Like with many organizations, there are specific values that the United States Air Force expects from its members. The video this week discussed some of the core values that most organizations expect, which the Air Force is no different (in fact it could be argued that these values are even more important in the military sector than civilian). The two values I’ll be looking at are not sharing confidential information and not touching co-workers inappropriately.
One of the ethical values that Chuck Gallagher shared was the idea of keeping confidential information confidential. The way he brought this up was by saying “we sit down on our social media, or wherever it happens to be, and we begin sharing or discriminating information, and it might be very easy” (Gallagher, 2013). This, of course, is completely unethical as company secrets might get into the wrong hands. The Air Force expects its members to “ensure no discredit to the Air Force or compromise of operational security when using personal and government information systems or social media” (Department of the Air Force, 2015). Many members, leaders included, have violated this value by posting pictures on social media of their times on deployment. While seemingly innocent by themselves, enemies are able to gather these photos and collect sensitive information like base perimeter details, checkpoint information, or perhaps relative locations of one area to another (for example the sleeping quarters to the chow hall).
The other ethical value Chuck Gallagher brought up was the idea of not creating a hostile work environment. He mentioned that “it’s unethical to go up to someone who’s a coworker and inappropriately touch them” (Gallagher, 2013). This in itself should be completely obvious as being unethical. The Air Force talks about this by stating all members should “actively support and enforce the Air Force’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy for discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexual assault. Every Airman deserves to work in an environment of dignity and respect” (Department of the Air Force, 2015). There have been many cases of sexual harassment in the military and not only has it brought discredit to the Air Force, but when members don’t feel safe because of the people they work with, something’s wrong.
This week I looked at two different ethical values that Chuck Gallagher has shared with his audience. In both cases I explained scenarios that have actually happened where the actions of certain individuals not only compromises the security of forward deployed locations but actions that create an unhealthy work environment, which is not only discrediting to the individual but to the Air Force as a whole.
References
Department of the Air Force. (2015). The Airman
Handbook.
Gallagher, C. (2013). Straight Talk about Ethics!
Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUJ00vNGCPE
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