GARCIA, TRISTAN F.

ACC535M-G03

HW1 - CASE 3-54: SUSPICIOUS ACQUISITION OF DATA, ETHICAL ISSUES

QUESTION NO. 1

From a legal standpoint, Carl Penobscot’s actions may be deemed as unethical, as well as illegal,
especially if his previous company, Kilborn Electronics, had data protection clauses in force in his
employment contract or in the company’s workplace policies. Furthermore, even if there was no such
clause, Carl’s actions are still unethical as it was an intentional and deliberate act on his part to rob the
company of its data assets with the end goal of leaking their content to other competitors.

From Kilborn’s perspective, this would be a breach of trust and of Carl’s contract with the
company (if ever such data protection clauses were in place). This could constitute data theft which may
give the company the right to press charges against the former employee.

QUESTION NO. 2

Bill Lewis was correct in suspecting that ethical or legal issues may be involved in Brindon
Peterson’s suggestion. Such hiring practice encouraged by Brindon is called “poaching.” Poaching, as
defined by Dubey (2015, as cited in Nandini et al., 2020) is when a company is “obstinate about
employing a member at a rival who has not deliberately revealed an attention in linking” with the hiring
company. While this can be outrightly seen as dubious or wrong, Nandini et al. (2020) states that
poaching can also be ethical, especially done through employee referrals and professional seminars.
Such practice is also ethical if the reason for poaching is the candidate’s skills and experience, and not
the trade secrets he or she may hold (Nandini et al., 2020).

But for the case at hand, it can be concluded that Brindon’s suggestion to steal Kilborn’s trade
secrets (ie. their variable cost data) through poaching Carl was indeed unethical as focus was given on
the stolen data Carl holds and not the employee’s skills and competencies. The favorable compensation
package Brindon was requesting for Carl can be deemed as a bribe or purchase price for Kilborn’s
confidential data.

If the researcher was in the situation of Bill Lewis, the researcher would immediately shun the
unethical recommendations and reprimand Brindon for making such suggestions. The researcher could
also hold an company-wide investigation to make sure such unethical practice has not been the norm in
the organization. A reminder to practice ethical hiring strategies can also be sent to the Human Resource
Management Department.

As for the competition still existing, Bill could order that efforts be focused on decreasing Thomas
Electronic’s variable cost further rather than trying to steal rival companies’ data.
References:

Nandini, G., Khatri, B., & Tyagi, V. (2020, December). IS TALENT POACHING ETHICAL OR

UNETHICAL? Shodh Sanchar Bulletin, 10(40). ResearchGate.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350615822_IS_TALENT_POACHING_ETHICAL_OR_U

NETHICAL