Ethics assignment 2: email forwarding
In Case A, the issue is two fold. First, it is unclear whether by sending an email with sensitive information to a representative, that the client intends to forfeit his/her right to privacy. The client may have given the informatin freely, acknowledging that it may be used and rerouted within the company. The second issue is whether the company should do so, even with permission.
It is, realistically, very helpful to provide the necessary information about the account to solve whatever issue has come up. It would be quite a hassle to solve problems without specific(but necessary) information. However, both of the mentioned issues can be solved with proper communication between the company and the client. A way to accomplish this is for the company to include a disclaimer stating that any information sent may be shared within the company. As an extra precaution, the reprisentative should re-iterate this policy before forwarding the email, and await permission to redistribute the informatino prior to doing so. If this were company policy, the client could expect that their right to privacy would be respected, but that they could waive that right in the event that their account infomation can help solve their problem.
Case B involves the same ideas that have been facing the office environment since the advent of the internet. Writing personal comments about an employee and forwarding it can indeed compromise a business relationship because it may be a sort of public slander. Generally, it is unacceptable to spread gossip about a person in the workplace. In confidence and between two employees, however, such actions are unaviodable. The question that should e asked is whether it would be acceptable to say the personal comments in person, in the company involved. Or, if the person pressing the Reply button would also be willing to send the same message to all recipients via interoffice mail. The act itself is not improper, unless what is said in the message is improper by any other standards (i.e. verbal and written communications).
These two situations are weakly related. They both involve e-mail ettiquitte and privacy, but the first is a question of communication between client and employee, while the second is a question of ethical behavior towards others. Both cases do, however, have potential to become serious problems, and should be approached with caution.
The Reply and Forward functions of an email certainly create a less personal method of communication. Being somewhat removed from the confrontation of such communications makes it easier to accidentally slip something we wouldn't otherwise do. Companies should therefore enact policies that would observe the same rules as other communications methods. For this reason, employees must note that email communication may feel more benign than other forms of communication, but it is no less "real".
It is, realistically, very helpful to provide the necessary information about the account to solve whatever issue has come up. It would be quite a hassle to solve problems without specific(but necessary) information. However, both of the mentioned issues can be solved with proper communication between the company and the client. A way to accomplish this is for the company to include a disclaimer stating that any information sent may be shared within the company. As an extra precaution, the reprisentative should re-iterate this policy before forwarding the email, and await permission to redistribute the informatino prior to doing so. If this were company policy, the client could expect that their right to privacy would be respected, but that they could waive that right in the event that their account infomation can help solve their problem.
Case B involves the same ideas that have been facing the office environment since the advent of the internet. Writing personal comments about an employee and forwarding it can indeed compromise a business relationship because it may be a sort of public slander. Generally, it is unacceptable to spread gossip about a person in the workplace. In confidence and between two employees, however, such actions are unaviodable. The question that should e asked is whether it would be acceptable to say the personal comments in person, in the company involved. Or, if the person pressing the Reply button would also be willing to send the same message to all recipients via interoffice mail. The act itself is not improper, unless what is said in the message is improper by any other standards (i.e. verbal and written communications).
These two situations are weakly related. They both involve e-mail ettiquitte and privacy, but the first is a question of communication between client and employee, while the second is a question of ethical behavior towards others. Both cases do, however, have potential to become serious problems, and should be approached with caution.
The Reply and Forward functions of an email certainly create a less personal method of communication. Being somewhat removed from the confrontation of such communications makes it easier to accidentally slip something we wouldn't otherwise do. Companies should therefore enact policies that would observe the same rules as other communications methods. For this reason, employees must note that email communication may feel more benign than other forms of communication, but it is no less "real".
posted by Aureliano at 5:37 PM
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