The world has experienced tremendous and uncontrollable growth in technology. New technological innovations are being introduced into the market on a daily basis. The introduction has led to the adoption and automation of many processes in the work places as technology infiltrates into the processes of the organization. The adoption has come with its challenges and many employees in the workplaces are now using the technology unethically.
In my role as an administrative assistance in my previous workplace, I encountered numerous instances that can be termed as unethical uses of technology. In this regard, the most unethical use of technology I handled daily was the surfing the internet during work hours. Many employees in the workplace would surf the internet and use it for their fulfillment during the official working hours. This inhibited them from working appropriately as they may not be quick enough to attend to clients. Moreover, accessing some sites on the internet in the workplaces may cause distraction, and this may lead to lack of proper customer service.
The role of technology in an organization is to ease the backlog of work and make it convenient, quick and easy for people to work. In my organization, the software that serves the customers is web-enabled and has to use the internet to function. The use of internet permits workers to gain access to other sites that they prefer. With this knowledge, workers often used the technology installed to surf to those sites and abandon their core objective which is to give service to clients.
I commit to memory an instance where I found an employee using the internet to shop and watch pornography during the official working hours. I had noticed that his speed in customer service in that particular day had declined, and I wanted to establish the reason with certainty why she was slow. No sooner had I gone to his desk than I noticed that he had numerous tabs on his browser. She was using some to shop on the internet platforms, one on social media and another one on a pornographicwebsite. I questioned him and asked him why he was practicing unethical use of internet even after rigorous training and seminars about what is right and should be done in the work places. Such an act could not be tolerated as it was unethical. In addition, the employee was robbing the organization both in terms of money and goodwill. With this in mind, I forwarded his name to the human resources officer who disciplined him accordingly.
According to the moral codes of ethics that all employees in the organization should adhere to, personal internet surfing is allowed one hour after normal working hours. Any other time is prohibited as it has a direct impact on the performance of employees. This particular employee had broken this code, and this made him liable to punishment. The use of internet as a component of technology during working hours is considered unethical. The corporate ethical code of the organization stated categorically that the internet could not be used for personal reasons. It prohibited employees from watching any pornographic content during working hours. In this regard, therefore, she was acting in violation of the corporate code, and this made it necessary for her to get punished. The six-step process of an ethical framework was carefully considered in this unethical use of technology. I managed to get the employee surfing the internet. The human resources officer, the employee and I reviewed the code of ethics to ascertain without doubt that she had acted in violation of the same. Possible solutions were advanced, and one practical solution identified. The action taken was to suspend the employee, and I was tasked with limiting access to specific sites before working hours are over to bar any other unethical use of technology. The evaluation and outcome of the action taken were done, and the results were positive.
Works Cited
Elizabeth, Sarah. "Five Unethical Uses of Computers." eHow (2014): 1-4.
Shannex. The six Step Process. 3 October 2014. 3 October 2014 <http://shannex.com/ethics-six-step-ethical-framework.html>.
Threeton, Mark D. "Ethical use of Technology in the Workplace." The Pennsylvania State University (2014): 1-10.
