Case study on Business Ethics: Ethics and Technology

Stavros is an exemplary employee working for an Audit firm. He is always on time

for work and never causes any problems. His performance has always been
evaluated as being above standard and he has recently been promoted to junior
Auditor.

Despite of this, Stavros is not very pleased at the remuneration package that he
receives. He believes that he spends a lot more time and effort that he is getting
paid for. However, he is patiently waiting for his big break. To be promoted to a
senior Auditor and then a partner.

As a habit, during his break time, Stavros is reading the news from online
websites. One day, he came across the classifieds (job postings) where he saw
that another major Audit firm was looking for a senior Auditor. Intrigued by the
classified, Stavros clicked on the link and read the job description as well as the
remuneration package. The pay was indeed a lot higher than what he was
receiving in his current job. The classified was highlighting an email address where
interested people could send their CVs.

Stavros took out his USB stick which contained his CV, opened his personal email
account, attached his CV and sent it to the aforementioned address.

Unfortunately for him, his computer was being monitored by the IT department
through a system similar to team viewer. The IT department notified senior
management about the incident and a day later Stavros was fired.

1) Was Stavros right to send his CV from his current work?

2) Was management right to fire Stavros?
3) If you were in Stavros’ situation what would you do?