Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Ann is an accountant at Acme Corporation, a medium-sized firm with 50 employees.
All of the employees work in the same building, and Ann knows all of them on a first-
name basis. In fact, Ann distributes paychecks to Acme's employees at the end of every
month.
Ann's 10-year-old daughter is a Girl Scout. During the annual Girl Scout cookie sale,
Ann sent an email to all of the other Acme employees, inviting them to stop by her desk
during a break and place orders. (There is no company rule prohibiting the use of the
email system for personal emails.) Nine of the recipients were happy to get Ann's email,
and they ordered an average of four boxes of cookies, but the other 40 recipients did not
appreciate having to take the time to read and delete an unwanted message; half of them
complained to a coworker about Ann's action.
Did Ann do anything wrong?
KANTIAN ANALYSIS
According to the second formulation of the Categorical Imperative, we should always
respect the autonomy of other people, treating them as ends in themselves and never
only as the means to an end. The story provides evidence that Ann was not simply
“using” her coworkers as the means to her end of making money for the Girl Scouts. She
didn't misrepresent what she was doing. She didn't force anyone to buy the cookies or
even read the entire email; employees not interested in Girl Scout cookies could simply
delete Ann's message as soon as they read the subject line. Some people who received
the email freely chose to buy some cookies. Therefore, what Ann did wasn't strictly
wrong.
On the other hand, if Ann had found a way for those people interested in hearing
about the Girl Scout cookie drive to “opt in” to her announcement, those people not
interested in purchasing Girl Scout cookies would not have been bothered by her email.
An “opt in” approach would have been better because it would have shown more respect
for the autonomy of Ann's coworkers.
ACT UTILITARIAN ANALYSIS
We will do our evaluation in terms of dollars and cents, quantifying the benefits and
costs of Ann's action. Let's begin with the benefits. A box of cookies costs $4 and pro-
vides $3 of profit to the Girl Scouts. Someone who buys a box of Girl Scout cookies
understands it is a fund-raising activity and is happy with what he receives for $4. Since
the cost of $4 is matched with $4 of benefit, they cancel each other out in our analysis,
and we do not have to worry about this factor anymore. The average employee who par-
ticipated in the sale purchased four boxes of cookies. Nine employees participated, which
means Ann sold 36 boxes of cookies and provided $108 of benefit to the Girl Scouts.
Now let's look at the harms. The principal harm is going to be the time wasted
by Acme's employees. Ann took orders and made deliveries during coffee or lunch
breaks, rather than on company time, so our focus is on the 40 employees who did
not appreciate getting Ann's solicitation. It's reasonable to assume that they spent an
