Introduction
Ethics is an issue that pervades making of decision in all sectors of business whether finance, production, marketing, or distribution. Customer relation too is affected by ethical issues in an organisation. Institutions use strategic planning to focus on significant issues that they whish to accomplish in the future. These could be short term or long term. Good management based on ethical standards is essential for perfect running of businesses. Failure to do this leads to clashes with consumers and regulatory watchdogs in the industry. There is also negative publicity from other stakeholders. It is therefore important for businesses to develop management systems that obey ethical standard (Dale, 2003, p. 157). Business ethics entails determining business moves that are right or wrong and freely choosing to opt for the right one(s). This normally presents a challenge since business decisions are normally not a clear white or black situation like, ‘should people steal?’ Decisions sometimes involve unclear circumstances that are not quite defined (Patricia, 2004, p.77). Critical thinking is therefore necessary in concluding whether decision made are ethical or obey the moral standards that are acceptable in business. This could be in technology where it may be questionable whether certain technological advancements are ethical or not.
Critical thinking about ethics in electronic surveillance
Electronic surveillance is one area in which technology has developed significantly over the years. This has been incorporated in business for various reasons such as for security purposes and monitoring of employees’ behavior in work settings. Examples of areas in which electronic surveillance is used include airport scanners that use “backscatter technology” for imaging producing images that see through clothes and show body contours. The Japanese National Police Agency employ a face recognition software which identifies criminals from a database of previously captured images on surveillance video. In Canada a researcher developed a portable system which tracks people’s eye movements while viewing billboards, televisions, and generally electronic screens. There are casinos in Macau that use face the recognition software to identify people who cheat in games.
In the above cases, critical thinking about moral issues relating to privacy, laws and security is of significance in decision making. It entails weighing of the pros and cons of using the devices in the context in which they are used. On the beneficial side, the devices are entirely used for security purposes. Questions of privacy and self worth however are come into limelight on moral ethical grounds.
In airports, the threat of terrorism has made security personnel to be more vigilant in exercising their duties and that is inclusive of body searches. The attempt bombing of a plane in Detroit over last year’s charismas eve is an ideal example of the reality the threat. To guarantee the safety of airline passengers, airport security must devise ways of conducting thorough searches which are convenient in terms of efficiency, speed, health, and a whole range of other factors. Since there is evidence of terrorists concealing weapons on sensitive body parts, it is only logical that an effective way of searching these body areas be developed and employed hence the advanced body scanners. On the contrary people may argue that there is infringement of privacy when such body images are viewed by strangers. It is however impractical to assume that all passengers are innocent and do not carrying concealable weapons since the adverse effects of a single hijacking scenario or bombing far outweighs the inconvenience cost to curb it. There are also no known technologies that provide that level of security without infringing privacy.
In the case of the Japanese National Police Agency, while it would be better if there were no criminals, the reality is the contrary. Criminals have a behavior of repeating offences previously committed as long as one is not caught. In a bid to reduce the time taken in solving criminal cases, the police collect the data of previous offenders and counter check just in case the criminal had committed a crime prior to that accession. This helps in reducing the time taken to solve criminal cases and avoid backlogs. Keeping negative data on people though is morally bad practice especially for offenders whom had served their punishments such as jail terms and reformed thereafter. The people still get associated with criminals even when they have reformed.
The development by Canadian researcher is useful for the intelligence services in gathering of information. For instance, in areas where verbal communication is inapplicable and classified material is being read or viewed by a target. This generally affects a very small percentage of the population in which it is used on in the intelligence world. The aim of collecting such information is to protect the public against potential security threats. Although people have the freedom to access materials they wish to view, use of the device on suspects is morally justified for the greater good.
Fraudsters continue to cheat in casino games which lead to losses in the business and rewards to undeserving individuals. It is imperative for casinos to deter any form of cheat to be fair in the kind of business they offer. It is impossible however for a single person to monitor the entire table of gamblers and a group would still need to coordinate with each other. Video surveillance allows a single individual to monitor this. Non criminal customers’ trust however is betrayed by the virtue that they are distrusted and monitored as if they would all cheat if not monitored.
Conclusion
Features of critical thinking entail practicability of the issue, the context in which it is used, fairness and recognition of the diversity of individuals. It should also be consistent with legal issues and based on ethics (Costa, 1998). The above cases satisfy this criterion hence ethical. In some instances however, electronic surveillance may go overboard and become unethical. An example is unwarranted access to private emails of individuals by server technicians or unnecessary tapping of phone conversations. The bottom line is; development of technology is good, the manner in which it is applied is what determines whether it is ethical or unethical and this require critical thinking to be determined.
Reference List
- Costa, J. D. (1998). The Ethical Imperative: Why Moral Leadership Is Good Business. Boston: Addison-Wesley.
- Dale, N. (2003). Managing corporate reputation and risk: developing a strategic approach to corporate integrity using knowledge management. Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.
- Patricia, J. P. (2004). Ethics in public relations: a guide to best practice. London: Kogan Page.