You may find many of articles over this topic, and various flavors of views on what to do and what to not. Anyway, who cares about general guidelines unless they are framed under some strict & legal action :) Don't worry, I will bore you here, but will share you some points that seems unethical to me. I am one of you, and don't take me from HR, Admin, Account or organization owner; :)
Occasionally, I use my office internet for personal emails, internet banking(for billers like mobile, credit card,insurance) and for books order(rarely but true fact). Though, I make myself feel better when I see others doing online shopping/ exploring items, news reading, random surfing and so on, but fact remains unchanged and my opinion is that it is not 100% ethical, right ? :(
1. Misuse of office technology/property
This is where most of professionals spare their time. It degrade your performance if you switch for sometime on random surfing in between your work.
- Office internet - It should not misuse by downloading your personal stuffs or doing personal surfing. Most of organizations keeps the internet log and your activities are recorded. One of my known was working in a company (not disclose name here but that is situated in Udyog Vihar Phase-V, Gurgaon, India) got fired on the basis of logs.
- Office Phone - Though most of Indian cellular service providers are offering low calling rate, still some greedy peoples misuse their office phones for personal calls. It should be avoided.
- Office Scanner/Printer - I have seen in many organizations, people uses office printers for their personal print-outs. Don't ever try to print your kids school's assignments :) It must be avoided.
2. Misuse of flexibility
- Gossip in cafeteria
- Out of office for hour(s)
There are some kind organizations who consider only 2 card punch,(your office-in & last-out punch) to calculate your work hour for the day. But all organizations are not kind enough to provide you this type of flexibility. Even, they separate their work-area and other areas like washroom, cafeteria etc which force you to punch your card every time you go cafeteria (which is itself inside your office!) 3. Never accuse your colleagues on their knowledge
Why accuse others? I personally believe in "Karma" and follow "help silently, god see it, and we are bound to god only". Remember, if you have sound knowledge on certain skill set, others may have on different skill set or have expertise in different area. Peoples joins an organization from different companies where they had worked in different environment, domain, technology and differ in expertise/skills.