Ethics

Throughout the world there are many views on what is ethical and what is not. For instance; take two cultures who are both experiencing a drought, one culture might perform a rain dance or pray for rain, while another culture might make a human sacrifice to the rain gods. While not as extreme, today I learned that even in the same classroom there can be a variety of different ways people view ethics.

To add to the discussions today I would have liked to have had us all analyze a scenario and using our own personal ethics, explain how we would come up with a decision on what to do and what we would do. For instance:

"Tony, a data analyst for a major casino, is working after normal business hours to finish an important project. He realizes that he is missing data that had been sent to his coworker Robert.Tony had inadvertently observed Robert typing his password several days ago and decides to log into Robert’s computer and resend the data to himself. Upon doing so, Tony sees an open email regarding gambling bets Robert placed over the last several days with a local sports book. All employees of the casino are forbidden to engage in gambling activities to avoid any hint of conflict of interest.

Tony knows he should report this but would have to admit to violating the company’s information technology regulations by logging into Robert’s computer. If he warns Robert to stop his betting, he would also have to reveal the source of his information. What does Tony do in this situation?"

This would be a difficult decisions. Tony would have to choose between saving himself trouble and knowing that he is letting his coworker do something wrong, or getting in trouble to correct a wrong that his coworker is doing. If I was in this same situation, I would keep to myself the information I found about Robert and inform Robert that I accidentally observed him typing in his password and that he would probably change it. It was morally wrong of me to log into Robert's computer; therefor, information I found by doing something wrong should not be used to call someone else out on their wrong. If I later overheard Robert talking about his gambling or found out a legitimate way, I would report it then.

The beauty of ethics is that no two people have the exact same personal ethics. While I would not tell on Robert and myself, some people would tell on themselves to get Robert in trouble, and others may tell on Robert but try to clear themselves. A culture may have a set or ethics that they think should be followed, but people have the free will to believe whatever they feel. Even if those people have to follow laws governed on the ethics of the society that they may not believe in.