Advice from the Texas Instruments Ethics Office

Ethical Responsibilities, Raising Issues, and Getting Help

Responsibilities, Rights and Obligations vis a vis the Company

Responsibilities, Rights and Obligations vis a vis Co-worker

Professional Ethics for Engineers

Intellectual Property

Ethical Responsibilities, Raising Issues, and Getting Help

Help on Ethical Decisions

Guidelines to determine ethical implications of decisions.

See also Perceptions on the importance for the working community of raising issues of apparent wrong doing by others, not only to stop wrong doing but also to dispel suspicion.

Back to Top

Responsibilities, Rights and Obligations vis a vis the Company

Computer Games as an Example, Raising Issues About Apparent Wrongdoing

Ethical implications of using computer equipment to play computer games.

Company Resources Used for Personal Benefit

Ethical implications of misuse of company assets such as copy machines and computer equipment for personal use.

Ethical Issues in Company Travel

Ethical issues of travel, expenditures allowed for business purposes and personal travel.

Back to Top

Responsibilities, Rights and Obligations vis a vis Co-workers

Diversity and Opportunity

Ethical decision-making in employment and personnel, equal opportunity, fairness and conflict of interest.

Favoritism in the Workplace

Perception of favoritism, being treated fairly, and the importance of a valuing environment.

Gossiping at Work

Communication and the perception of ill-truths, rumors and the effects in the workplace.

Individual Privacy

Ethical issues of reasonable rights to privacy, monitoring of email, offensive communications, copying and sharing email information.

Responsibilities as a Team Leader

Discussion of the responsibilities of a leader that include: employee motivation, meeting expectations and creation of safe atmosphere of trust and mutual respect.

Sexual Harassment

Ethics of providing an environment free of discrimination in all forms.

Back to Top

Professional Ethics for Engineers

Entertainment, Gifts-Avoiding Bribes and Conflict of Interest

Ethical issues as they apply to gifts, entertainment and courtesy expenses.

Signing Off on Engineering Documents

Proper use of professional titles and ethical implications of misuse.

Mischarging Time -- Financial Fraud

Protection of company assets from theft, that include losses in time, equipment, productivity, improper use of expense accounts and work relationships.

Back to Top

Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property - Copyrights and Patents

Ethical implications of illegal copying of software, copyright restrictions on written articles, and reverse engineering.

Proprietary and Other Sensitive Information

Improper use of electronic data processing resources that violate security requirements, information exchange with customers and suppliers, signing non-disclosure agreements.

Software Piracy vs. Legal Copying

Guidelines to protect against software piracy, ethical use of copied software, unlicensed software and use of questionable graphics.

Software, Bringing Your Own to Work

Ethical considerations and guidelines to use of personal software on company computers.

Benchmarking and Reverse Engineering

Ethical issues of competitive benchmarking, how information is requested without misrepresentation or deceite, reverse engineering to reveal design and function, consideration of legalities, violation of patent rights.

 Back to Top

Confidentiality

Privacy, Confidentiality and Telephone Use

Ethics of monitoring phone conversations, limited monitoring in the ordinary course of business, personal information disseminated via telephone.

Back to Top

This pages contains a selection of advice from The Ethics Office at Texas Instruments Corporation.

The advice is that of either TI Ethics Director Carl Skooglund or Glenn Coleman, Manager of Ethics Communication and Education. The articles were distributed among TI employees via TNEWS.