Ethics and technology: contemporary issues and implications

Ethics and Technology: Questions

What factors would you weigh in deciding whether to employ offshore outsourcing on a project? Is there any way to regulate offshore outsourcing? If there were, would this be desirable?

The most obvious benefit to outsourcing is that of cost: the cost of labor in many other nations is cheaper than in the U.S. So are certain materials, depending on the nature of the project. However, what is gained in cost may be sacrificed in quality control. This can result in fewer customers purchasing the product. For example, outsourcing component parts to a nation with lower safety standards can generate outrage if consumers discover that the product may pose a health hazard, especially to children (as was the case with Mattel toys with component parts manufactured in China). Even outsourcing customer service to a technologically literate nation such as India can be difficult if the call center operators are not fluent in English. The cultural and physical distance between customers and operators can also make communication difficult, and create a bad impression of the product.

Regulation of offshore outsourcing can prove difficult, unless there are explicit treaties between nations -- the only regulations that can be imposed upon products are that item sold in the U.S. must meet U.S. standards. But if it were possible, ensuring minimally safe requirements and livable wages for workers abroad would be a positive improvement, as by offering competitive salaries, local industries would have to compete at a higher wage scale.

Q2: Which steps of the whistle-blowing process are most important? Why? Why are there no comprehensive laws at the federal level to protect whistle-blowers?

The most important step of the whistle-blowing process is the first step, namely encouraging individuals to 'blow the cover' of an organization in which they have made a major personal and emotional investment. Identifying that something is 'wrong' in terms of the way an unethical organization does business in the first place can be difficult when someone has an entirely insider's perspective. However, even after information is given, quite often existing regulatory structures outside as well as inside of the organization have trouble processing the information in an effective way to enact change. Creating reporting agencies that know how to deal with such information in a proactive manner is necessary, rather than relying upon the media to publicize the negative information.

The lack of protective legislation is another problem. However, there is often great difficulty in generating legislative and popular support for protections to be accorded to whistle-blowers. Historically, many whistleblowers are like Daniel Ellsberg, who revealed the true nature of the war in Vietnam to the American public -- they have embarrassed organizations or companies with powerful interests in Congress. Other whistleblowers seem to have mixed motives for doing so, like whistle-blowing executives who testify against a corporation solely to protect their own skins in light of a coming financial debacle or ethical scandal.

Q3: What impact has it had on the standard of living and worker productivity?