Topic 4: Ethical issues of social media in the workplace
As we are now young adults, hoping to enter the ‘real world’ of business in few years to come on. Some of us might even have secured a job or an internship this summer. We need to start behaving like ethical employees, so it is good to THINK before you post in the workplace (Think has been capitalized for a reason. Keep reading…)
Below is a poster that I have created [1]. “Before you post THINK”.
One of the ethical issues raised by business use of social media that is particularly significant is that of integrity risk. When an employee makes use of social media wrongly whether from the company’s account or their personal account, it can lead to the exposure of integrity risk.
“While the decision to post videos, pictures, thoughts, experiences, and observations to social networking sites is personal, a single act can create far-reaching ethical consequences for individuals as well as organisations [2]”
There have been lots of stories about employees losing their jobs because of what they have posted online for example the infamous tweet of Justine Sacco [3] costs her to lose her job and pretty much everything. Another funny one was about how an individual was denied a job due to his activities posted online 20 years previously [4]. Indeed the inability to control the use of social media can lead to lots of ethical issues as a UK survey found bullying and harassment and discrimination were two of the top five risks of social media for the workplace [5]. Below is a comic social media in the work place video [6].
So companies can decide to monitor employee’s use of social media but will it even help? As employees might think their freedom of speech is been limited. But I think training employees on ethical use of social media might help, however it can be costly. To address the ethical issues raised by business use of social media, we all need to fully assess the risks and be aware of the challenges perhaps through guidance and policy implementation. Employers and employees need to realise the consequences of their action. We all should be mindful of The Golden Rule or ethic of reciprocity [7] which is a maxim, ethical code or morality that essentially states either of the following: One should treat others, as one would like others to treat oneself. One should not treat others in ways that one would not like to be treated.
References:
[1] Idea from: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Think-Before-You-Post-Classroom-Poster-Yellow-845499
[2] Deloitte, Social Networking and Reputational Risk in the Workplace, 2009
[4] Social media monitoring raises disturbing questions: An Ethikos interview with Kansas State‟s Diane Swanson, Ethikos, September/October 2011, pp.7-9
[5] DLA Piper, Op cit, pp.7
[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UngGoZjr_cw
[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule
