1

Q1. Based on your own perspective and the reading for this class, what elements do you

think should go into an organization's ethical guidelines?

Organizational ethics are ethics adopted by an organization. These ethics act as a standard to

guide the organization in dealing with both internal and external stimuli. According to the

aforestated definition, ethics are very particular to organizations. The question that often arises

is, how can there be a common standard? What guidelines should organizations adopt to have

accommodating principles to guide employees? From my perspective of the reading, one of the

principles that guide an organization in creating ethics is achieving a virtuous organization. An

honorable organization will respect its employees, partners, resources, and its surrounding

community. Sound stewardship requires the organization to treasure its heritage as it is in line

with good ethics. The second principle/ guideline should be essential competencies for

organizational ethics. The organization needs these competencies to be successful and remain

competitive in the market. The third principle is the adoption of a sound ethical decision-making

process. An organization must possess a reliable technique for making decisions relating to

ethics. This technique is called the "ethical resolution process," and it involves identifying

problems. It takes three steps to identify the problem; recognizing the problem's relevant aspects

includes those affected by the situation. Second, designating the root problem and lastly,

estimation of the problem’s cause. The final principle is standards of conduct. The standard of

conduct aims at motivating improvement in all operations.

Q2. What do you think are the consequences of putting up all printed records (e.g.,

property ownership, taxes, etc.) on the internet? Do you think there are any printed

records that should not be placed on the internet?

 2

The safe-keeping of an organization's documents is a question of security. To be a successful

business, organizations need to keep their documents in a well-maintained and intact manner. In

this way, all sensitive records are safe from prying eyes. Safe-keeping of records is key to every

business. One crucial consequence of keeping records online is the reduction of baggage.

Documents and files consume a lot of space, being that they are in constant increase. Companies

should keep legal documents online because the risk of losing hard copies is grievous.

Documents such as bylaws, charters, and constitutions should be kept as long as the company

exists. When a company keeps these records safe, they avoid unnecessary problems that arise

from losing the documents. Such problems are lawsuits.

Q3. What length of time do you think email should be retained? Does your organization
distinguish between "transitory" emails that can be erased quickly and those that should
be saved?

Organizations are required to adopt an email retention policy. Many organizations concur that

emails can be kept for a few years. Most organizations retain emails between five to ten years.

Retention often stretches beyond the memory of users. There are both positive and negative

aspects of having a long email retention policy. The advantage of having longer retention is that

the business can rely on old emails to make current decisions. The main disadvantage is that

there is a longer risk of sensitive information getting into the wrong hands. Emails are usually

the primary medium for communication in organizations. Companies need to prioritize the

emails to keep longer and those that can be erased without any dire consequence. Those emails

that have legal bearing should be kept as long as possible.

 3

4. What linkages, if any, to private sector organizations do you think should exist on a

government’s Website? Do you think it is acceptable for governments to accept

advertising on their websites?

Whether to allow the private sector to link to a government website is a delicate matter. The US,

for example, allows the private sectors who are in partnership with the government to link to the

official government website. The government website also links to sites that are not government-

sponsored. The government allows this with a lot of caution when these entities can provide

information and services that are not available on the government's official Website.

Advertisements are, however, not allowed or extremely limited depending on the vitality of the

ad. The caution is taken for security purposes.

Q5. Do you think private uses of the governmental email should be allowed? If so, what

constraints should be placed on private uses?

The US government allows private users of government emails under certain conditions. Some

of the requirements are; the personal use of such emails should not cause congestion and

disruption to government pieces of equipment (e.g., computers)). Second, there should not be

mass mailing; messages are not sent to more than five recipients. Third, the employee using such

email does not do so in an official capacity by representing themselves. Lastly, messages sent

through these emails should not be politically partisan.

Q6. What factors most influence your treatment of cyber-ethical issues: organizational,

peer, or individual? What are the ethical principles that guide your treatment of

computerized communication data?

 4

Cyber ethical issues that influence people's operations range from cyberbullying, copyright

issues, and hacking. There are consequences of downloading materials illegally. Hacking often

involves stealing classified information or causing substantial damages. The principles that guide

my treatment of computerized data are laws put in place. Among the statutes include not using

offensive language, cyberbullying, breaking into people's computers, and adhering to copyright

regulations.

Q7. Have you (or anyone with whom you have exchanged emails) employed email for

strategic purposes as described in this chapter? For example, have you or anyone with

whom you work in an organization used email to "broaden the base" or establish a paper

trail if there are problems? Do you think these uses are ethical? In addition, have you

used the "blind carbon copy" (Bcc) option in sending emails? Do you think this is

ethical?

In my personal experience with mails, I have never encountered the "broaden the base

experience," but I sure know it is unethical. Tax evasion is a common practice in this experience.

The blind copy carbon technique is a trivial issue. While users can use the blind copy carbon

method for confidentiality, secrecy can also inspire malicious activities that are not ethical.

Exercise #2

Study and analyze the information provided by a governmental organization on its Web

site. Does the site have a privacy policy? Do you think there exists other information that

should be made accessible through the Web site? Are there any data on that site that you

believe should not be there? How does the accessibility provided by this site compare

with other comparable organizations? Does the site contain information concerning
 5

reliability issues? Construct a plan for revising the Web site to maximize accessibility but

does not violate privacy laws.

My government website of choice is “Federal Laws and regulations." This site, like many other

sites, has a privacy policy. The site maintains that no private information of individuals is

collected unless the individual provides the data voluntarily. I firmly believe that there is

information that the site needs to make available. For example, the information collected from

individuals should be made public, and also, whatever activity that one's data has been used

should be made public. The said Website does not have accessibility designs for blind people, for

example. It is difficult for blind people to navigate the site. On the other hand, the site has a

robust reliability design in that it is tough to incur failure.

A developer needs to make websites more accessible, and this can be achieved through the

following steps; first, use a content management system that supports accessibility. The

developer should design all forms for accessibility. Developers should use ARIA rules and

landmarks. All headings should be appropriately organized, and dynamic content made

accessible. Links should be given unique names, and developers should adopt the use of tabular

data.