Introduction:
Data is the lifeblood of the organizations as well as the broader business ecosystems. It helps the organizations to thrive when the economy is up, succeed when the economy is stable, and maintain the economy when it falters (Deresky, 2017). Holdstudent (App) organization utilize information since it is the source of their revenue streams. Nonetheless, they should always seek data sharing best practices, and other resources to maximize on the value and at the same time ensures that sharing pays due to the consideration to the ethical concerns (Deresky, 2017).
Ethics include; moral choices which are made by people about the rest of the community, standards of the behavior that is acceptable and the rules which governs the members of the profession (López, 2014). The ethical issues which this venture that they will likely to face in regards to managing and storing of the data are; legislation such as the data protection which provides the ethical framework, consent, respecting privacy and security. In this research, it will examine some of the ethical issues that could be faced by Holdstudent (App) regarding managing and storing data along with giving data to sponsors and using this data as a source of their other revenue stream.
Consent
With the new technologies, they enable the sharing and managing of the data of the organization both for the clients and employees’ data. Holdstudent (APP) they need guidelines as to what is acceptable to be shared by the employees (George, Haas and Pentland, 2014). Without the use of such guidelines, some of the content could be offensive to some of the organizational workers and some of their client (Kshetri, 2014). Consent is essential when sharing and managing the organization data and when developing guidelines, the organization should be restrictive in what is to be permissible within the business (López, 2014). The restrictions will only become an ethical issue when the organization extends them to the employees and the clients’ private lives.
Privacy
This is an issue with both internal as well as external implications. Holdstudent (App) organization collects personal data on the employees, and clients and if this data is not managed and safeguarded it could result in adverse implications for individuals. Information such as personal identification, background data, and account identifiers all should be maintained, and access is given to the authorized individuals (George, Haas and Pentland, 2014). The system which keeps track of this particular data should be kept secure to ensure that no unauthorized individual can access the information (López, 2014). Moreover, the organization should also keep their corporate data safe such as information on a new product they are launching. If the data was stolen, the competitors could use it to start similar products which will enable them to gain substantial revenue streams.
Security
Holdstudent (App) organization monitors and collect the workers and client’s additional data in the name of the security. An ethical issue could arise from the continuous monitoring of their activity and then record the same for their gain. Unjustified level of the surveillance is ethically questionable; an ethical organization should ensure that they establish a level of monitoring which is justifiable (López, 2014). The oversight of the non-employees such as the clients, competitors organization or even the supplier's representatives, should be constrained to an even lower level to ensure it is ethically acceptable.
Data protection
When Holdstudent (App) manages any personal information for the client, they should ensure they secure the data from the unauthorized individuals. Data protection becomes ethical issues when the organization withhold the information for their gain or give this particular information to the sponsors such as spy on the competitors using the personal information of their clients (Melé and Gonzaéz-Cantón, 2014). In case Holdstudent (App) does fabricate, or misrepresent the personal data of the clients and employees they can be sued for this unlawful act (Sousa and Oz, 2014). There are number legal obligations to protect such information under the Data Protection Act of 1998.
Recommendations:
When it comes to the privacy issues, there should be operational policies and procedures which are set to address proper handling of the data. Additionally, the practices which will be proposed need be followed and enforced. The reason to implement them is that Holdstudent (App) routinely share data with other organization, and they sometime they could merge the database which could contain all kind of the identifiers. On the issue of security, the group needs to ensure they have set best practices to ensure that monitoring has been constrained to a lower level to be ethically acceptable. Data protection and Consent is essential when it comes to collecting, gathering, storing and giving out personal data to the sponsor or for business for other users to gain revenue stream. It is essential for the organization to have policies which will guide then when it comes to giving out data for other purposes.
References:
Deresky, H., 2017. International management: Managing across borders and cultures. Pearson Education India.
George, G., Haas, M.R. and Pentland, A., 2014. Big data and management. Academy of Management Journal, 57(2), pp.321-326.
López, J.A.P., 2014. Foundations of management. Ediciones Rialp.
Kshetri, N., 2014. Big data? s impact on privacy, security and consumer welfare. Telecommunications Policy, 38(11), pp.1134-1145.
Melé, D. and Gonzaéz-Cantón, C., 2014. Human foundations of management. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Sousa, K. and Oz, E., 2014. Management information systems. Nelson Education.
