Ethics in Technology: Heroes Assemble!

Recognizing the importance of ethics in technology, the relevant strategy literature offers several anecdotal and prescriptive narratives to strengthen specific ethical concepts. The National Business Ethics Survey details employees have lost faith in the ethics of their management. Industry has an ethical crisis of massive proportion and because of this; companies like Enron toppled and taking both the livelihood and life savings of their employees. Corporate culture is engulfed with greed with no reasonable check and balance. A culture of "management only" exists where management defines the ethical rules, and those rules define their success. Ethics is for all employees, not just for management. To change this culture, employees must be educated in acceptable company practices that will not compromise personal morals, values, or the success of the company. As employees are promoted or required to make ethical decisions, ethics should be the basis of those decisions, therefore, ethical training should be required. Companies avoid ethics training due to concerns that ethically trained employees will undoubtedly raise questions about specific company policies and actions.