Lesson 6 - Privacy and Confidentiality

What is the result of keeping confidences? Keeping confidences will allow you to have an advantage in your group. Keeping confidences will help you earn trust. Keeping confidences will lead to mental fatigue. Keeping confidences will lead to a loss of trust.

Keeping confidences will help you earn trust.

sensitive

having to do with security

private

personal; not public

security

that which has to do with keeping something safe or free of danger

What are 5 ways in which you might come into possession of private information? You have been told something by a superior and were instructed to keep it confidential. You have been told something by a coworker and have not been given permission to share it. You read a corporate-wide e-mail. You read a newsletter published by your company. You are an office assistant or private secretary and have been given confidential information so that you can carry out tasks. You are in a position of leadership and have been given information that is not for general distribution among the staff. You have overheard a conversation, been sent an email by mistake, or in some other indirect way learned private information.

- You are in a position of leadership and have been given information that is not for general distribution among the staff. - You are an office assistant or private secretary and have been given confidential information so that you can carry out tasks. - You have been told something by a superior and were instructed to keep it confidential. - You have been told something by a coworker and have not been given permission to share it. - You have overheard a conversation, been sent an email by mistake, or in some other indirect way learned private information.

Tamara was talking on her cell phone outside the building during a break. She and her boyfriend were having difficulty, and Tamara became quite upset during the conversation. Later, when she stepped into the cafeteria for lunch, her coworkers got quiet. She went to the microwave to heat her food and noticed that no one was making eye contact with her. She was embarrassed and did not want to speak to her friends. All she wanted to do was go home. What confidentiality rule was obviously broken? A person should assume that everything is confidential unless given permission to share it. A person sometimes has the right to break a confidence if harm might otherwise occur. A person should not tell anything that he or she has been asked to keep confidential. A person should use good judgment and not share information that might cause embarrassment.

A person should use good judgment and not share information that might cause embarrassment.

What information should you keep confidential? No information should be kept confidential. All information should be kept confidential. Information should be kept confidential if it is marked confidential. All information should be considered confidential unless you are given permission to tell others.

All information should be considered confidential unless you are given permission to tell others.

Under what circumstances is it necessary to break a confidence? Breaking a confidence might be necessary if conditions change. A confidence might be broken if a large amount of money is at stake. If someone could be harmed or if a law is going to be broken, you should be willing to tell the appropriate parties. A confidence might be broken if a coworker asks you about private information.

If someone could be harmed or if a law is going to be broken, you should be willing to tell the appropriate parties.

What does "need to know" mean? Need to know information is to be shared only with those who need to know that information so that they can do their jobs, not with others. Need to know information means that everyone needs to know. Need to know means that only people who can keep confidences will be told. Need to know means that no one ever needs to know.

Need to know information is to be shared only with those who need to know that information so that they can do their jobs, not with others.

What is a manager's expectation concerning private information revealed to a select group? The expectation is that the information will be kept private in that group. The expectation is that the information will be kept private within the company. The expectation is that the information will be shared with only a small number of people. The expectation is that the information will not be revealed to the media.

The expectation is that the information will be kept private in that group.

Mr. Faraday, the manager, shared plans for a new program with his supervisors. He mentioned before the end of the meeting that the plans should not be shared with the rest of the employees. This morning another employee asked him about the new program, and it was obvious that she had details. Mr. Faraday is feeling betrayed by his supervisors. Is he right to feel this way? Why? Yes, a person should use good judgment and not share information that might cause embarrassment. Yes, a person should assume that everything is confidential unless given permission to share it. Yes, a person should not tell anything that he or she has been asked to keep confidential. No, a person sometimes has the right to break a confidence if harm might otherwise occur.

Yes, a person should not tell anything that he or she has been asked to keep confidential.

How can you protect your relationship with your superiors? You can protect your relationship by never listening to communications passed to you by your superiors. You can protect your relationship with your superiors by assuming that all communications are confidential. You can protect your relationship if you tell them you will keep communications confidential. You can protect your relationship by never coming into possession of confidential communications.

You can protect your relationship with your superiors by assuming that all communications are confidential.

What will be the personal results if you fail to keep private information confidential? You will harm your reputation and career if you do not learn to keep a confidence. Your conscience will bother you, or you will eventually fail on the team. You will lose inside information that you could have used to further your career. You will gain trust, because no one really knows how to keep a confidence.

You will harm your reputation and career if you do not learn to keep a confidence.

indiscretion

an act that is performed not using good judgment