees and it will
affect negatively the employee’s and the organization’s performance. I personally
disagree with this point. Nowadays, people are attached to various technological devices
such as iPhone, iPod, iPad and many other devices that they carry with them to the
workplace and are used for personal activities. Thus, the personal use of the Blackberry
device cannot be considered as distrusting It all depends on the employee’s values,
morals and commitment. Moreover, the personal use of the Blackberry device during
workday can be considered as a positive factor that helps not only in increasing
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productivity, but also in balancing personal and professional responsibilities. A recent
study that has done by a professor at Ohio State University in the U.S. shows that many
people are using the Blackberry Device for following some personal banking tasks or
searching for large purchases decisions that require a huge amount of money. This pushes
most employees to be more dedicated to their work to be allowed for a promotion or a
commission in order to o start the planned investment or the large property purchases
(Mark, 2008). Furthermore, many organizations that have designed polices regarding the
personal use of the Blackberry service, started to modify their policies by allowing
employees to use the service for personal reasons. Aramco company case demonstrates
this point. When the company started providing Senior Employees with Blackberry
devices, each employee was required to sign a paper of polices regarding the personal use
activities. One year later, the company modified the policy by allowing employees to use
the devise for personal reasons. However, the costs of personal calls are discounted form
the employee’s monthly salary.
Many people think that using the Blackberry device service after or before work
hours for personal reasons is unethical behavior since the device was provided for a main
reason which is increasing workday productivity. I disagree with this view of point since
the use of the Blackberry service after or before the workday will not cost the
organization any more expenses and it will not harm the organization in any way. In
addition, majority of organizations that have established policies regarding the personal
use are now modifying the rules by allowing employees to use the device for personal
reasons and then discounting the costs form salaries. Based on this, I believe that personal
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use of the company’s Blackberry device is an ethical choice regardless of time of using;
during workday, before or after work hours.
Situation 3/ Playing Computer Games during the Workday/After or before work
hours.
Computer games have become popular since the first video game that is called
“Pong” has introduced to the public. Then, when personal computers started to be
introduced, the availability of the electronic games has increased intensively (Mark,
2008). Nowadays, having at least one personal computer with an access to the Internet in
each office in the organization is a must. The existence of games on the Internet has
helped in easing the process of downloading and accessing various types of computer
games for employees in the workplace. Based on this, many organizations have stetted
particular policies that prevent downloading or playing any type of computer games
during the workday. However, there are special cases where organizations have no policy
regarding playing computer games. In such cases, the behavior of playing computer
games is hard to be classified as right or wrong behavior.
Although many people believe that playing computer games is unethical behavior
because it badly affects the employees' productivity, I personally believe it is an ethical
behavior based on various reasons. One reason is that computer games are not the only
distracting option in the workplace that results in reducing the employees' productivity.
There are various technological devices that provide attracting games such as the iPad. It
is the employee’s choice to allow computer games or any other devices that provide
games to distract them or not, based on their values, beliefs and commitment to the job.
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There are many studies that show the positive relationship between playing computer
games and the employee’s productivity. A study on the effects of computer games and
the productivity has shown that playing games during short work breaks helps in keeping
the mind focused, releasing stress and provide a sense of relaxation (Anastasia, 2005).
Also, some many argue that playing computer games may slow the computer functioning
and may completely harm the computer. I disagree with this point for many reasons. One
reason is that with technological developments, the need for downloading games has
decreased. Many games can be played directly on the web page without downloading.
Another reason is related to the software’s' advances that have increased the storage
capacity which allow downloading games with different sizes. Also, the security
programs for computers have been under ongoing developments in order to protect the
computer from any software or viruses that might be indirectly downloaded when
downloading unsecured games.
Many individuals believe that playing computer games before or after the
working hours is also considered as unethical choice. In my opinion, the effects of
playing computer games during workday will not differ from the outcomes of playing the
games before or after work hours. As discussed above, playing computer games are not
harmful to the computer itself neither to the organization, but rather are helping in
increasing the concentration, relaxation and productivity. Based on this I believe playing
computer games before or after work hours is an ethical behavior.
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Situation 4/ For Telecommuters Working From Home, Using a Computer and
Internet Access Line Paid for your Employer to Visit Online Shopping or Social
Networking Sites during Normal Working Hours.
Working from home (WFH) has drastically increased in many countries. In the
U.S, more than ten percent of the workforce has reported working from home at least one
day each week (Mark, 2008). Jobs that are majorly or partially depend on working from
home are usually associated with using a computer and Internet Access line paid by the
organization. Providing (WFH) jobs are usually connected with some polices that
prohibit employees from using the provided service for personal use activities. However,
there are some cases where organizations provide no policy regarding the personal use
reasons. In these situations, the question of whether personal use of the provided service
is ethical or unethical is hard to answer.
Many argue that personal use of the Internet access service provided for WFH
jobs is an ethical choice since the company has no specific policy regarding the personal
use. I personally disagree with this preservative. I believe that the personal use of the
service provided for WFH jobs is unethical behavior for various reasons. First, the main
goal of providing the service is helping the employees working from home to perform
their jobs in efficient and effective manner. So, based on this, using the service for
personal reasons such as social Networking sites does interfere with the main purpose it
was provided for. For example, by using social networking websites such as Twitter or
Facebook, the employee may engage in a conversation with a friend who might ask for a
help or a support for personal issue. Such conversations usually require much time, which
will have a negative effect on the performance of the employee, the organization and the
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overall economy of the country. Sabic company Study demonstrates this point by
showing that more than 50% of the WFH employees have admitted surfing online
websites for personal reasons. It was also estimated that employees spend 5 to 6 of hours
of the working day engaging in some personal activates using the Internet. The company
losses for the personal use activities have estimated to be S.R 20, 000 (Mark, 2008).
Based on the above, I believe that the personal use of the Internet Service provided for
WFH employees is unethical behavior.
Conclusion
The technological advancements have helped in easing our daily lives, increasing
organizations' productivity and developing many economic aspects. However, there are
some ethical issues that have arisen as a combination with the use of these technologies.
In such situations, there are no particular polices regarding the personal use of the
technology and therefore, there is no obvious right or wrong act, but rather a critical
choice. Individuals have to critically and logically analyze the choices they have in order
to make the right decision that best suits their values, morals and beliefs.
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Bibliography
Anastasia, M. (2005). The Effects of Playing Online Games on Productivity Levels.
Retrieved June 29, 2012 from an academic research.
Andrew, W. ( 2010). A Real World Approach of Business Ethics. (pp. 3-23). Avenue of
the Americas, New York: McGraw- Hill Higher Education.
Desjardins, J. (2009). An Introduction to business Ethics. Why Study Ethics? ( pp. 1-15).
Avenue of the Americas, New York: McGraw- Hill Higher Education.
Kenneth, E. (2008). Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics. New Jersey: John
Wiley &Sons Inc.
Mark, D. (2008). The Use of the Technology in the Workplace. Retrieved July 1, 2012
form the Following Website: http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu
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