"Organizational Philosophies and Technology" Deals with the ethics surrounding technology and the workplace.

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Organizational Philosophies � PAGE �6�

Organizational Philosophies and Technology Paper

Wendy Markham

University of Phoenix

Human Factors in Technology / TEC401

Lowie Brannan

March 5, 2007

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Organizational Philosophies and Technology Paper

It is not the ethical standards of a company alone that demand safeguards relating to technology. The absence of certain safeguards and policies not only endangers the confidential data files of a company, but endangers the software and hardware systems utilized by a company and in many cases can affect company morale and productivity. A truly ethical company installs multiple safeguards to protect itself, its employees, and its customers.

Technology to Manage Ethics

With the amount of customer and company information that is housed electronically in today's business world, it is imperative that companies set up multiple layers of safeguards such as firewalls, password protected programs, and security policies to keep that information from the hands of those who would mean to the do the company or its clients wrong.

This information is even protected by law in some cases and therefore, companies can get into legal trouble if the proper safeguards and not in place. For example, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act requires that companies that are defined as financial institutions ensure the security and confidentiality of information such as customer names, addresses, phone numbers, bank and credit card numbers, income and credit histories, and social security numbers (Federal Trade Commission, n.d.).

It is not only company and client information that is at risk. Vast amounts of employee information are also electronically cataloged within a company's servers. Although the leaking of employee information may not have a direct impact on the business itself, ethics dictate that a company must take measures to protect their employees' information as well. This is often done through the requirement of...