Lecture Business and society: Stakeholders, ethics, public policy (14/e): Chapter 12 - Anne Lawrence, James Weber

Chapter 12 - Technology, organizations, and society. The goals of this chapter are: Defining technology and its characteristics, recognizing the evolving phases of technology throughout history and what fuels technological innovation today, examining how technological innovations have changed the way organizations operate and interact with their stakeholders around the world,...

Chapter 12

Technology, Organizations, and

Society

Ch 12: Key Learning Objectives

history and what fuels technological innovation today

the way organizations operate and interact with their

stakeholders around the world

texting, instant messaging, tweets, blogs, vlogs, spam,

and phishing—and the challenges they create for

businesses and government policymakers

education and medicine

Technology Defined

 Technology – A broad term referring to the practical

applications of science and knowledge to commercial

and organizational activities

 Change is the dominant feature of technology

• Sometimes the pace of change is so fast and furious that it approaches the limits of human tolerance and people lose their ability to cope with it successfully

 Technology’s effects are widespread

• Ripples through society until every community is affected

 Technology is self-reinforcing

• Acts as a multiplier to encourage its own faster development

Phases in the Development of Technology

Figure 12.1

Fueling Technological Growth

 Government:

 Government investment has helped launch many new

technologies, including the Internet, and these trends continue

 In 2012, President Obama unveiled his Big Data R&D Initiative

and committed more than $200 million in new funding to

“improve our ability to extract knowledge and insights from large and complex collections of digital data”

 Private investment:

 Venture capitalists are investors who provide capital to start-up

companies that do not have access to public funding

 They have long targeted technological innovation, with the aim

of making outsized returns

Fueling Technological Growth

 Business investment:

 Business firms have invested directly in technology through

their research and development (R & D) operations

 These investments have often benefited the business, as well

as produced innovations that have moved their industries forward

 The combination of government, private investor, and

business investment in technology has continued to

drive innovation forward But, ultimately, technology

continues to evolve because of people’s insatiable

desire for it

Technology as a Powerful Force in

Business

 The Internet

 One of the most visible and widely used technological

innovations over the past decade has been the Internet

 Springing to life in 1994, the Internet is a global network of

interconnected computers, enabling users to share information along multiple channels linking individuals and organizations

 In 2008, China surpassed the United States with the most

Internet users by country

 While opportunities to use the Internet are growing quickly,

some limitations have appeared, such as in China when the government attempted to convert all identification records to their digital database systems

Top 20 Internet Users by Country (2008)

Figure 12.2

Technology as a Powerful Force in

Business

 E-business

 Consists of buying and selling goods and services between

businesses, organizations, and individuals electronically via Internet-based systems

 During the past few years, e-business revenue has increased

at a faster pace than that of traditional, or non-electronic, business

 One controversial area where e-business has made a

significant impact is online gambling

Technology as a Powerful Force in

Business

 M-Commerce

 Commerce conducted via mobile or cell phones, provides

consumers with an electronic wallet when using their mobile phones

 Given the significant increase in smartphone users,

businesses have looked for ways to reach out to these potential customers

• QR an abbreviation for “quick response,” consists of a square made up of black and white spaces that when read by a cell phone transmits information to the use

Social Networking – Tools and

Threats

 A system using technology to enable people to

connect, explore interests, and share activities around

the world

 In 2011, 1.2 billion people worldwide used social

networking sites at least once per month

 Examples of the more popular social networking sites

on the Internet include Facebook, MySpace,

YouTube, and Twitter

 Each of these popular social networking Internet sites have

their ethical challenges

Blogs and Vlogs

 Blogs – web based journals or logs maintained by an

individual with regular entries of commentary,

descriptions, or accounts of events

 156 million blogs counted by BlogPlus

 Ethical questions about blogs emerged – For example,

according to a Los Angeles Times report, thousands of

bloggers were being paid by marketing firms to promote or

attack various products on the market

 New generation of blogs, called vlogs, or video Web

logs appeared in mid-2000’s

 All that was needed was access to a digital camera that could

capture moving images and high-speed Internet access

Threats from Technology – Spam and

Unsolicited Commercial E-mail

 Spam refers to unsolicited commercial e-mails (UCE

or junk e-mails) sent in bulk to valid e-mail accounts

 Has become big business and big headache for business

 Organizations and individuals have adopted use of spam blockers, but sometimes difficult to sort out bad emails

 Government has attempted to monitor, control and prosecute spammers using Internet for illegal activity

 U.K and the U.S have anti-spam legislation

Threats from Technology – Phishing

 Practice of duping computer users into revealing their

passwords or other private data under false pretenses

 The Anti-Phishing Working Group, a U.S industry association,

reported in 2012 that 39 percent of the world’s personal computers were infected with some type of malware

 In 2012, fifteen companies, including e-mail service providers

(Google, Microsoft, and AOL) and financial service companies (Bank of America, Fidelity Investments, and PayPal), created DMARC.org (Domain-based Message Authentication,

Reporting and Conformance) to promote a standard set of

Threats from Technology – Government Censorship of the Internet

 Many people believe that information on the Internet

should be universally accessible Some people

believe that restrictions should be placed on some

categories of information

 Some countries have imposed censorship on broad categories

of online information

• The Chinese government operates one of the most sophisticated systems of Internet censorship in the world

• It requires all China-based Web sites and blogs to register with the government and blocks access to many kinds of information,

including material critical of the government

Socially Beneficial Uses of Technology

 Technology and Education

 Enables students in poor and remote communities to access the world’s best libraries, instructors, and courses available through the Internet

 Medical Information via the Internet

 The abundance of medical information available on the Internet was welcomed by medical practitioners and the public in general

• Some warned that this easily available information might create

a group of cyberchondriacs, a term referring to people who leap

to the most dreadful conclusions while researching health matters online

 Another emerging issue focused on digital medical records,

Special Issue: The Digital Divide

 Gap between those that have technology and those that

do not

 Recently, some evidence has suggested that the digital

divide in the United States is becoming smaller

 Progress in narrowing the digital divide in developing

countries has been slower, but still evident

 Researchers found that the world was becoming more

“hyper-connected,” fostering greater global trade and interpersonal communications online