This case asks you to consider ethics in the computer field.
The Case: Ethical Issues at Marinco Corporation
For the past two years, you have been working as a systems developer at Marinco Corporation, a large conglomerate with interests in everything from corporate finance to pharmaceuticals to telecommunications. Your division, Financial Services, contracts with large retailers to handle their credit card services. Marinco considers these retailers to be their clients and depends on them for keeping their division profitable.
Marinco maintains a staff of approximately 80 customer service representatives. The staff is divided into five main groups according to the retailer they serve. Each group fields the same basic types of calls, which come from two basic groups of people: customers, who often inquire about charges on their statements, credit increases, and general account information; and store personnel, who typically call when they want to know about a customer's account status, outstanding charges, and other details about the customer's spending habits.
Earlier this week, your boss, Louise Nomura, asked you to attend a meeting about a special project that she needed your technological help with. Louise is the manager of data services at your division, with extensive experience in data administration at several of the company's divisions.
As you enter the meeting in the main conference room, you realize that this would be no ordinary exercise. Seated at the table are Marcus Fornell, vice president for the Financial Services Division, and your boss, Louise.
"Welcome!" Louise says cordially, as she introduces you to the others at the table. You take a seat next to Louise, wondering what project upper management has in mind for you. Louise introduces you to Marcus, who thanks you for coming to the meeting.
"Let me begin by getting everyone up to speed about what we're doing here," begins Marcus. "Over the past six months, this division's statistics show that fewer customer calls are being answered by our representatives, even though the number of incoming calls has risen steadily. We attempted to solve this problem by adding more customer service representatives to the staff. Yet statistics from just two weeks ago show that the number of calls actually answered has stayed consistent.
"What we're looking at here," Marcus continues, "is a productivity slip among the customer service representatives. As every trainee knows, our clients demand that we provide efficient, courteous service to their customers-this is what our business has been built upon. When operators are unavailable to answer calls, customers get frustrated and hang up. Some of these customers, in turn, complain to the department stores that issued their credit cards, saying that they received poor service from the 800 number printed on their statements. Rightly so, our department store clients have begun to express concern whether Marinco is capable of handling their business. In fact, one of our best clients reported that they have witnessed a 34% rise in the number of complaints related to excessively slow customer service during the past six months. This client has even threatened to discontinue using Marinco if this percentage is not improved within six months.
"I've been organizing a task force to find out why our productivity has been declining. I realize that problems could lie in a number of areas, not just one. In fact, some of the problems may rest with our clients. Regardless of where the fault lies, we need to scrutinize our processes to see where productivity losses are occurring. Louise, tell us how you think the information systems department can help perform this task."
"We have reason to believe that employees may be spending an excess amount of time on the company's e-mail system, perhaps for personal use. We need your help in tracking how employees use the electronic mail system," Louise says, shifting her attention to you. "Since you just upgraded the system last month-and, I might add, created some very impressive capabilities-I would like your help with this exercise."
"What kind of tracking system are you thinking about?" you inquire.
"The task would involve random monitoring of inter-company e-mail messages," says Marcus. "You will need to set up the e-mail system so you can get a good cross-sampling of the type of mail being sent, and being read, by the CSRs. For example, you might decide to have the system send you a copy of every tenth message sent over the network. Although we expect a certain amount of personal e-mail on the system, if we find that the system is being abused for this purpose, we will need to put policies in place to govern how employees use it."
Louise interjects, "The only way you're really going to know if a message is business-related or personal is to read it. Of course, everything you read will need to stay confidential. The only people who will know about what you're doing include the people in this room and possibly other members of upper management. We will want a report of your findings each week for at least a month. Occasionally, we may want to review some of the actual messages you have collected. You can write-up your findings in memo format and distribute them to Marcus and me."
As you begin to think about the technological modifications necessary to fulfill this request, another consideration also is on your mind. "Will you be telling employees that some of their e-mail may be monitored and let them know why we're doing this?" you ask.
Marcus answers, "That's an important point. We cannot tell employees we're conducting this analysis, since doing so would most likely skew the results. We want to be sure we're measuring exactly how customer service representatives are using the system. Since the information will be kept strictly confidential and is for reporting purposes only, I don't see any legal problems arising. Besides, if employees are using company equipment for their personal affairs, we have a right to know what they're using it for and put a stop to it if necessary."
Louise continues Marcus's line of reasoning, "It's like if someone abused using the photocopier for making personal documents, especially when others were waiting in line to make legitimate copies. In that case, the company certainly has a right to know how its equipment is being used."
Marcus looks at his watch and interjects, "I've got to get to another meeting. Let me know how this project is going in about a week." He thanks you for helping on this project and exits the room.
"I'd like you to get to work on this project as soon as you can," Louise says. "Think about any questions you have for me, and we can discuss them sometime tomorrow. I know I can trust you to complete this project successfully."
You and Louise part company. Sitting alone in the conference room, you begin to analyze the meeting and this project. While the exercise doesn't seem too technologically difficult, it does raise some ethical issues for you and your company.
The Task
Depending on instructions provided by your instructor, perform one or more of the following activities. You may want to review the "Focus on Ethics" features in the text for advice on how to handle the issues presented in this case.