Ethical Issues Flashcards
What is whistle blowing?
Whistle blowing is when someone who reports employer’s misconduct.
Who can be a whistle blower?
Any with evidence of corporate fraud or misconduct can be a whistleblower.
A short news story example of whistle blowing.
A NHS employee was suspended by the Royal Wolverhampton NHS because she raised concerns about hospital records and finances.
What is the impact of whistle blowing towards a business?
The main impacts whistle blowing has towards a business are trust issues, retaliation and organisational reprecussions. If two groups within the business such as managers and employees have trust issues, then tension rises between the groups causing difficulty when communicating.
Whistle blowers may face hostility from peers and supervisors discouraging them to report the misconduct.
It will also create bad publicity for the organisation and employees in the business will be affected even if they had nothing to do with the misconducts. This could cause discomfort and leading to people changing jobs.
What does the equality act state?
Under the equality act, it is illegal to discriminate against anyone of disability, gender, race/sexuality.
Information on disability issues in a business
Employers have to think about what is the moral and ethical thing to do when they have employees with disabilities. An example would be to have ramps installed to allow disabled staff get up or down from a level.
What does the data protection act state towards the use of information in a business?
The data protection act states that it is illegal to use customer/client or staff information for any other purpose that for which is was given or collected for.
Give one way a business would be breaking the the data protection act?
A business could break the data protection act by collecting unnecessary information and data about its customers/clients and/or staff.
What is a code of practice?
A code of practice is a set of rules employers make for employees to follow.
Why is a code of practice needed?
Employers create codes of practice to ensure their staff are not doing something that they’re not supposed to be doing.
Why do businesses create acceptable use policies(AUPs)?
The create acceptable use policies to protect themselves, benefit of staff and keep employees on track.
