What are potential ethical risks in DEOCS administration?

• A. Privacy breaches
• B. All of the above
• C. Coercion to participate
• D. Misuse of data to retaliate

Answer: (B)

Ethical concerns in DEOCS administration center on protecting privacy, ensuring voluntary participation, and preventing misuse of responses. Privacy breaches are a real risk because DEOCS gathers sensitive impressions about the workplace climate; if identifying details aren’t properly removed or access isn’t tightly controlled, individuals could be traced to their responses, leading to potential harm or retaliation and eroding trust in the process. Coercion to participate can happen when participation feels required or when supervisors imply that doing the survey or answering in certain ways could affect evaluations or standing; such pressure compromises voluntary consent and can bias results. Misuse of data to retaliate is another serious risk: even with good intentions, results could be used to target, discipline, or embarrass employees who spoke up, undermining safety and openness. Taken together, these risks capture why the option that includes all of them is the best choice. Mitigation focuses on strict confidentiality, voluntary participation, independent administration, clear data governance, and robust anti-retaliation policies to ensure the data are used solely to improve the work environment.