Chapter7 - Common Issues at The Workplace

Chapter
77
COMMON ISSUES
AT THE
WORKPLACE
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

Explain the types of whistleblowing and the justification for blowing the
whistle
Illustrate with examples the meaning of trade secrets and conflict of
interest in an organizational context
Conceptualize privacy from individual, employee and consumer
perspectives and differentiate between privacy and surveillance at the
workplace
Apply ethical principles to justify the need to sustain and respect privacy
as a human right
Explain why discrimination in employment is unethical based on
Utilitarian Theory, Kantian Theory and Justice and Rights Principles
Define affirmative action and differentiate it with discriminative acts
Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

© Oxford Fajar Sdn. Bhd. (008974-T), 2014 1– 3
Learning Outcomes
 Discuss specific work related issues and challenges faced by

women at work and recognise the positive approaches and
strategies that employers can take to support women at work
 Explain the various forms of sexual harassment and outline the
steps to prevent sexual harassment at the workplace
 Discuss the rights and duties of employees in an organization
 Describe the occupational, safety and health issues in the context
of employment
 Explain the due process in the case of termination of service or
unjust dismissal

Introduction
 Common workplace issues include:

 Whistleblowing activities
 Trade secret protection
 Conflict of interest
 Employee privacy
 Discrimination and affirmative action
 Women at work
 Sexual harassment
 Occupational health and safety
 Unjust dismissal
Whistleblowing
 Whistleblowing is defined as the release of information or evidence of

immoral or illegal behaviour by an employee or former employee of an
organization to someone within an organization who has the authority
to investigate, prevent and punish the perpetrators.
 Whistleblowing takes place only when a (past or present) member of
an organization voluntarily reports such information. Spreading gossip
or actions taken in revenge or retaliation against an employee’s
superior for reprimanding him or her cannot be taken as
whistleblowing.
 Whistleblowing can also arise in a situation where an employee reports
the evidence of wrongdoing to someone else in a position of authority
within the organization.
 This is in contrast to a mere allegation that cannot be substantiated
with credible evidence that is not publicly available.

Whistleblowing
 Types of whistleblowing
Internal External
Arises when a whistleblower Arises when employees who

reports the evidence of wrongdoing discover corporate misconduct
to someone of authority within an choose to bring it to the attention of
organization external parties, i.e law
enforcement agencies/mass media

Whistleblowing
 Justification for whistleblowing

 Driven by appropriate moral motive – to prevent harm to public safety
and health and to protect reputation of the organization.
 Failure to take appropriate action – employees can use external
channels if their immediate supervisor or internal line of reporting fails to
elicit satisfactory action or response.
 Strong / credible evidence of wrongdoing – reporting any immoral or
illegal behaviour should not be based on hearsay or mere allegation.
 Good reasons to justify blowing the whistle – appropriate motive
includes the belief that by reporting the wrongdoing, things will improve
or action will be taken and it does not pose any harm to the employee.

Trade Secrets
 The definition of trade secrets is ‘any confidential business

information including manufacturing or industrial secrets,
which gives an organization a competitive edge’ (The World
Intellectual Property Organization or WPO)
 There are three conditions for defining a trade secret:
 The information must be secret
 It must have commercial value because it is a secret
 The rightful owner of the information has taken reasonable steps
to keep it secret

Conflict of Interest
 Employees are expected to be loyal to their employers.

Avoiding conflict of interest situations is one of the primary
obligations of an employee.
 A code of ethics normally specifies practices that may lead to
conflicts of interest in an organization.
 Conflict of interest occurs when employees have personal
interests that interfere with their obligation to promote the
interests of their employers.

 Conflict of interest at the workplace includes situations where

 an employee uses his official position for personal financial gain or to benefit
a company in which he or she has a financial interest
 an employee’s external financial or other interest may inappropriately
influence the way in which he or she performs his or her official
responsibilities
 an employee receives or gives a bribe or kickback for personal financial
gain
 an employee receives gifts, entertainment, hospitality and other benefits
from clients and business associates
 an employee engages in direct competition with his or her employer
 an employee engages in insider trading
 an employee uses confidential information of the employer for personal gain
or interest

 Types of conflict of interest
Potential Actual
Arises when an employee has an Occurs when an employee has an
interest that could potentially affect interest that could potentially
the way he makes decisions for the influence the way he makes a
employer, but he has yet to be decision on behalf of his employer
assigned such a responsibility or and the employer has actually
task to make the decision given him the authority to make
such a decision

 Preventing conflict of interest under the Malaysian legal

framework falls on to
Manages cases related to
Malaysian Anti-corruption corruption and leads the various
Commission (MACC) initiatives to combat corruption
nationwide.
The main regulatory body for

Companies Commission companies and businesses in
Malaysia (CCM) Malaysia.


Privacy
 There are also three classic

definitions of privacy:
 The right to be left alone.
Definition:
l , p r i vac y  The claim of individuals to
In g e n e r a
determine for themselves when,
r el a t e s t o how and to what extent
on f i d e n t i a l i ty of information about them is
c
n
information o communicated to others.
private  The condition of not having
individuals. undocumented personal
knowledge about one possessed
by others.

Privacy
 Samuel Warren and Louis Brandies (1890)
 Defined privacy as the right to be left alone.

 Concerned mainly with publication of idle gossip in sensation-
seeking newspapers.
 They claimed that common law is not static and always
undergoes continuing growth as culture develops.
 Privacy laws, therefore, should protect the privacy of private life
from unwanted publicity.

Privacy
 Alan F. Westin (1967)

 Defined privacy as the claim of individuals to determine for
themselves when, how and to what extent information about
them is communicated to others.
 Individuals themselves will have to assess the kind of
information that they would like others to know about them.

Privacy
 W. A. Parent (1983)
 Defined privacy as the condition of not having undocumented

personal knowledge about one possessed by others.
 However, this does not mean all information about ourselves but
only those facts that any individual do not want to be widely
known.
 It is necessary that the definition be restricted to undocumented
personal information because some facts that individuals
commonly seek to conceal are a public matter and can be
known without intruding in their private lives.

Privacy
 Why has privacy become an issue in the global era? It has

become a major issue in government or business in the recent
years for numerous reasons:
 Progress in ICT has challenged individual/personal privacy.
 The vast amount of personal information collected by the government,
banks and Internet businesses.
 The growth in database marketing facilitated by computer technology.
Companies specializing in data collection are able to provide direct
marketers with customized mailing lists that target groups with the
desired characteristics.
 This then become challenges to individual /personal privacy and at
times could impose threats.

Privacy
 Differentiating between privacy and surveillance
 The primary purpose of surveillance is

generally to collect information about the
individuals concerned, their activities or their
u r ve i l l a n c e can
S associates.
d e f i n e d a s t he
be  While privacy is aimed at protecting the right
sy st e m a t i c of individuals from being intruded, the main
e s t i g a t i on or objective of surveillance is to pierce the
inv
i t o r i ng of t he privacy shield, sometimes justified by the
m on r view that ‘if you have done nothing wrong you
n s o f o n e o
acti o should have nothing to hide’.
s
more person  The question is, to what extent do employers
have the right to undertake employee
surveillance?
Privacy
 Individual Privacy
 Privacy is a negative right i.e. the right of human beings to be

free from outside interference.
 The right to privacy is recognized through the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, which have also been adopted by
Malaysia.
 Individual Right to Privacy – Do the existing laws cover individual
rights to privacy?
 Must we have new laws to cover intrusion to privacy?

Privacy
 Individual/Personal Privacy at the Workplace
 Employers today would scarcely dare to intrude so openly in the private

lives of employees but they possess less obvious means of acquiring
the information (Boatright, 2007).
 Today’s employment scenario commonly features the availability of
tools to take drug tests, assessment of level of honesty and other
personality traits of employees, extensive computer networks for storing
and retrieving information about employees, and sophisticated
telecommunication systems, concealed cameras and microphones for
supervising employee’s activities.
 Some employers have also conducted genetic testing to screen
employees for genes that can make them more vulnerable to chemicals
at the workplace.

Privacy
 Consumer Privacy
 Consumers are targets for information gathering to boost sales. It is a

part of developing marketing strategies to stay competitive.
 CCTVs and video cameras installed at retail outlets used to be part of
the surveillance techniques to monitor employees. Nowadays, even
consumers are victims.
 Main threat to consumer privacy comes from the explosive growth of
database marketing. The countless bits of information generated in
each transaction are now used to generate lists for direct mail and
telemarketing solicitations.
 The barcode scanner technology and Internet have made possible for
companies to track consumers’ purchasing behaviour. This has raised
privacy concerns of customers.
Privacy
 Why do we need to value privacy so highly and hold that it

ought to be protected as a right in the first place?
 The two arguments that will justify it comes from:
 Utilitarian Perspectives – appeal to consequences of
incomplete or inaccurate information.
 Kantian Perspectives – link privacy to being a person or having
respect to persons. By invading a person’s privacy, it violates
the principle of respect for persons and prevents a person from
making a rational choice as an autonomous being.

Privacy
 Utilitarian perspectives
 Utilitarian weigh the good and bad consequences of incomplete
information. It is considered bad consequences if privacy is not
observed as it can cause more harm than good if information is
incomplete or inaccurate.
 Observing workers with hidden cameras or eavesdropping on business
conducted over the phone are generally considered as morally
unethical, but how do we catch dishonest employees?
 Whatever harm is done to employees by invading their privacy has to be
balanced in utilitarian calculation against the undesirable benefits that
these practices produce for both employees and employers.
 Employers must not only consider their business interests, but also
employee’s wellbeing, in this case, right to privacy.

Privacy
 Kantian perspectives
 The defence of a right to privacy are those of autonomy and respect for
persons. Stanley I. Benn notes that utilitarian arguments for right of
privacy are not able to show what is morally wrong when a person is
secretly observed without any actual harm being done. But respect for
persons will sustain an objection even to secret watching, which may do
no actual harm at all.
 According to Charles Fried, privacy is of value because it provides a
‘rational context’ for some of our most significant ends, such as love,
friendship, trust and respect, so that the invasions of privacy destroy our
own integrity as a person.
 Privacy is essential for respect, love, and trust. These are intimate
relations and intimacy is created by the sharing of personal information
about ourselves that is not known to other people.

Discrimination
 Managers should be fair and just to all employees. They have to

avoid discriminative practices, such as sex or race
discrimination, discrimination due to religious differences,
handicapped people, etc.
 Discrimination is a wrongful act whereby a person is deprived
of some benefits or opportunities because he is a member of a
group toward which there is substantial prejudice.
 Discrimination can happen in employment, housing, education
and many other areas of public life.
 Corporate ethics focus on discrimination in employment – hiring
decisions, promotion, salary and fringe benefits.

Discrimination
 Generally, discrimination may take different forms as follows:
 On the basis of sex (gender)

 Religious
 National origin
 Age
 Handicapped

Ethical Arguments against
Discrimination
 Utilitarian cite the ways discrimination harms individuals, business firms,
and society as a whole.
 Kantian notion argues that discrimination violates human dignity and
respect for persons.
 Principles of Justice points that discrimination is to treat people differently
when there is no good reason for doing so.
 Rights principles clearly acknowledge that all humans have basic rights
such respect, privacy, freedom of religion, etc. Discrimination challenges
individual rights.
 John Rawls’s Distributive Justice/Egalitarian Theory highlights that
social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both
‘to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged’ and ‘attached to the offices
and positions open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity’.
Discriminative practices are unjustified in a free market system.
Affirmative Action
 Affirmative action is a program that pro-actively attempts to

recruit applicants from minority groups to create opportunities
for those who, otherwise because of past and present
discriminatory employment practices, would be excluded
from the job market.
 It is an attempt to make employment practices ‘blind’ to
colour, gender, national origin, handicaps and age.
 The main aim is to correct a social-economic imbalance
within a nation to uphold social justice.

Affirmative Action
 Affirmative action does not justify hiring unqualified minority group

members over qualified white males. All individuals must be
qualified for the positions in question.
 Qualified women and minority members can be given preference
morally, on the basis of gender or race, over equally qualified white
males to achieve affirmative action goals.
 Qualified women and minority members can be given preference
morally over better-qualified white males, also to achieve
affirmative action goals.
 Companies must make adequate progress toward achieving
affirmative action goals, even though preferential hiring is not
mandatory.

Affirmative Action
 Ethics and Affirmative Action
 Principles of justice: Special privileges are given to those who,

otherwise because of past and present discriminatory
employment practices, would be excluded from the job market.
 Utilitarianism: to support affirmative action by claiming that
such programs help the majority of people in the society.
 Principles of rights: ‘protected groups’ have a right to different
treatment because these groups have not had equal or fair
access to benefits as other groups have.

Women at Work
 The influx of women into the workforce has been one of the
dominant social trends in the past thirty years
(Noor Rahmah,
2012; Desjardins, 2009).
 Between 1970 and 1999, the number of employed women in
Malaysia significantly rose from 0.9 million to 3 million.
 According to the Labour Force Survey Report for 2007
 Total labour force participation rate is 63.2 per cent
 Labour force participation rate of women is 46.4 per cent
 In 2010, it further increased to 56.68 per cent. They are
highest in the 25–34 years age group.
Women at Work
 Socio-economic factors: started

when Malaysia transformed from
an agricultural to industrial nation.
 An increase in the educational
Why has there been attainment of women since the
a significant increase 1970s.
in the participation  The setup of manufacturing and
rate of women in the electronic industries increased
Malaysian workforce? employment for women.
 The culture has somewhat shifted,
accepting women in employment to
improve quality of life of family
units.
Women at Work
 Women and the Challenges at Work

 The increasing participation of women in the workforce also
poses several challenges.
 Stereotyping women as sex objects even in the working
environment
 Discriminative acts: less pay, prestige and potential for promotion
 Non-acceptance from male counterparts
 Discrimination towards pregnant woman
 Combining full-time work with family obligations
 Sexual harassment

Women at Work
Stereotyping Discrimination
 Women are naturally born different  Women at work experience these

from men. adversities (less salary, prestige
and potential promotion) more so
 Women are by no means inferior to
in the West compared to Malaysia.
men in any way. But because of
their role as a man’s life  Employers perceive women as not
partner/homemaker, stereotyping able to cope with balancing work
exists in the work place. and family commitments; hence
interfering with their career
 Women are stereotyped as sex
development.
objects even in a working
environment where they should  They are somewhat ‘discriminated
have been seen as professionals. against’ and at times offered less
pay and lower opportunities for
promotion.
Women at Work
Non-acceptance by males Pregnant women
 Chauvinist males do not seem to  Employers sometimes perceive

accept women as working partners pregnant women to be less
as they think they are more efficient.
superior and capable.
 Some organizations even impose
 Some feel threatened seeing policies against pregnant women,
women being promoted. i.e. women cannot get pregnant
while working or have to leave.
 Men retaliate or even refuse to
work with women. The negatives  Ill treatment of pregnant women
attitudes pose challenges to without justified reasons is
women at work. unethical.

Women at Work
Combining work and family
 This revolves around the issue of balancing responsibility between

family and work life.
 In Eastern cultures, no matter how successful women are in their
careers, their roles as wives continue to be equally important.
 Today’s social problems among young married couples and
increasing divorce cases have significantly been contributed by
dual-career parents, who fail to balance family and work.
 Firms must create family-friendly programmes, especially to retain
women employees who constantly perform to a high standard,
though it would be costly.

Women at Work
 Strategies that can be adopted by employers to support

women at work:

Women at Work
Sexual harassment
 Defined as unwelcomed sexual advances, requests for

sexual favours and other verbal or physical conduct of a
sexual nature.
 It also covers:
 Sexual attention imposed on someone who is not in a position to
oppose /refuse.
 Deliberate or repeated unsolicited verbal comments, gestures,
or physical contact of a sexual nature which are unwelcomed.

Sexual Harassment
 Sexual harassment can be classified under three forms:
Sexual threats
 Occurs when a male denies a female staff of employment benefits

to exact sexual favours.
 The female employee is put in a difficult situation to obligate the
male’s sexual demand.
 In other words, a male employee forces a female employee to
perform sexual favours in exchange for rewards.

Sexual Harassment
Sexual offers
 Sexual offers may also occur under similar situations with

sexual threats. For example:
 A female employee is due for promotion after striving hard and
maintaining outstanding work performance. However, her male
employer openly suggests that before she can be promoted, she
has to have dinner and spend the night at his apartment. This
puts the female employee in a difficult situation. She would like
to be promoted, but her unethical boss is challenging her dignity.

Sexual Harassment
Hostile working environment
 This is also referred as sexual annoyance.

 The sexual nature of conduct of co-workers and others causes a woman to
be very uncomfortable. This happens usually in a working environment
dominated by male staff.
 A demeaning and unwelcome sexually related behaviour that is offensive,
hostile, intimidating to the victim, but has no direct connection with any job
benefits.
 The annoying behaviour creates an offensive working environment which
affects the victim’s ability to continue working.

Sexual Harassment
The legality of sexual harassment in Malaysia

Prior to 2012, there was only one law in existence: the Penal Code, Section
509. According to this law:
‘Whoever intending to insult the modesty of any woman, utters in words, makes
any sound or gesture or exhibit any object shall be seen by such woman, shall be
punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 5 years or with fine,
or with both.’
Today, legal action against sexual harassment can be taken under other
provisions in the Penal Code, the Employment Act 1955, and the Industrial
Relations Act 1967.
Part XV A, a new part of the Employment Act 1955 was specifically
developed and enforced on 1 April 2012 to cover sexual harassment. It
contains provisions binding an employer to investigate any sexual harassment
case when it is reported by an employee.
Sexual Harassment
 Sexual harassment prevention programmes are

introduced to make firms recognize the costs of sexual
harassment and take responsibility to prevent it.
 The major features include:
 Developing a firm policy against harassment

 Communicating this policy to employees and provide training,
where necessary, to secure compliance
 Setting up procedures for reporting violations and investigating
all complaints thoroughly and fairly
 Taking appropriate action against the offenders

Employee’s Rights and Duties
 There are three main aspects of employee rights that are

common in business.
 Firstly, legal rights granted to employees on the basis of law or
legal judgements, i.e. right to a minimum wage, equal opportunity, to
bargain collectively as part of a union.
 Secondly, rights refer to those goods that employees are entitled to
on the basis of contractual agreements with employers, e.g. a
particular employee might have a right to a specific health care
package, paid holidays, pension funds, etc.
 Finally, rights refer to those entitlements to which employees have
a claim independent of any particular legal or contractual factors,
e.g. rights originating with the respect owed to them as human
beings.


 Employees’ rights need to be considered in the context of a set of

duties that are expected of employees.
 The most important duties of employees are the duty to comply
with the labour contract and the duty to respect the employer’s
property.
 Other duties are the obligation to provide an acceptable level of
performance, make appropriate use of working time and company
resources and to refrain from illegal activities such as fraud, theft
and embezzlement.
 Usually these duties are codified in the employment contract and
other legal frameworks.
 Ethically delicate issues arise when employers enforce these duties
and monitor employee compliance.
Occupational Health and Safety
 The right to healthy and safe working conditions has been

one of the very first ethical concerns for employees.
 Most developed countries have implemented a solid network
of health, safety and environmental regulations that
companies have to abide by.
 The main issue, however, concerns the enforcement and
implementation of existing regulations.
 In practice, some companies may cut corners on health and
safety measures through negligence or in disapproval of
regulators.

 The objectives of the Malaysian Occupational Safety and

Health Act 1994:
 To secure the safety, health and welfare of persons at work against risks to
safety or health arising out of the activities of the persons at work.
 To protect persons at a place of work other than persons at work against
risks to safety or health arising out of the activities of persons at work.
 To promote an occupational environment for persons at work which is
adapted to their physiological and psychological needs, and
 To provide the means whereby the associated occupational safety and
health legislation may be progressively replaced by a system of regulations
and approved industry codes of practice operating in combination with the
provisions of this Act designed to maintain or improve the standards of
safety and health.

 As far as the general health of the employee is concerned, an

employer could encourage a more conducive work atmosphere
and reduce work stress.
 Stress can arise at work in a situation where an employee is
required to produce certain expected results using the available
means at his disposal over which he has no real control. Examples
of causes of stress are excessive workload, uncooperative
colleagues and unrealistic deadlines.
 Long term work stress can cause the employees to lose motivation
to work hard. So, giving due care to employees’ psychological
needs and fostering a positive organisational culture are certainly
two of the most effective ways to resolve stress at work.

Unjust Dismissal
 Many employees are at risk of arbitrarily losing their jobs for

relatively minor indiscretions or personality clashes.
 The right to use due process in the instance of unjust can be
deduced from the notion of procedural justice.
 Promotion, disciplinary proceedings and firing are the most
common processes where the right to due process is
particularly important.
 In the case of disciplinary procedures, employees should be
subject to these if a clear and objective neglect of their duties
and a breach of their contractual obligations has occurred.

Unjust Dismissal
 Due process can be defined as limitations that offer protection

against arbitrary uses of authority.
 Due process in the workplace means that employees have a right
to be protected from the arbitrary use of managerial authority. The
strongest defence of an employee’s right to due process appeals to
the fundamental ethical concepts of respect and fairness.
 Without due process in the workplace, society is sanctioning an
institution that allows individuals to exercise the power they have
over others without restraint.
 All organizations need rules to ensure an orderly working
environment. Each company will have a different set of rules
depending on the nature of its business.

Unjust Dismissal


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Chapter

At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Discuss specific work related issues and challenges faced by

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Common workplace issues include:

 Whistleblowing is defined as the release of information or evidence of

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

Arises when a whistleblower Arises when employees who

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Justification for whistleblowing

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 The definition of trade secrets is ‘any confidential business

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Employees are expected to be loyal to their employers.

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Conflict of interest at the workplace includes situations where

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Types of conflict of interest

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Preventing conflict of interest under the Malaysian legal

The main regulatory body for

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 There are also three classic

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Samuel Warren and Louis Brandies (1890)

 Defined privacy as the right to be left alone.

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Alan F. Westin (1967)

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Defined privacy as the condition of not having undocumented

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Why has privacy become an issue in the global era? It has

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Differentiating between privacy and surveillance

 The primary purpose of surveillance is

 Privacy is a negative right i.e. the right of human beings to be

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Individual/Personal Privacy at the Workplace

 Employers today would scarcely dare to intrude so openly in the private

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Consumers are targets for information gathering to boost sales. It is a

 Why do we need to value privacy so highly and hold that it

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Managers should be fair and just to all employees. They have to

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Generally, discrimination may take different forms as follows:

 On the basis of sex (gender)

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Affirmative action is a program that pro-actively attempts to

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Affirmative action does not justify hiring unqualified minority group

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Ethics and Affirmative Action

 Principles of justice: Special privileges are given to those who,

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Socio-economic factors: started

 Women and the Challenges at Work

Business Ethics All Rights Reserved

 Women are naturally born different  Women at work experience these