By Kon Leong
United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once said, “Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have the right to do and what is right to do.” New data technologies have blurred those boundaries.
Corporations can now collect an unprecedented amount of unstructured data—the data created by humans, such as company documents, e-mail, instant messaging and social-media usage. With so much information at hand, the risk is that privacy will be sacrificed for profit.
How can managers make sure that the data their organizations collect is used ethically?
• Understand your company’s privacy comfort zone. Every organization and country has its own privacy culture and definition. For example, the EU has the General Data Protection Regulation, which governs and protects individuals’ data privacy, while the US is more lax about privacy protection. Defining your company’s privacy expectations can help guide decisions on confidentiality issues.
• Get guidance from your information governance committee. Many organizations have formed these committees to help protect employee privacy while staying in line with corporate objectives.
• Share guidance with your team, and encourage best practices. Pending guidance from the IG committee, you can start implementing best practices, such as encouraging employees to limit the use of corporate devices and resources to official business. Keeping personal information off company e-mail and company devices whenever possible will reduce unnecessary exposure.
• Invite feedback. Governments and regulatory agencies have recognized the power of electronic information and have written laws to protect whistleblowers. Managers should create a safe space for discussing corporate ethics and encourage employee feedback to maximize transparency and minimize the dangers of whistle-blowing events. Creating a forum for employees to voice their opinions might illuminate questionable practices that management hasn’t considered. Above all, employees should never feel silenced or afraid to speak up.
Kon Leong is cofounder and CEO of ZL Technologies Inc.