People Analytics can be an essential part of an organizations success. Throughout this course we have seen how the collection of gathering and distributing data leads to useful insights about both employees and customers. Big data gathering overall however, is still a new frontier and is steadily on the rise. With this field comes a lot of new issues, specifically ethical issues that never had to be addressed before. There are a number of disjunctions between big data research methods and ethics, which calls into question where the line should be drawn. After reviewing and experiencing the effects of some big data issues I have no definite stance on ethics and think that every situation should be observed independently case by case.
By definition, ethical refers to the moral principles generally relating to or affirming a specified group or form of conduct. In simple terms if you do anything outside of what is generally accepted as right or wrong you stand to be unethical. One of the more popular and recent ethic with big data collection (that constantly comes up in my business courses) occurred with Target. About 4 years ago Target was able to figure out that a Minnesota high school teen was pregnant based on the items that she was purchasing from their store. As good business sense would encourage, Target then started to send the teen coupons for baby items. This upset the teens father who said his daughter was not pregnant. This situation falls into a grey area of
Ethics is defined as moral principles that administer a person’s behaviour. It is the basic perception and essential principle of decent human conduct. Issues concerning unethical approach are known as ethical issues.
Ethics, in business, refers to moral principles and standards that define acceptable behavior in the world of business. Ethical decisions foster trust among individuals and in business relationships. Recognizing ethical issues is important in the workplace. An ethical issue is an identifiable problem requiring a person or organization to choose from among several actions that may be evaluated as ethical or unethical. When you’re determining is a situation is ethical or not, there are three factors to take into consideration. Individual factors, organizational factors, and opportunity. Individual factors are sets of principles that describe what a person believes are the right way to behave. Organizational factors include the influence of managers, coworkers, and the work group. Opportunity is a set of conditions that punish unfavorable behavior or reward favorable behavior. “Target thrives on competing to win in the marketplace. We compete and negotiate actively, but always with integrity. Taking advantage of anyone by manipulating or concealing
Ethics refers to behaviors, practices, and decisions that address three basic and fundamental questions: What is the right thing to do? What is worth doing? What does it mean to be a good behavior analyst (Cooper, 2007)?
There are several positive uses of big data including the development of more accurate weather prediction systems, research and production of self-driving vehicles, making cities smarter, and collecting more data during exercise in order to train in the most efficient way. The essential item in keeping this straight is striving to develop policies that reflect our ideals and then implementing it. This falls on the shoulders of the government. Minimizing the gap between the implementation and policy can be achieved through various venues. Transparency is of paramount importance when dealing with surveillance and entrusting other entities with personal information. If any person is being spied on or having information collected, they should know about it and of course it should be legal. Google as a service is a good example. Although using Google’s services are “free” to use, it sells our personal information to other companies for surveillance capitalism and marketing. Google should have an agreement or make it clearly known that this is what is happening and then provide an option to pay for its services directly and not disclose user’s information. Additionally, companies that participate in such behaviors should be legally bound with well-defined terms and be regularly
Ethics is the process of doing right or wrong. It assists a person in the deciding if something is moral or immoral or if it is socially desirable (Dess, McNamara, & Eisner, 2016, p. 368). A person can get his or her ethics from religious beliefs, heritage, family, the community, education and friends. Organizational ethics is the values, attitudes and behavioral patterns defined by the organizations culture. Organizational ethics determine what is acceptable behavior.
Ethics are principles of behaviour that distinguish between right and wrong. Resnik (2011) defines ethics as” a method, procedure, or perspective for deciding how to act and for analysing complex problems and issues” (p.1). People face ethical decisions; however, People working in business frequently face ethical decisions. Business ethics is the evaluation of business activities and behaviour as right or wrong (Society for Business Ethics, 1991).
Even though “big data” is very valuable and has made many great gains for society in both efficiency and knowledge, with the increase in data collection and analytics there are many ethical concerns of how the data is being used because evidence based decision making within the analytics is often done solely on quantitative information, this creates digital inequity. Comparing and examining the works of Socrates and Martin Luther King Jr., we can develop our own ethical belief regarding some of the analytics used with “big data”.
Ethical behavior is behavior that a person considers to be appropriate. A person’s moral principals are shaped from birth, and developed overtime throughout the person’s life. There are many factors that can influence what a person believes whats is right, or what is wrong. Some factors are a person’s family, religious beliefs, culture, and experiences. In business it is of great importance for an employee to understand how to act ethically to prevent a company from being sued, and receiving criticism from the public while bringing in profits for the company. (Mallor, Barnes, Bowers, & Langvardt, 2010) Business ethics is when ethical behavior is applied in an business environment, or by a business. There are many
Ethical is a word used to describe moral principles. While watching the movie Erin Brockovich, I was compelled by the unethical issues that presented themselves. These incidents were created by an decision that proved to be immoral. The movie displays several incidents in which unethical behavior is presented. While reading this paper, several unethical situations will be reviewed. Although Erin Brockovich intentions may have been for the greater good, several of the methods she used to gain information were immoral. She discovers the shocking secrets of Pacific Gas & Electric Company.
Big data describes large scale data sets which are analyzed, using algorithms, to determine and eventually predict patterns in human behavior, interactions and the environment (oed.com). Big data is used by government entities to protect against terrorism as well as commercial entities for marketing. Big data needs ethical standards to prevent violations of four central principles, which are privacy, confidentiality, transparency, and identity (Richards 395). Big data is awareness and empowers those who control it. This revolution in information enables companies to shape consumer identity by influencing every interaction the user has with their service. Due to its predictive and persuasive nature, restrictions are necessary for consumers to
(Panza & Potthast, n.d.) Ethics is very important to a company’s success. Ethical behavior can bring benefits to a business. They can attract customers, which can lead to a boost in sales and profits. It can attract the right employees and increase productivity. It can also attract investors and keep the company’s share price high. Unethical behavior on the other hand can damage a company’s reputation and make it less appealing to stakeholders. It could also result in lower profits.
Today, it seems as if everyone is connected through his or her own cell phone. With this they create data and information, intentionally or not using them. This information can be collected from applications, text messaging, and simple just walking around with a cell phone connected. This data may be analyzed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and other association relating to human behavior. The creation and use of this data is what today’s society puts under the large umbrella of big data. This paper discusses the ethics of collection practices and use of big data.
Ethical and unethical situations occur on a daily basis and are seen all around us. Being ethical requires one to take responsibility for their actions and doing what is right in any given circumstance. Every person has the power to dictate their actions on how they are going to handle any situation they are put in. I have experienced numerous amounts of situations that have tested my ethical behavior and actions. Throughout my experiences, I have realized that ethics has a great impact on many different aspects of life such as society, career, and personal life. Understanding the meaning of ethics allows me to grow as a person and to truly do what is right with any issue I am faced with.
Ethics is defined as what is right and what is wrong. Every business should behave ethically. The moral principles that guide the way a business behaves are business Ethics. Ethics are moral guidelines to people or to an organisation which govern good behaviour. So behaving ethically is doing what is morally right. Doing an ethical business may always be not profitable but it will be more beneficial to company and the people involved in company as well as the people who are getting influenced by the company. If a company is acting ethically then it is trying to differentiate between right and wrong and then chose the right decision for everyone. It is very easy it identify any unethical
Ethical behavior, in a general sense, is a definition of moral behavior in regards to lawfulness, societal standards, and things of that nature. In the business world, ethics commonly refer to acceptable and unacceptable business practices within the workplace, and all other related environments. The acceptance of colleges regardless of ethnicity, gender, and beliefs, as well as truthfulness and honesty in relation to finances within the company are examples of ideal ethical business conducts. Unethical business behavior would include manipulating procedures based on bias or discrimination, engaging in activities that promote political gain, as well as blatant fabrication of monetary factors within the company and “can affect