BUSINESS ETHICS

Week 7 Assignment

Business Ethics

WEEK 7

Distinguish between thin and thick consent

Thin consent is a situation where a worker receives official notification at the hiring time or during employment that their web and email shall be monitored. It makes it apparent that employment shall abide them by following this monitoring. In this kind of consent, the employee has little choice like monitoring emails and computers. In other words, there are 2 alternatives - agree to the monitoring or 'pursue different employment openings'. A classic example is where jobs are hard to come by.

Thick consent is when a worker has an alternate to acceptable monitoring. This occurs during the time jobs are abundant and it would be easier to find one. When jobs are many and the worker would have no problem in finding the other position, then the staff has a realistic alternate if she or he finds monitoring policy not acceptable, and consent can be categorized as thick. A classic example is where an employee is trying to find an alternative position in the firm.

Using company blackberry to answer work related calls and emails at any time, day or night

Yes, you are obligated to a certain degree. You have the responsibility of answering work related emails and calls during firm’s hours of operation and also during the day. However, you are not obligated if you are being in the mid night. Based on this, the next time you are obligated to pick blackberry call or respond to an email at night consider whether you have a right to claim an overtime. Also, any employer calling or sending emails mid or late night to employees might get more than he or she bargained for. Employers and employees must know that responding to e-mails or calls counts as job and is likely to lead to right to overtime payment.

Several firms issue out smartphones, blackberries and other devices without considering whether specific staffs need them and without executing policies concerning when they are supposed to check their e-mail. The outcome is that staffs have belief that they are supposed to respond to calls, messages or emails when off duty, which may expose some of the employers to overtime claims (The Globe and Mail, 2014). Having a clearly conscripted policy concerning use of blackberries shall clarify the duties of both parties. Apparently, these policies shall differ depending on the nature of the position, however if continuously followed, the policy can be effectual equipment to dispute the allegation that workers were supposed to respond.

Different from the common belief, right to overtime payment has nothing to do with how an employee is paid; salaried workers have right to overtime payment or off time in lieu thereof. Certain classes of employees are exempted; however, the exceptions are based on job responsibilities, with the most common being that of supervisors or managers. The title of the person does not matter- it is the nature of their responsibilities that counts (The Globe and Mail, 2014). For instance, a supervisor who regularly engages in non-supervisory work shall have right to claim overtime.

For staffs who work sporadic hours, employers must take into consideration executing averaging agreements. These agreements permit the employer to average a specific worker’s hours of job over a period of many weeks for purposes of calculating overtime payment.

Overtime is a must. A worker cannot be compelled to work overtime apart from the rarest situations. Equally, if a staff works overtime, even without authorization, they have right to be compensated for work done (The Globe and Mail, 2014). The employer is not supposed to decline to pay for the reason that overtime was not official or approved. Nevertheless, if a policy needed approval for overtime then the employer could punish the worker for violating that policy, which must discourage workers from abusing the circumstance.

Even if the employer obeys the law, liability might still appear if the employer makes undue to extreme demands of their employees. It is likely also to become a matter worthy of unexpected damages (The Globe and Mail, 2014).

Usage of Blackberry for personal calls and emails

No, I would not use the new blackberry for personal emails and calls because I would have my own cellphone which I would for personal emails and calls. Some of the reasons I would not use blackberry for personal emails and calls include the following: first I would be exposed and vulnerable to many threats. We live in the globe that is connected to the internet in almost every aspect, and in this globe information is paramount. As such, using company blackberry for my personal use means my private information will be under constant threat from pranksters, scammers and hackers and anything I put into the phone risks being used by the company and any wrong person who might access it given the fact that company software is integrated (Cheng, 2019). With several risks in the world, I would not risk to expose my self by advertising my personal information to the company and third party.

Secondly, I would not use blackberry because I will be prone to robocalls and emails. If I use company blackberry for personal purpose, chances are I will have infuriating experiences of dealing with automated calls. Apart from affecting my quality life, robocalls serve as a took for telemarketing frauds leading losses. Due to the fact that the company uses the same new blackberry to reach different clients from different backgrounds, chances are clients who are not genuine will try to access or send scams to my email (Cheng, 2019). The scams might appear authentic and immediately after my call line is marked as hot, it will be exploited later.

Furthermore, my communication abilities will be severely limited. If there are opportunities such as increasing call-processing capabilities, I might find it difficult to do if I am using blackberry for my personal work. It might similarly be too late to change to personal or professional solution. Also, it is not possible to control the interaction between employee and customer. If the I use company’s blackberry as personal phone it will be difficult to differentiate between personal and clients’ calls and emails. It is significant to trace all of the company’s business activities: customer service, sales and logistics (Cheng, 2019). When a customer interacts with the firm through personal number and email, it means I will not know how regularly and when employers speak to my clients and how to deal with discussions.

Lastly, using company blackberry will compromise my privacy and interrupts work-life balance. Being accessed easily by customers is a perfect aspect. It is prudent to answer calls promptly during business hours; however, clients should not be able to reach me using personal line or email because it subjugates work-life balance (The Globe and Mail, 2014).

Ethical ramifications of recent technological advances

Ethical and regulatory challenges- the global economic forum listed some of the ten emerging technologies of 2015 which encompasses those that target to solve most of the ethical issues posed by the previous generation of technologies while others will bring about new regulatory and ethical challenges. The idea of emerging technology does not essentially mean that all those technologies are revolutionary or new by themselves (Al-Rodhan, 2015). Some have been existing; however, they are currently changing to a new phase, becoming more integrated in consumer products.

Precise genetic engineering techniques will solve most of the controversial elements in the GMO discussion, for instance, the fact that genetic engineering was predictable nor precise. A precise technique that would attain greater accurateness as well as greater expectedness over genetic transformations is, a net enhancement on modern GMOs (Al-Rodhan, 2015). It is, nevertheless, crucial that this method is appropriately studied and executed in a sustainable manner and that it does not just give transformed legality to genetic business in agriculture. More accurateness is similarly supposed to be in the process of drones with the adaptation of the sense and avoid equipment. This shall have clear security assistances, thus avoiding impacts or crashes of drones with other drones or piloted systems.

The crucial side-shoot of this invention is that it will encourage and permit the operation of many drones, an expansion which can be both received and expected, as the growth in dangerous drone flights around inhabited areas seems to be evolving ahead of regulations.

Robots as intelligent as humans- new generation robots shall gradually have more independence and capacity to react devoid of pre-programming, which complicates all present discussion on robotics, the reliance and trust invested in robot shall have to be greater, bringing the world to the point of being robots. This is amongst the most groundbreaking developments in artificial intelligence in computing power. Impersonating the workings of the human brain, a neuro-inspired computer would work the same way as synapses and neurons communicate, and possibly be capable of learning or developing memory (Al-Rodhan, 2015). This would suggest that, for example a drone fortified with a neuromorphic chip would be better at investigation, recognizing or remembering new elements in the atmosphere. Nevertheless, immediate ethical problems arise: building neuromorphic tools would make machineries as intellectual as human beings, the most intelligent and superior species in the world. Those technologies demonstrate of human brilliance yet computers that believe could be overwhelming for our species.

LRN CORPORATION

Function of LRN corporation

Currently, many firms are grabbing the opportunity to go past managing risks. As such, LRN corporation is assisting these companies to reinvent their businesses via ethical standards and compliance. By coalescing values-based education, expert advisory as well as rich insights services into innovative, wide-ranging solutions, the company can assist in elevating behavior and the bottom line for any firm (The LRN Solution, 2019).

Five core values of the LRN culture

LRN’s core values include the following: integrity, passion, humility and truth. These elements play a critical role and consist of the company DNA. They are criterions of what the corporation wishes to be and first reference points when making behavioral choices or business decisions. In many applications and combinations, they are the basis for the company’s leadership framework and the kind of leader it defines. Core values are described as follows:

Humility- the company believe that achieving sustainable excellence is based on humility, which permits the company to collaborate, reinvent and self-evaluate. The company believes that humility leads not to weakness but strength (The LRN Solution, 2019). No matter what standards the company attains or how much it prides, the workforce take in what they do, as such arrogance is not for the company.

Integrity- the workforce believes in maintaining integrity in its dealings, according to ethical standards as well as shared company values, is the ultimate propeller of performance and productivity. For the company, integrity is the firm application of ethical standards. It is a continuous, reliable demonstration of the company’s value throughout its work.

Passion- the company believe that success occur due to the passionate pursuit of significant and meaningful goal. The stakeholders are intensely committed to the company’s mission, and they pursue that mission with unwavering conviction and energy.

Truth- the company believes truth is the basis for trust and trust drives progress and productivity. Nothing is worth pursuing if it is not authentic and truthful.

The purpose of the LRN-RAND Center for Corporate Ethics, Law and Governance

The stated purpose of the LRN-RAND Center for Corporate Ethics, Law and Governance is committed to create an effective company ethics, law as well as governance. With the backing of private segment like Goldman Sachs, the Center focusses on improving public policy and corporate ethics through empirical research, analysis of issues related to company ethics, governance and law (The LRN Solution, 2019).

References

Al-Rodhan, N. (2015, March 4). What are the ethical implications of emerging tech? Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/03/what-are-the-ethical-implications-of-emerging-tech/

Cheng. (2019). So You Want to Use Your iPhone for Work? Uh-oh. Retrieved from The Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704641604576255223445021138

The Globe and Mail. (2014, March 24). Answering e-mails after hours? You could be entitled to overtime. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/career-advice/answering-e-mails-after-hours-you-could-be-entitled-to-overtime/article17643533/

The LRN Solution. (2019). Retrieved from https://lrn.com/