Ethics and Technology
Work environments require careful attention to both many aspects. Two of those aspects are technology and ethics. Although the two topics may not seem related, ethics is directly involved with technology. . In a study conducted by ICR (International Communications Research) on behalf of the American Society of Chartered Life Underwriters and Chartered Financial Consultants and the Ethics Officer Association, it was revealed that nearly half of American workers engaged in an unethical act as a result of technology in the workplace. While most people feel that the use of the latest technology is a great improvement and advances business, some also feel that new technology places added pressure on them from a number of sources. Examples of these factors are increased productivity expectations, the continual need to update technology, less lenience for errors or co-workers who are not as technologically savvy, fear of losing data, and the overload of information. Thus, they are acting less ethically in the workplace. (USA Today, 1999)
In most corporate companies, employees are now required to sign a confidentiality waiver, forbidding them to transmit customer information via email or fax, unless the receiving source has been fully verified. Particularly in customer service settings, it is imperative that representatives fully verify who they are speaking to on the phone. Representatives are requires to ask numerous amounts of questions to verify identities, such as social security numbers, addresses, telephone numbers, mother’s maiden name, passwords, account numbers and other specific account information. Forgetting to verify all pieces of information can result in written or verbal warnings or in some cases, termination. Many companies have re ...