Ethics & Technology | Compare the employer and employee positions on electronic monitoring at the workplace

Compare the employer and employee positions on electronic monitoring at the workplace.

As an employee of an organization, your productivity during your time at work represents the performance portion of the pay-for-performance contract you entered into with the company when hired you. Therefore, your actions during that time are at the discretion of the company. The organization has an obligation to its stakeholders to operate as efficiently as possible, and to do so it must ensure that its company resources are not misused. From an employee's viewpoint, his or her contract should not intrude upon his or her civil rights as an individual. As such, employees should be notified of any electronic monitoring and its purpose. Electronic monitoring also implies that employees cannot be trusted, which raises the question: Why did the company hire that employee?



Source: Ghillyer_Business Ethics A Real World Approach 2e

CSR | Corporate Social Responsibility | Key Terms

Key Terms - Corporate Social Responsibility

Altruistic CSR:  Organizations take a philanthropic approach by underwriting specific initiatives to give back to the company’s local community or to designated national or international programs.

Corporate Citizenship:  An alternative term for corporate social responsibility, implying that the organization is a responsible citizen in meeting all its obligations.

Corporate Conscience:  An alternative term for corporate social responsibility, implying that the organization is a responsible citizen in meeting all its obligations.

Corporate Social Responsibility:  The actions of an organization that are targeted toward achieving a social benefit over and above maximizing profits for its shareholders and meeting all its legal obligations.

Ethical CSR:  Organizations pursue a clearly defined sense of social conscience in managing their financial responsibilities to shareholders, their legal responsibilities to their local community and society as a whole, and their ethical responsibilities to “do the right thing” for all their stakeholders.

Instrumental Approach:  The perspective that the only obligations of a corporation is to maximize profits for its shareholders in providing goods and services that meet the needs of its customers.

Social Contract Approach:  The perspective that a corporation has an obligation to society over and above the expectations of its shareholders.

Strategic CSR:  Philanthropic activities are targeted toward programs that will generate the most positive publicity or goodwill for the organization.


Source: Ghillyer_Business Ethics A Real World Approach 2e

CSR | Corporate Social Responsibility – Social contract approach

Social contract approach

Social contract approach is the perspective that a corporation has an obligation to society over and above the expectations of its shareholders.

Prior years, the primary focus of the social contract was an economic one, assuming that continued economic growth would bring an equal advancement in the quality of life.

The modern social contract approach argues that since the corporation depends on society for its existence and continued growth, there is an obligation for the corporation to meet the demands of that society rather than just the demands of a targeted group of customers.


Source: Ghillyer_Business Ethics A Real World Approach 2e