Ethical Dilemma

Vanessa Vasquez

ETHC 232

12/16/12

Ethical Dilemma Paper

There are many ethical dilemmas in the work place, such as developing new programs with company resources and on company time or taking company property without permission whether it is used or not.

There are many people in the IT field that have their own ideas about software or programs they can develop. Most individuals don’t have the necessary resources needed to complete such projects, however, many medium to large sized companies have plenty of resources. Companies provide their employees with sufficient resources to complete their daily tasks/projects, but there are people that take advantage of this privilege and use it instead for their personal gain.

Companies upgrade their equipment every few years because of advancing technology. Most companies sell those items to their employees or they may donate them. But there are employees that don’t consider taking unused equipment as stealing. Regardless of whether the equipment is being used or not, it is still company property.

Companies have many rules and policies enforced to limit company resources to be used only for work purposes. Companies also monitor computers and have surveillance cameras installed in order to keep track of the employees throughout the day. Companies also have policies that prevent employees from stealing company property. Some companies also have security officers in order to enforce these policies.

In either of these situations, the employee can be suspended or terminated for violating company policies. All employees are made aware of company policies when they are hired. Knowing the rules and choosing to break them anyways makes the employee culpable for the action.