Survey says technology creating ethical dilemmas

According to a recent study of ethics and technology in the workplace, technology is, on the one hand, an enabling and liberating addition, but also the source of a growing bundle of ethical contradictions.

These are some of the findings of the 2001 Technology & Ethics Survey sponsored by the Society of Financial Service Professionals, an organization of nearly 30,000 financial and insurance advisers. According to an SFSP news release, the survey collected data online from 1,130 qualified respondents. To be eligible, re-spondents had to be users of a desktop or laptop computer and users of e-mail or the World Wide Web for business purposes, whether working at home, on the road, in a traditional office or in some combination of these settings.

Ethics and behavior

The survey also found that the values and attitudes that inform employees' sense of ethics are not always powerful enough to direct behavior, especially when it comes to the use and abuse of information technology in the workplace.

The survey stated that almost two-thirds (65 percent) of employees admitted to abusing the privilege of having access to technology in the workplace, while 84 percent said they had seen at least one case of abuse by a co-worker in the past year.

The top abuses reported among users were: personal Web surfing or shopping at work (68 percent by a co-worker; 41 percent personally); using company e-mail for personal reasons (67 percent by a co-worker; 39 percent personally) and playing computer games during work hours (65 percent by a co-worker; 34 percent personally).

While relatively few workers consider either of the top two offenses to be un-ethical, virtually no one considers these behaviors as ethical either. Such behavior is not expected to disappear from the workplace anytime soon.

Serious violations

Most technology users could not agree on the ethical implications of certain offenses, most notably using company e-mail for personal reasons.

An overwhelming majority, however, believed that the following are serious ethical violations and do not engage in these behaviors:

sabotaging systems/data of a former employee;

sharing company information with outsiders;

listening to a private cellular phone conversation;

visiting pornographic Web sites while at work;

exchanging vulgar or offensive e-mail messages; and

accessing private computer files without permission.

Not surprisingly, older workers (age 50 and above) and women set a higher standard, as they are less likely to engage in abuses and more likely to find them highly unethical.

Challenges

The survey determined that ethical challenges related to technology will most likely be felt in industries replacing older workers with college-educated, technology-savvy workers who are comfortable with sending vulgar or offensive e-mail messages, copying the company's software for personal use or using the company's technology resources to search for new jobs.

The study also found that male workers under age 35 and those who work in middle market companies, are the most common abusers of technology in the workplace. The middle-market environment may be ripe for abuse since it lacks the intimacy of a small company and the controls of a larger company.

"The survey suggests that employers don't need to be concerned about serious ethical infractions such as the abuse of company data or sabotage of systems. However, they need to establish clear standards for Internet use in the workplace, especially in industries with younger workers," said Asha P. Williams, vice president of marketing and communications for the Society.

He added, "On the other hand, with the lines between work and personal time blurring because of technology, employers may choose to be more tolerant of personal use of the Internet at work, on the assumption that employees are equally likely to handle job-related tasks on their personal time."

Positive trends

The survey also revealed several positive trends: Nearly four out of five (78 percent) American workers who rely on information technology are "more comfortable" today than they were five years ago, and almost half (45 percent) say that this is true compared to even a year ago. In addition, users overwhelmingly say that technology expands both the scope of what they can accomplish (90 percent) and their job-related knowledge (87 percent).

The survey is the fourth in a research series sponsored by the Society of Financial Service Professionals.

Complete results can be found on the Society's Web site at www.financialpro.org.