Ubiquitous computing in the workplace

ethical issues identified by the interdisciplinary iwe and hrm research group

Céline Ehrwein Nihan

pp. 75-93

in: Ubiquitous computing in the workplace, Berlin, Springer, 2015

Abstract

This article presents a synthesis of the first results of the intelligent working environment and human resources management (IWE and HRM) project. I will start with some considerations aimed at clarifying the conceptual and general epistemological frameworks which underline this research (1). I will then turn to the axiological and normative context which surrounds the development of IWEs. In a descriptive approach, I will draw up the main moral values at stake identified by our research group and will try to clarify their meaning (2). The third section will be devoted to the ethical challenges raised by the emergence of the IWEs (3). These will be considered from two different and complementary perspectives. The first one, which will follow a deontological approach, will lead me to highlight the conflicts that might arise between the principles at stake, as well as between the different normative systems supported by the stakeholders. The second perspective, which will be more consequentialist, will bring me to describe some possible positive and negative impacts of the development of the IWE in the eyes of both employers and employees. I shall conclude with a few points of reflection on the ethical rules that should be respected in the development and implementation of Ubicomp in the workplace (4).