Reference no: EM132407983

Sam is a co-worker and friend of Alvin. They often go out socially together on weekends.

Recently, Sam has noticed a (slight) change in the behavior of Alvin. It would probably not have even been noticed except that Sam was a friend of Alvin's. When Alvin was away from his desk, Sam accidentally noticed the screen of Alvin's computer. The image on the screen showed that Alvin was

in an area of the organization's Information System that had nothing to do with Alvin's job. Sam quickly looked away from the screen and went about his official duties. After several days of thinking about what he had witnessed, Sam began to wonder if he should report the incident to his supervisor.  He had almost convinced himself to drop the incident when he noticed Alvin's screen was in a similar place to the previous incident.

What should Sam do?

Ethical Frameworks:

Utilitarian approach

Rights approach

Fairness approach

Common good approach

Decision criteria that used for making a ethical decision:

1. Harm test: does this option do less harm than any alternative
2. Publicity test: would I want my choice published in the newspaper
3. Defensibility test: could I defend my choice of this option before a Congressional committee, my peers, my parents?
4. Reversibility test: Would I still think the choice of this option good if I were one of those adversely affected by it?
5. Virtue test: What would I become if I chose this option often?
6. Professional test: What would a profession's ethics committee say about this option?
7. Colleague test: What would my colleagues say when I describe my problem and suggest this option as a solution?