CHAPTER NINE THE WORKPLACE: TODAYS CHALLENGES Privacy: a fundamental right but could be affected by companies policies and

corporate behavior. The importance of privacy (1) We want to control intimate or personal information about ourselves and not permit it to be freely available to everyone. (2) We dont want our private selves to be on public display. (3) We value being able to make certain personal decisions autonomously. Legitimate and illegitimate influence
A firm is legitimately interested in whatever significantly influences work performance.

It has a legitimate interest in employee conduct off the job only if conduct affects work performance. It is difficult to say precisely what constitutes a significant influence on job performance. It is also difficult to spell out exactly when off-duty conduct truly affects company image.

Obtaining information Businesses often obtain information about their employees through testing and/or monitoring. Informed consent: Its presence or absence is the main ethical issue in testing and monitoring it implies deliberation and free choice. Deliberation: Employees must be provided all key facts concerning the information gathering procedure and understand its consequences. Free choice: The decision to participate must be voluntary and un-coerced.

Polygraph tests: Businesses cite several reasons for using the polygraph test: (1) It is a fast and economical way to verify information provided by job applicants and screen candidates for employment. (2) It allows employers to identify dishonest employees or job candidates.

(3) It eliminates the need for audits and oppressive controls, so may increase workers freedom.

Personality tests: One of the most popular, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, is used by eightynine of the Fortune 100 companies, and is taken by more than 2.5 million Americans every year. Such tests help businesses both screen candidates and match individuals to appropriate jobs. But they involve questionable psychological premises (that individuals fit into a small number of personality types), may invade privacy, and may reinforce conformity. Monitoring employees on the job: This may be necessary, but it can be abused and can violate privacy. Like testing, it often gathers personal information about workers without their informed consent. Organizations frequently confuse notification of such practices with employee consent, but notification does not constitute consent. Drug testing: Became an issue when the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) began banning college football players from postseason bowl games based on their steroid test results. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association supported drug testing: Postal workers testing positive in a pre-employment test were 50 percent more likely to be fired, injured, disciplined, or absent than those testing negative.

Working conditions Employers clearly have a moral obligation not to expose workers to needless risks or to negligently or recklessly endanger their lives or health. Employers, however, are not morally responsible for all workplace accidents caused by coworkers negligence or failure to exercise due care. In some circumstances or in certain occupations, an injured worker can reasonably be said to have voluntarily assumed the risk. What causes accidents? Accidents dont just happen, but often result from poor job practices and environments that fail to prioritize safety. OSHA: With the 1970 Occupational Safety and Health Act, regulation of working conditions passed from the states to the federal government.

The thrust of the act was to ensure safe and healthy working conditions and impose a duty on employers to provide those conditions. New health challenges: The scope of occupational hazard is greater than many people think. The numbers harmed by work-related injuries and illness may be generally underestimated. These include musculoskeletal disorders, shift work, fatigue, and stress. OSHAs enforcement of existing regulations has too often been lax.

Management styles: Nothing affects environment more than management style and quality. In The Human Side of Enterprise, Douglas McGregor described two management styles: o Theory X managers believe that workers dislike work and try to avoid. o Theory Y managers assume that employees basically like work and view it as something natural and potentially enjoyable. Theory X managers coerce and bully workers into conformity with organizational objectives. Theory Y managers believe that workers are motivated by pride and self-fulfillment as well as money and job security, not dodging responsibility but accepting it and even seeking it out. Other management styles include Theory Z managers, who hold Japanese-style respect for workers. One management style eschews a traditionally masculine approach (hierarchical, aggressive, winner-take-all) in favor of one more congenial to women (personal, empathetic, and collaborative). Managers who operate with rigid assumptions about human nature, or who devote themselves to infighting and political maneuvering, may damage employees interests and lose their respect. Day care and maternity leave: Women still bear the primary responsibility for child rearing.

So their increased participation in the paid workforce has led to a growing demand for maternity-leave policies and child-care services.

Redesigning work Dissatisfaction on the job: The Work in America report (1970) identified three chief sources of worker dissatisfaction: Industrys preoccupation with quantity, not quality; rigid rules and regulations; and the monotonous repetition of small, fragmented tasks. Lack of opportunities to be ones own boss. Bigness.

Importance of job satisfaction: The design of work materially affects the total well-being of workers.

o Example: Studies show that job satisfaction is the strongest predictor of longevity. o Therefore, work content and job satisfaction are paramount moral concerns. o Satisfied workers are also more productive. o Business has an economic reason as well as a moral obligation to improve work quality.