Protection of business secrets by employees: comparison between the private and the public sector

Magistrsko delo obravnava temo varovanja poslovnih skrivnosti s strani zaposlenih. Poslovne skrivnosti niso nov koncept, saj so bile prisotne že v zgodovini, spreminjala se je le njihova vsebina. Zanje je značilno, da varujejo določeno znanje, podatke, ideje, posledično pa ohranjajo tajnost in prinašajo prednost pred konkurenco. Podatki in zaposleni tako prevzemajo vlogo najpomembnejšega kapitala organizacije, zato morajo le-te poskrbeti za ustrezno varovanje in izobraževanje. Razlogov za ogroženost poslovnih skrivnosti ni malo, zagotovo pa je eden izmed njih radovednost, ki izhaja iz človeške narave, pozabiti pa ne smemo niti na razlike v gospodarskih dosežkih in željo po čim krajši poti do uspeha. Vire ogrožanja poslovnih skrivnosti predstavljajo vsi tisti, ki si od njih obetajo korist, tako konkurenčne organizacije, zaposleni, kot tudi tuje vlade ter nenehni razvoj nove tehnologije. Zloraba, izdaja in gospodarsko vohunstvo pa so glavni načini omenjenih virov za pridobitev tuje poslovne skrivnosti. Motivi, ki jih pri tem ženejo, so različni. Prednjačijo želja po uspehu, finančna korist, lahko tudi osebno maščevanje in nezadovoljstvo na delovnem mestu. Organizacije morajo zato stremeti k sprejetju ustreznih ukrepov za varovanje poslovnih skrivnosti, zaposlenim pa omogočiti izobraževanje in usposabljanje, saj predstavljajo pomemben člen v varnostni verigi organizacije. Zagotovo je pomembna tudi skrb za organizacijsko kulturo, kajti zadovoljni zaposleni predstavljajo temelj uspeha organizacije. To je potrdila tudi raziskava, ki smo jo izvedli s pomočjo vprašalnika na naključnem vzorcu zaposlenih v Sloveniji. Rezultati so pokazali, da dejavniki, povezani s plačilno disciplino, občutkom pripadnosti podjetju in varnostjo zaposlitve, v manjši meri vplivajo na samo varovanje poslovnih skrivnosti ne glede na sektor zaposlitve. Podrobnejši rezultati in ugotovitve pa so predstavljeni v empiričnem delu naloge.The Master’s thesis discusses the problem of protecting business secrets by the employees. Business secrets are not a new concept since they were present already in the past, only their contents have changed over the years. It is typical for them that they protect certain knowledge, information, ideas and consequently keep them secret and improve competitiveness. Information and employees thus become the most important capital of an organisation which has to be well taken care of and educated. There are many reasons why business secrets are threatened one of them definitely being curiosity that is typical for human nature. Another reason is differences in economic achievements and a wish to succeed as soon as possible. Business secrets are threatened by those that benefit from them, from competitive organisation, employees, foreign governments to ongoing development of modern technologies. They obtain business secrets by misuse, betrayal and economic espionage. They have different motifs ranging from a wish to succeed, financial benefit, personal revenge to dissatisfaction at workplace. Organisations thus need to take appropriate measures to protect business secrets and educate employees since they are an important link in organisation’s security chain. A special attention needs to be paid to organisational culture since satisfied employees are a key to success of any organisation. This was also confirmed by the questionnaire carried out among randomly-chosen employees in Slovenia. The results show that payment discipline, a sense of belonging to a company and job security to a lesser extent affect keeping business secrets, regardless of the sector of employment. Detailed results and conclusions are presented in the empirical part of the Master’s thesis