Ethics in Organizations: Employee Privacy Rights Analysis - Ethics

This assignment delves into the ethical considerations surrounding employee privacy within organizations. The student's analysis aligns with the belief that privacy rights are essential for employees. The student explores privacy from several ethical viewpoints, including utilitarianism, which links privacy to democracy and personal morality, and argues for its role in societal stability and employee autonomy. The deontological perspective is also considered, emphasizing the importance of privacy for individual freedom and the right to make choices. Furthermore, the social contract theory is invoked to highlight how privacy is crucial for human dignity and the public interest, allowing employees to define the boundaries of privacy invasion. The analysis references relevant academic sources to support the arguments, providing a comprehensive understanding of employee privacy rights in the workplace.

ETHICS IN ORGANIZATION
PRIVACY
STUDENT ID:
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ETHICS IN ORGANIZATIONS
Question 2
My group is in agreement with the privacy rights of the employees. The statement in general
along with employee privacy rights in particular has been analysed from various ethical
viewpoints as shown below.
One of the key viewpoints in this regards is utilitarianism. Privacy can be justified from an
utilitarian point of view as the presence of privacy can be linked to numerous other values.
One of these is democracy which is enabled only through a private ballot. It also encourages
personal morality whereby we can make private confessions to ourselves and thus distinguish
the wrong from the right. Further, privacy is critical in maintaining stability in the society, In
the lack of privacy, all the various actions and views of a given individual would be open to
public scrutiny which essentially would lead to weakening of social norms as our public
behaviour is quite different from private behaviour. Our privacy allows us that freedom and
that space where individuals can cater to their own personal views and desires which may be
at loggerheads with the acceptable social norms (Rosenzweig, 2014). With regards to
privacy of employee also, it ensures that employee is able to indulge in activities and
viewpoints which the employer or the corporate culture may not endorse. Further, invasion
of privacy may lead to discrimination on the basis of attributes which are not related to
performance at work. Hence, from the utilitarian viewpoint privacy as a right in general and
for employees is justified.
From the deontological perspective also, privacy is justified as it provided an individual with
the freedom of what he/she wishes to share with the public and what they consider to be
private. This is an essential attribute for life. This is required since there are certain acts and
viewpoints which are not in conformity with the social norms of the day. Further, individual
right to life and freedom of choice cannot be ensured in the lack of privacy (Park, 2000). For
instance, a person concerned may be gay or lesbian and hence would prefer to keep their
sexual preference a private affair. This discretion is imperative for employees or else the
impression about them would be heavily influenced based on their private information rather
than their performance at work. A person who may have a troubled personal life may be quite
successful in professional life and hence if privacy of employees is violated, their freedom to
make choices would no longer be intact and also the employer may be driven by personal
attribute considerations which would result in loss of productivity.

ETHICS IN ORGANIZATIONS
The social contract theory is rooted in the belief that there is existence of the state along with
the political system so as to ensure the general public interest. Privacy is critical for human
dignity and violation of the same is not in the public interest. Further, the social contract
theory provides people the right to agree voluntarily on the extent of privacy invasion where
it is considered functional (Al-Rodhan, 2014). This also extends to employees where the
incidents of corporate espionage are on the rise but the employees have the right which is
enabled through political means to draw the line where the privacy rights cannot be infringed
on.
References
Park, J. (2000). A Critical Study of Kant's Ethical Theory : On the Fundamental Principle Of
Moral Metaphysic, 12(2), 79
Al-Rodhan, N. (2014, September 16), The Social Contract 2.0. Harvard International,
Retrieved on September 4, 2017 from http://hir.harvard.edu/article/?a=7327
Rosenzweig, P. (2014, November 12), Privacy as a Utilitarian Value, LawFare Blog,
Retrieved on September 4, 2017 from https://www.lawfareblog.com/privacy-
utilitarian-value