Case summary:
Dennis felt Zack invaded his privacy by reading his personal emails
The little communication and emphasis put on the personal computer usage guidelines and implementation
Summary of Recommendation:
Listen to Dennis and Zack story to understand their reaction
Review the email and internet policy to make sure it fits the corporate culture
Make sure all employees understand the Vitruvius code of conduct and usage guidelines
Case Analysis:
Vitruvius Sportsware is a menswear and casual clothing midscale retail outlets throughout Washington, Oregon, California and Arizona. Rick Sanchez, IT System Engineer gave Dennis Gardner, marketing manager a heads up that Zackary Crowell, newly appointed vice president for sales and marketing. He told Dennis that Zackary was reviewing traffic of emails. Zack was interested in emails between Dennis and his doctor. Dennis believes he had complied with personal employee computer usage guidelines, he feels that his privacy has been violated. Rick told Dennis that system administrator can look at the message traffic any time. If the company owns the system they own the content. Dennis was upset because he was briefed on email use but he was told that personal messages were fine, as long as they did not overload the system, operate a business for profit, or pass along inappropriate content. Dennis went to speak to Mr. Kelleher, one of the founding officers of the corporation was executive vice president and chief operating officer, and he went to express his concern about the unethical employee communication practices at Vitruvius Sportswear, Inc.
Alternatives Identified: 1- The violation of privacy felt by Dennis: If the current situation is not resolved a distrustful environment will continue between Dennis and Zack. This will eventually spread amongst other employees.
