Learning by Teaching a Class on Intergenerational Ethics — Lesson 11
November 24, 2009Daniel No Comments »A wise man once said to me, “People don’t do what you expect. People do what you inspect.”
This saying is relevant to the topic of discussion for Lesson 11– the ethics of privacy.
One of the readings dealt with the issue of companies monitoring their employees’ e-mails. How ethical/unethical you think this practice is depends largely on how much you think employees are “owned” while on the job.
Three fundamental definitions of privacy are that it is:
1) the right to be left alone
2) the right to control access to one’s personal information, and
3) the right to withhold certain facts from public knowledge.
Looking at these three definitions of privacy, it’s clear that managerial monitoring of e-mail is in violation of one’s privacy rights. Thus, the question is not whether the monitoring of employees’ e-mails infringes upon privacy rights. Rather, the question is whether employees are still in full possession of these rights when they are on the job.
If employees are “owned” while they are at work, then some of their fundamental rights are waived, and monitoring their email isn’t a big deal. But if employees are seen as individuals whose primary focus is work, but who are still in complete possession of all their fundamental rights while they are at work, then monitoring their email is a big deal.
Most of the senior citizens in the class have held positions as managers some time during their careers, and they had plenty of stories to tell about subordinates who did their very best to slack off on company time– unless someone was looking directly over their shoulders.
That wise man is right– people do what you inspect, not what you expect.
The senior citizens felt that companies should reserve the right to monitor their employees’ e-mails, but should not exercise that right unless they suspect that something criminal or fraudulent is going on. If you start routinely monitoring e-mails just to check up on your employees, it establishes a culture of mistrust. How great can an organization or company be when people don’t trust each other?
To monitor e-mails or not to monitor e-mails… I believe that it’s less about what you choose to do, and more about how you choose to do it. If you see people merely as a means to an end– a means to help you achieve your goals or earn more profits– I don’t think that anyone could ever fully trust you. But if you see people as an end in themselves, I’m pretty sure that even if you’re forced to monitor e-mails, you’ll do it in such a way that people know you still care about them.
“Always recognize that human individuals are ends, and do not use them as means to your end.” – Immanuel Kant
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