Focusing on social media and/or privacy research, the ethical problems common in the workplace - Essay Example

? Focusing on social media and/or privacy research, discuss one or more ethical problems common in the workplace Introduction: Social media and privacy The social media is an important tool in the present day business scenario and is increasingly adopted by the companies in order to reap the benefits of conducting business through the online mode. The use of social media helps the companies to reach out to a wide range of customers at the same time and also attaining effective cost reduction in the process of advertising. The benefits of the use of social media are achieved, however, only through the ethical considerations in decision making. The ethical consideration takes into account the privacy and security of the customers. The unethical practices in the use of social media have social as well as business outcomes. The information available for viewing in the social networking sites, like the contact details and professional details of the customers should be used by applying proper ethics in order to restore the aspect of safety and security of the customers (Trepte and Reinecke, 2011). For example, the customers who do not show interest in the commercial products should not be contacted repeatedly and should not be disturbed. The companies should not engage in fraudulent business practices and fake product transaction. The ethical problems in the work place deplete the confidence between the business and the customers which adversely affects both the society and the business. Ethical decision making: social and business outcomes, examples The role of ethical decision making in the use of social media and its concerns over privacy is very important from the perspective of social and business outcomes. Social media has been increasingly used as tool by the business for marketing its products and spread awareness among the society of its position in the market. While the use of online applications and websites like Facebook, Twitter has offered the corporate houses with a range of benefits, there are crucial concerns over the privacy of important information available in the social networking sites. The users of the social networking sites are asked to disclose a wide range of information on their personal details, professional details, etc. It has been observed that most of the users of social networking sites do not hesitate to provide the correct information on the details asked for and in most cases these information are available for display to the public at large. There are, however, a segment of customers who change the privacy settings of their profile in order to restrict the identified segment of users from viewing such information that has been considered to be confidential. The privacy setting is restored every time the user updates the information and other details in the social networking profiles. The large segment of users who do not change their privacy settings in the social networking sites provides access to the public as well as the business houses to view the data and information (Nissenbaum, 2009). The availability of such large volumes of data and information in the social media sites form the basis of information for social media marketing conducted by the business houses. Although social media is an important tool for marketing as it is compatible with the present day industry trends, the ethical decision in using the social media affects the social and business outcomes in the workplace. The social media form of marketing and business has been adopted at a fast rate by the companies as it reduces the cost of physical establishments and setting up infrastructure for the stores and shops. The easy way of reducing the cost and increasing profits is offered by the online advertising and marketing options through the use of social media. However, the ethical decision taking in the use of social media is an important step to address the privacy concerns (Waters and Lester, 2010). The business should not use the data and information available on the social networking sites without permission of the profile holder who has posted such information. The use of such information for commercial purposes is unethical as the data may not be intended for public disclosure. For example, several companies use the details provided in the social networking sites to contact the profiles for repeated number of times in order to promote their products. The individual who has posted the information may not be interested in the business of the company and may like to avoid repetitive calls. These are problems due to lack of ethical consideration of companies in the workplace and not implementing corporate governance and ethics in identifying the population who should be targeted with the help of social media (Elovici, 2012). The social media marketing techniques do not require the users to provide hard copies of document furnishing the details of the business. This has given rise to fake profiles and user frauds. The social media platform is often used by fake companies to launch their product and service and advises customers for payment in the nature of a fraud. Such unethical use of social media leads to unwanted social outcomes. The spread of information on such incidents of fraud spread rapidly and spreads awareness to the customer through the online mode. The users and customers thus become circumspect of the authenticity of the business promoted through the use of social media. For example, there are many companies that carry out business in the name of industry giants and are able deceive customers through the use of social media (Agosto and Abbas, 2011). This creates a negative impact on the society for which the ethical decision making by the businesses in carrying out online transactions is very important. The ethical decision making process in the use of social media helps to restore the confidence and faith between the users and the business which is very important in the virtual merchandizing process. The restoration of faith between the business and community not only increase the customer base in the online mode of business but also creates a healthy environment for the employees in the workplace. Examples of business that have used ethical considerations in the use of social media are Jabong.com, e-bay, etc. These businesses have a healthy work environment which also supports the productivity of the employees to increase (Close, 2012). Due to adherence to business ethics, the purchase of products and services through the online mode increases and this contributes to the profitability of the business. Conclusion The aspect of privacy is one of the most important factors in the use of social media. The use of social media by the business for the purpose of promotion and marketing of their products includes exploration of data and information of the target user group. It has been found that most of the users do not change their security and privacy settings in the social networking sites for which the information is available to the public. The company should be judicious in using the available data and apply ethical considerations in targeting them by looking at their interest level. The ethical consideration also involves use of authentic information like product description, prices of the products, etc. The companies should follow ethical consideration in not promoting fake profiles and undertaking fraudulent transactions to deceive the customers. The non-adherence to ethical consideration exhibits the work place problems due to ineffective corporate governance. The employees should also not indulge in unfair practice while operating in the virtual platform of social media. This lead to adverse social outcome as it erodes the trust between the customers and the business. The workplace environment also becomes unhealthy and subsequently followed by loss of productivity, loss of revenues and decrease in profitability of the companies. References Agosto, D. E. and Abbas, J. (2011). Teens, Libraries, and Social Networking: What Librarians Need to Know. USA: ABC-CLIO. Close, A. (2012). Online Consumer Behavior: Theory and Research in Social Media, Advertising, and E-tail. USA: Routledge. Elovici, Y. (2012). Security and Privacy in Social Networks. USA: Springer. Nissenbaum, H. (2009). Privacy in Context: Technology, Policy, and the Integrity of Social Life. USA: Stanford University Press. Trepte, S. and Reinecke, L. (2011). Privacy Online: Perspectives on Privacy and Self-Disclosure in the Social Web. Springer: Germany. Waters, J. K. and Lester, J. (2010). The Everything Guide to Social Media: All you need to know about participating in today's most popular online communities. USA: Everything Books. Read More