Although some of the spying Hewlett-Packard performed on some members of its board of directors in 2006 appeared to violate California law, much of it was legal. Moreover, many companies spy on their employees-sometimes with and sometimes without their knowledge or consent. Organizations differ in their culture of surveillance. Some differences are due to the type of business. A US Department of Defense contractor has more reason-perhaps even an obligation- to spy on its employees than does an orange juice producer. However, surveillance in most industries is on the upswing. There are several reasons for this, including the huge growth of two sectors with theft and security problems (services and information technology, respectively) and the increased availability of surveillance technology. Consider the following surveillance actions and, for each action, decide whether it would never be ethical (mark N ), would sometimes be ethical (mark S), or would always be ethical (mark A). For those you mark S, indicate what factors your judgment would depend on.
1. Sifting through an employee's trash for evidence of wrongdoing.
2. Periodically reading email messages for disclosure of confidential information or inappropriate use.
3. Conducting video surveillance of workspace.
4. Monitoring websites visited by employees and determining the appropriateness and work relatedness of those visited.
5. Recording phone conversations.
6. Posing as a job candidate, an investor, a customer, or a colleague (when the real purpose is to solicit information) Would you be less likely to work for an employer that engaged in some of these methods? Why or why not? Do you think use of surveillance says something about an organization's culture?