Black Friday has passed and now Cyber Monday is tomorrow. It has been projected that sales will far exceed Black Friday sales. Most cyber customers are not at home, but at work trying to capture great deals. These customers are using company resources for personnel benefit. Is this unethical? Not really, because my company allows limited use of the Internet for personal business. The problem arises when employees spend too much time on the computer taking away paid time from the employer.
Ethical behavior really has foundations early in our childhood whenour parents and caregivers teach us right from wrong. As early as the age of two or three, we can teach our children the importance of being truthful. Something as simple as telling a child not to eat cookies, yet when the parent leaves the room the child takes and eats a cookie anyway is a form of stealing. The child broke the household rule.
While thrift store shopping this weekend, as my daughter and I were about to check out, a woman frantically rushed into the store. She had tried a watch on and forgot to pay for it. She realized her mistake as she was packing her car. Although the watch was only $2.00, she displayed personal integrity, and I am glad my daughter was able to witness such honesty.
Ethical behavior should be established well before a person becomes employed. So when we get to the workplace, business ethics should be an extension of personal ethics. Information technology nowadays allows employees access to all types of information while at work. There is always a temptation to use computers for private business.
Each year our company requires the annual training, to insure employees are in line with company guidelines. Awareness training is important because it addresses issues of intellectual property rights, customer and employee privacy, security of company records and more. Which reminds me: I need to complete my training for FY2011.
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