Technology and Ethics Companies and Corporations Around

Technology and Ethics Companies and corporations around the globe are utilizing ever-expanding technology to help set and manage ethical standards and guidelines within the workplace. Additionally, utilizing such technology can help to shape the type of work environment or work culture that a company hopes to promote.

In embracing technology and its capacity to work in conjunction with maintaining ethical standards within the workplace, company higher-ups and human resources are able to better perform the functions of their work that unify company culture into one that is representative of their respective mission statements. How Do Companies Utilize Technology to Set and Manage Ethics? There are a variety of ways that companies utilize technology to set and manage ethics within the workplace.

Some businesses utilize technological services that monitor employee phone calls, email, and Internet use in a manner that embraces the ideal of zero tolerance when it comes to obscenities or inappropriate language or content within the office.

For instance, communication systems within an office may be hooked up through a network administrator base, set up to ensure that should such coarse language be used or inappropriate content viewed or exchanged, the respective employee who is at fault will be pointed out within the context of the company and therefore face reprimanding from a higher-up or possible firing.

In communicating the presence of such features to employees rather than utilizing the mentality that it is more efficient to "catch someone in the act," companies are able to foster an environment for ethical consideration and growth within an office. In utilizing such technological services to manage ethics, companies are simultaneously creating a set of ethics within the workplace that the company wishes to adhere to.

In understanding from the beginning that technological tools have been set up within an office, employees understand from the beginning of their employment in these companies that the ethical standards of the office are above all else when it comes to how the company operates. While initially, this type of technological management of ethics can be viewed as a "big brother" system within the workplace, eventually such devices become not only commonplace, but the standard to which employees work to abide by.

In a recent study, it was found that prior beliefs and ethical orientation interact to affect employees' reactions to monitoring systems within the workplace, which is less of a problem when ethical standards are specifically set and directly communicated to these employees at the time of their hiring (Alder, Kuenzi, Noel and Schminke, 2010, p. 481). Ethics Shaping Work Environment and Culture When ethical standards are made to be the lynchpin within a functioning corporation or company setting, these ethical standards serve as a solid unifier within the company.

Ethical standards are often set at the top of any company, with executives determining the basis for ethical standards within the office. After the creation of these standards, these ethics begin a trickle-down from executives to employees, unifying the company into a cohesive body that is respectful of a standard set in place within the office. One of the most important aspects of how ethics shape work environment and culture comes in the manner in which ethically-abiding employees interact with their customers and clients.

So often, the media is filled with news pieces centering on the deception of customers and clients by unethical and greedy corporate leaders and businesses. Under these circumstances, companies are not afforded the leeway they once were to slip up, as clients who question the ethical standards of a company they are dealing with will undeniably jump to take their business elsewhere. However, as quickly as negative press about a company spreads, so does positive press.

Word of mouth as to the standard of business within a company allows prospective clients to understand fully the environment in which they are taking part. A company that maintains ethical standards within the workplace and extends these standards into their dealings with company outsiders will afford all individuals they come in contact with a sense of comfort and certainty that is needed to keep an office fully functional and keep clients and prospective clients happy.

Technology in Human Resources Technology in the office has taken the functions of a company's human resources division to unparalleled levels of efficiency that were impossible in years passed. Before the implementation of technological functions within offices around the world, human resources, like so many other areas of the office, were bogged down by extensive paperwork.

Issues raised to human resources, as well as complaints lodged, or even questions posed to management were dealt with in a manner that involved the setting-up of an appointment, extensive notes taken as to what was discussed in the context of a meeting or communication, and slow turnover. In offices that functioned in this capacity, employee frustration remained high as issues were not -- and could not -- be addressed with the timeliness that technology affords.

Computers alone have allowed organizations to capture, analyze, and share information from anywhere in the world twenty-four hours a day in order to foster significant changes in their organizational processes, decision-making capabilities, and organizational design, increasing efficiency within a company exponentially (Andrews and Herschel, 2007, p. 1). Today, with the presence of technology in the field of human resources, issues that would once take days or weeks to sort through are now more organized, better documented, and therefore far easier to process and move on from within a company. Where.