Outline
This paper discusses how companies use technology to help set and manage ethical standards and guidelines. It further makes an analysis of how technology shapes the work environment or culture of a company. Additionally it discusses the effect of technology on human resource functions and culture and finally it concludes.
Introduction
Ethics is a popular term that is concerned with what is right or wrong, bad or good, air or unfair. It is more connected to morality. Ethics therefore is very crucial to any company as technology was born so is ethics. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia, information technology can be viewed to be political if it includes or excludes certain interests and the same information can be viewed to be ethical if includes all the interests of all the public. An example could be written program written purposeful to serve a given company but then the program serves only given section of people but not all. In such circumstances the program excludes certain persons and therefore in such instances ethics can be seen as consequential ethics that implies that if one thing happens then another thing must happen immediately to correct the situation.
How technology help to set and manage ethical standards and guidelines
According to Gray (Gray, 1988), technology helps companies to set and manage ethical standards in a number of ways. First if we start by examining some companies. Gray argues that some companies seem to use technology as a tool for communication and education which is crucial to every organization (Gray, 1988). Building up a culture of business can be achieved through education and communication through the internet, since the internet is being viewed by many organizations as a powerful tool and source of information that is more powerful when compared to other sources of media. Gray further notes that managers use the internet to disseminate information in ways such as image, video, or web cast which has a lot of value to the promotion of business ethics in organizational environment (Gray, 1988). Gray further argues that managers also utilize the internet by posting organization conduct guidelines that can be posted on the Intranet which is website designed only for the employee’s of the organization. These postings on the Intranet enable the employees to easily refer to education activities that in turn promotes the company’s values example could be through e-learning. Gray states that by organization using internet to post guidelines enables employees to read and certify them as they are required(Gray,1988).. Gray argues that since employees should be taught on how to do business in ways that are considered ethical and proper. Managers normally do this by setting security guidelines through the internet which provide a framework on how the internet should be properly and ethically used. This enables the organization be able to achieve a balance between security and respect for privacy of company’s information (Gray, 1988).
Secondly, Gray notes that Network administration is also a better way used by companies as a means to easily monitor employees’ emails and telephone conversations (Gray, 1988).Gray notes that this way ensures that the emails are written in a correct language with the correct content and those with inappropriate language are returned back to the sender. Gray furthermore argues that this way ensures monitoring of the telephone contacts by making sure that appropriate language is used during the conversations and anyone person who uses inappropriate language is disconnected immediately from the phone conversation and incase he/she is an employee he /she is reprimanded(Gray,1988).
Another way companies are using the internet is ensuring employees are more productive through blocking some sites of the internet that are outside the internet that could be disastrous to the employees (Gray,1988).Gray notes that this blockage hinders employees from accessing sites such as games ,chat sites when at the work place which against organization set rules , guidelines and also technology, this enhances proper use and utilization of time by the employees at work place (Gray,1988).Gray argues that managers have role to play which is to instruct all their employees on ethical and unethical practices. Example could be informing the employees about unethical practices such as playing games that should be seen by employee as unacceptable behaviors and any employee involved in such can be viewed as stealing the companies’ time which is unethical (Gray, 1988).
How technology shapes work environment culture
A company with poor ethics could be difficult to promote compared to one with good ethics, especially that company whose reputation has been tampered with(Gray,1988).Gray note that a
company having poor ethics is a clear indication that the turn-over is extremely high which cause s the company to lose money since funds used for training do not yield as it is required(Gray,1988).Gray notes that this moral negative effect caused by the deficient process affects the company operations at the end. Ethics therefore plays a major role in providing guidelines for employees at work place. The ethical standards begin from the top executive which lowers down to other employees down the business (Gray, 1988). Example could be employees clothing, the guidelines are set to ensure employees dress appropriately to promote the company’s picture. Example could be ladies who at the work place may dress in clothes which reveal some parts of their bodies, this could easily paint bad picture in men and women working around them. At the end this unconscious behavior creates real issues that are negative which ultimately brings the business morale from the clients down. In addition this behavior can contribute to high lose of employees (Gray, 1988).
According to Gray (1988), a company that has high standards of ethics both in technology and other elements of business makes its employees to enjoy a pleasant work environment and this makes them to work in a team or individually towards promoting the organization to achieve its goals. Gray also states that top executives are expected to have a high ethical vales and morals as this will in the end affect other employee’s in a positive way since they will be able to abide by the ethical philosophies of their seniors which will make the work place to be a more peaceful place to work as no poor behavior that is disastrous exists (Gray, 1988).
How technology affects human resources functions
Before technology came into existence managers used do all the jobs manually. Everything was hand-written and also time consuming. According to Gray the use of technology to perform human resources functions has had a great impact since several positions have been made obsolete which affects the general morale of the employees (Gray, 1988). Gray argues that though technology has a great impact on human resources functions it is of great importance since it has become a concept that is learned to enhance utilization of technological advances which has made work life to become easier and more productive too (Gray,1988).
Gray further notes that communication has been made easier as the employees can easily communicate directly to management and receive instant feedback through emails or instant messenger without necessarily making earlier appointments or booking (Gray, 1988). This actually has enabled the managers and all the employees to save time at the same time create a sense of unity among all the employees within the company. Managers are in a position to distribute memos to all the employees in within few moments instead of hand writing them (Gray, 1988). These electronic memos have become a great assurance that each employee gets his/her memo since it’s proved by issuance of an electronic receipt.
Gray furthermore states that though technology can cause short-term effects the long-term effects are more beneficial (Gray, 1988).The daily tasks which took hours and extra manpower to perform have been decreased through development of programs which assist the running of business. This has made technology to be used as an empowerment too in performing organization functions. This helps managers to create a sense of purpose among employees and increase their productivity in daily functions (Gray, 1988).
Conclusion
Ethics and Technology plays a crucial role in the functioning of any company. The essay discussed how companies use technology as a tool to set and manage standards and guidelines which may include monitoring employees electronically and how the guidelines of ethics shape the work environment. Further more it has discussed how using technology affects the performance of human resources example use of emails to quickly respond and receive feedback from employees. Technology changes daily to embrace the changing needs of the society.
Reference
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Web.
Gray, R. (1988). Making Ethics Come Alive. United States Chamber of Commerce.