Boundary Ethics

Civilization is built on an intricate set of protocols that define behavior when money changes hands. When a businessman crosses a boundary with their clients the response could be unpleasant and unproductive. More of this is discussed under the subject of "taking liberties." Here, for instance, a computer repair person who is supposed to fix infected software takes the liberty of replacing the entire hard drive without notifying the owner of the computer. It is in the economic interest of the repair shop to take liberties like this because a business can sell more replacement parts and charge for more labor. The repair person could have simply reformatted the hard drive. Bad sectors on the hard drive would be noted and skipped prior to installing the computer software. In business, it is common to "beg forgiveness than to ask permission." It is a profitable, but unethical practice to cross boundaries.

Password Boundaries
The password boundary is an example ethics at work. To turn ones head away when another person is entering a password is a common courtesy extended by ethical people to others to demonstrate they have no interest in "accidentally" learning of another person's password. It acknowledges that a boundary exists, and it will be honored. This extends to personal information gathered from the client. If a businessman has no "need to know" of certain personal information they should not have possession of that knowledge. "Information mining" can derive certain other rewards for a clever businessperson. Again crossing boundaries can be profitable.

Service Industry
When service people work inside their client's house there are many boundaries to be observed. You would not expect a workman to open the homeowner's refrigerator but you would expect then to have access to the bathroom. When a remodeling project is in the process many construction workers are walking all around house. This gives rise to another boundary problem; aggressively peeking into the lives of the homeowners. For instance, leafing through papers, magazines, picking up things lying around and the like are all intrusions into the client’s space. The problem with businesses’ that do not strictly defining the behavior of workmen when in a clients’ house is that lax oversight encourages crime to flourish in the shadows. Aggressive peeking can escalate into theft. Employees who start peeking sooner or later discover that they can seal small valuable objects without getting caught because the object will not be immediately discovered. A poorly managed construction company in a sense enables certain crimes and boundary crossing that surly are unethical.

• Constructive Taking
• Overpowering the Client