Making Ethical Decisions

The article presents a survey on how companies might influence choices one makes. Businesses are concerned about the ethical behavior of their employees and the security of their information systems. Therefore, businesses are interested in whether they can influence their employees' decision to act ethically or unethically. One avenue of action for companies is to establish a code of ethics and there is evidence that having such standards does influence employees. Results of a recent study support the idea that businesses can influence their employees' behavior particularly in certain situations. People rely heavily on their personal values when deciding what is ethical or unethical behavior. However, when the ethical issue in a given situation is not considered of great importance, people are more likely to consider what company standards say to do or to not do. Reliance on personal values in many situations does not rule out, however, that an established code of ethics could affect what employees decide to do.