Ethical issues that may arise in information management
“We believe that it’s really important to come up with the core values that you can commit to. And by commit, we mean that you’re willing to hire and fire based on them. If you’re willing to do that, then you’re well on your way to building a company culture that is in line with the brand you want to build.”
– Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos
There are various ethical issues that arise in information management such as privacy of information, ownership of the data, the security of the information, control of the information and accuracy of the information that needs to be kept in check by the company, employees having access to the information and needs to be monitored in order to curb any type of unethical behavior. Privacy is one major concern here, as having access to personal information can lead to unethical activities which are a breach of privacy by the company. Management should focus on maintaining security measures to protect secure data to emphasize these measures. Companies are ensuring that employees sign NDA (Non-disclosure agreement) that prevents them from sharing information with anyone from outside the company and it avoids sharing of company secrets, documents, processes that can used against the company. The differences are based on approaches by different organizations that have measures to protect data security, the way managers are a liability as they have access to secure information and if certain measures aren’t followed then it can be an exposure to the organization. “As more corporate resources become directly accessible through the computer, opportunities multiply for information systems professionals to misappropriate those resources. As a result, MIS managers increasingly find themselves forced to make difficult decisions involving ethics and standards of conduct — decisions that are further complicated by the absence of specific ethical guidelines.”
Organizations nowadays are having strict policies and measures in terms of ethical concerns pertaining to information management, training is provided which helps them to engage in learning about the conduct as well as learning to resolve issues when they arise. Workplace policies are based on the company’s mission statement and the philosophy they follow and help employees follow that code of conduct. These should be incorporated into a performance program of the employees so that they can be accountable, and which ensures that the policies are followed. Companies are assigning a supervisor who ensures the code of ethical conducts are followed and employee can contact the person and should feel free to confide to the assigned person as it makes them feel safe as well as ensure anonymity which provides them with comfort.
Employees should follow responsible conduct and should have a conscience to respect the privacy of others and shouldn’t use social media platforms to divulge such information as it leads to a breach of privacy. While hiring new employees, the background check is always done by a third-party company as that information isn’t completely shared with the hiring company to respect the person’s privacy, so that this information is not misused which will be illegal. We have various laws in place also to avoid any type of discrimination from happening when hiring companies come across individual’s personal information, an example of it is equal employment opportunity commission (EEOC) which prohibits companies to discriminate while employing individuals.
Conclusion
During the hiring process in any organization, we have various laws into place that prohibits companies to base their decision based on an applicant’s personal information. Such laws protect people and put in place characteristics and provisions that are identified as personal information of individuals and shouldn’t hinder his employment, the law has enforced from using this information during the employment process. Discrimination or bias of kind based on the personal characteristics of a person is illegal and a crime. Companies should also follow responsible conduct so as to enforce employees to have ethical behavior, as technology keeps on changing and developing laws tend to take time in changing to keep up with the technology, so companies need to comply with responsible behavior. We shouldn’t think that our actions are not breaking any law, but we should think if our actions are consciously incoherent with our nature this type of thinking reduces unethical issues from happening.
