Ethical Issues Raised by Louis’ Behavior
The issue raised in Hasko Von Kriegsten’s case, “In Your Face,” is an ethical issue requiring intervention (2017). Louis violated several ethical restrictions regarding not only the company’s activities but also its external interactions with employees. Polygraphic or neural network tests conducted without participants’ consent constitute an invasion of privacy and a violation of individual civil rights (Rajan, 2019). In fact, Louis equates applicants with criminals, on whom he has the right to test the truth-detection mechanisms.
Moreover, Louis violates the company’s fundamental ethical principles because he is under the CEO’s control and is acting deliberately without their knowledge. Louis knew for sure that the CEO would not agree to use this technology, so he came to work early to connect the mechanism via USB. In a corporate environment, even well-intentioned deception can be interpreted as malicious.
Louis violates the morality of virtue, according to which it is immoral to lie. The problem is aggravated by the fact that Louis deceives his superiors himself while upholding moral standards against lying to others, putting himself in a superior position over them. Moreover, from a utilitarian point of view, the lie detector is ineffective because it distracts from the possibility of learning about employees’ real competencies by focusing on secondary aspects of their nervous activity.
Stakeholders and Further Course of Actions
In this case, the stakeholders are both the future members of the company and I, as its creator and boss. The company’s future cannot be surreptitiously determined without the agency of superiors, and Louis may be undermining the chances of successful candidates by using unethical tactics. A strict reprimand with the threat of dismissal should be issued to Louis, and additional attention to his activities is required. However, this is only if Louis is irreplaceable, since the employee’s trust is already challenging to restore. When the best person for his position is found, Louis must be fired for insubordination within the team and for an ethically unacceptable invasion of the privacy of future employees.
Works Cited
Von Kriegsten, Hasko. In Your Face: A Decision Regarding Privacy and Technology in a Hiring Process. Ted Rogers Leadership Centre, 2017.