Question 1
Employees have a right to free speech when they are both at work and when they are not at work. This is provided by the constitution which grants them individual rights and liberties. Freedom of speech is one of the constitutional rights that employees have. Their employers do not have any right to infringe upon the freedom of speech among their employees because both the employees and the employers are equal before the law. Employees also have the right to privacy and should therefore not be monitored when they are off work. This is both a legal and ethical issue.
Question 2
Employees have the right to criticize their employers. However, their criticism on the employer should be constructive. Critics that are based on the internal matters of an organization and personal issues regarding their managers should not be channeled via the internet. Other protocol such as the use of suggestion boxes should be used to channel criticisms to the employer. Using the social network to criticize employers and managers threatens the privacy of these parties and can lead to the tarnish of the reputation of these individuals. This makes it an ethical issue.
Question 3
When employees come across criticisms against them via social network, they should first of all note that there are things that have to be mended between them and their employers. In terms of ethics, the managers should respond by asking the affected persons to channel their criticisms via ideal channels that do not tarnish the reputation of the employers. Employers should let their employers know that channeling criticisms through the social media does not only affect the targeted parties but also organizations as a whole. This would mean that the reputation of a given company organization would be tarnished as result of negative criticisms staged against employers. Therefore, the principle of harmonization and understanding should be a key ethical approach that employers should consider in this scenario.
