Analysis of an Ethical Dilemma Case Study in Comparison with ACS Codes of Conduct

Question

Task: Analyse the ethical dilemma, considering the different actions by the ICT professional 'Ken' (as suggested in the three videos), from the perspective of the Australian Computer Society Code of Professional Conduct.
1. Video1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVpQ7OwPmK0
2. Video2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhkoGQNuCNE
3. Video3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxHeH86HVe 

Identify the main ethical dilemma involved in this case and undertake further research about it.

Analyse the ethical dilemma, considering the different actions by the ICT professional 'Ken' (as suggested in the three videos), from the perspective of the Australian Computer Society Code of Professional Conduct.

Make a recommendation on the basis of your analysis providing reasons for this recommendation.

This assessment task will assess the following learning outcome/s:

• Be able to identify ethical issues related to ICT.
• Be able to assess the implications of ethical problems.
• Be able to critically evaluate solutions to ethical problems.
• Be able to argue consistently and rationally about the moral issues raised by the adoption and use of ICT.
• Be able to analyse ethical problems from the point of view of ICT professionals using the Australian Computer Society (ACS) Code of Ethics. 

Answer

Introduction
There have always been new inventions and advances when we talk about Information Technology industry. This industry has brought new gains to the humans yet it must be pointed out that the entry of these new gains in technological field has always had ethical dilemmas associated with them. In the last 20 years of ICT industry, there have been many changes done in the technology industry. But there are these ethical codes known as ACS code of conducts which have not changed even a bit within these years (Bowern, Burmeister, & Gotterbarn, 2007). The aim of this report is to study a case which has ethical dilemma in it. This ethical dilemma case study analysis is done to find the types of ethical dilemmas found out with the help of the ACS code of conducts.

Details of the Case study
In a company where a project system was going to go live in a few days. Ken, the head of that project called the upper authorities and informed them a day before that the system is not able to go live on the given time because the statistical testing was not completed by that time and if it would go live, lots of engineers might lose their jobs. He also knew that by doing this, the company would also be coming under the ethical breaches.

In the second video it is shown that Ken has already sent the untested system go live and the higher authorities were not at all happy about it. And later in the third video, it was shown that he resigned from his job and had some bank issues associated with the money.

Analysis of the Ethical Issues
There are several issues associated with this ethical dilemma case study that can be mapped with the ACS code of conducts. They are as follows:

1. Honesty: In accordance with NR4.3.3, this code of conduct denotes that the trust of the public should not be broken or breached in the profession. Also, the trust of the stakeholders should not be breached as well. Every decision that is taken in the project or profession, they should all be taken with utmost honestly and trust. There are changes when the times can make a person think twice about being honest or be completely professional, but in anyway the honesty should remain intact in any case. Any dishonest behaviour can lead to the breach of the code of conduct(Society, 2014). For maintaining the honesty, a person:


• Should not take any bribery or any kind of incentive to make the work done.
• Should not mislead the client in anyway by giving wrong information as per the suitability of the project or any product.
• Should be able to keep the personal and professional decisions different.
• Should always provide the factual numbers or information about the project to the professionals or the clients of the stakeholders.
• Should be able to qualify with the advices that one knows based on the knowledge.
• Should always give credits to others as well for the work done.
• Should never enhance oneself reputation by keeping the other person’s reputation at stake.

According to this code of conduct, Ken did not honestly tell the stakeholders about the progress of the project as early as it was required to be. Just a few days before, he told the factual progress of the project to his stakeholders (Aliti, 2017). He knew from the beginning that if the untested system goes live on Monday, they will breach a lot of ethical codes and also this might hamper the jobs of lots of engineers. At the same time, he breached the code of conduct by did not being completely honest with the stakeholders with respect to actually sending the system go live on Monday without even completing the testing properly. The stakeholders did not know anything about this.

2. Competence: In accordance with NR4.3.2, the professional should always accept the work that he or she is able to deliver on time. At the same time, should not resist in taking the advice from others to perform the task appropriately. One must always be informed about the limitations he or she has and knowingly denotes that one has competence he do not possess(UGBOGBO.S.N, 2016). This is very different from acceptance given to complete the task with taking help from the other authorities or expertise in addition to oneself. In this code of conduct, one has to:


• Achieve to give the services or the products that matches the financial and functional requirements of the stakeholders.
• Should not mispresent the talent or the knowledge that one possesses.
• Should always be aware of the standards that are relevant and about the legislation too.
• Should always give respect to the interests of the stakeholders(Sargolzaei & Nikbakht, 2017).
• Must always advise the stakeholders if one believes that any project or product is not in their interest.
• Accept the responsibility of his or her work.
• Should always seek advice from the authorities whenever required.

According to this ethical dilemma case study, Ken should have known the delivery time of the system. When he came to know that people are facing issues in the system and it cannot be tested on time and hence, cannot go love in the given time zone, he should have informed the stakeholders before time. This way the reputation of the firm is not at stake (Lokman, 2011). Furthermore, after the stakeholders asked for a month’s time with the client, still Ken happened to go the untested system go live.  He did not even let his stakeholders know about the same whereas it is already said in the ACS code of conduct with respect to competence is that this is not the right thing to do.

3. Professionalism: In accordance with NR4.3.5, the ICT industry is new and always goes through speedy changes. The ACS is achieving to improve the public confidence in the ICT industry. For maintaining the image of the industry, the professional standards should be maintained and specially in the companies or the offices. All people should be treated with respect(Scott, 2011). Discrimination and harassment could lead to breaching the code of conduct. All the people should be aware of the ACS and that it can help in resolving the ethical dilemmas. According to this code of conduct, one should:


• Be able to take the calm and informed stance of the work professionally and engage energetically in it.
• Take apt actions if the behaviour of others is not according to the code(Nayak, 2016).
• Make chances when the actions ca be taken to limit the diversity in the workplace.
• Ensure that the ACS code of conduct should be followed in a better way if possible.
• Not manipulate any person to breach the code in any way possible.
• Withdraw from the conduct or any action in the professional role that might harm the image of the profession or refrain the firm from having a good name in the industry.

According to this ethical dilemma case study, Ken was not at all professional in his work. He informed the stakeholders very late about the status of the project. At the same time, he went really unethical when he took the untested system to go live even after taking time for a month from the stakeholders. As per professionalism is concerned, by making the untested system go live, he put 100’s of engineers jobs at risk too.

Recommendations
The following suggestions are given:

• Informed Decision Making: The decision making should always be done by informing the project members and the stakeholders of the project(Yip & Sng, 2016).
• Transparency: The members working on the project should be transparent to each other about the process of the work so that in any case there can be solutions found out on time(Wells, 2007).
• Stakeholders Decision: The decision of the stakeholders should be kept on the priority if they are not breaching any conduct(Colnerud, 2015).

Conclusion
Ethical Dilemma can cause a lot of harm to the companies and their image in the industry. As per the Information Technology industry is concerned, the ACS code of conduct are the only codes that helps the firms in managing the breaches if they happen. Information Technology industry does not have its own set of codes with respect to ethics concerned. This report focusses on the case study which is related to the ethical dilemma. The case study is discussed in details with the type of ethical dilemmas associated with it. The two major ethical dilemmas were honesty and competence. Professionalism was also a part of this ethical dilemma case study up to a certain extent. The ACS code of conducts are explained in a very detailed manner and also are mapped with the case study discussed above. A few recommendations are also provided which were related to the ethical dilemma case study. In the end, it can be said that ethical issues are always caused in some or the other way in projects in IT industry but breaching is not the solution to any of the issues as it harms the image of the firm in the industry. This is not good for the firm for the long run. Ethical dilemma case study are being prepared by our information technology assignment help experts from top universities which let us to provide you a reliable assignment help online service.

Reference List
Aliti, A. (2017). Ethical dilemmas of software engineers. Retrieved August 14, 2019, from https://open.lnu.se/index.php/dilemmas/article/view/536/526 Bowern, M., Burmeister, O. k., & Gotterbarn, D. (2007). ICT Integrity: Bringing the ACS Code of ethics Up to Date. Australian Journal of Information Systems, 13(2).

Colnerud, G. (2015). Ethical dilemmas in research in relation to ethical review: An empirical study. Sage Journals, 10(4).

Lokman, A. M. (2011). Information Technology Ethics: The Conceptual Model of Constructs, Actions and Control Measure. International Journal of Advanced Trends in Computer Science and Engineering, 3(6).

Nayak, S. V. (2016). Ethical Dilemma at Workplace - A Case Study. nternational Journal of Business from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's, 10(2).

Sargolzaei, E., & Nikbakht, M. (2017). The Ethical and Social Issues of Information Technology: A Case Study. International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 8(10).

Scott, R. (2011). The Case for Ethics in Software Testing. Retrieved August 14, 2019, from Stickyminds.com: https://www.stickyminds.com/article/case-ethics-software-testing

Society, A. C. (2014). ACS Code of Professional Conduct Professional Standards Board Australian Computer Society. Retrieved August 14, 2019, from Acs.org: https://www.acs.org.au/content/dam/acs/rules-and-regulations/Code-of-Professional-Conduct_v2.1.pdf

UGBOGBO.S.N. (2016). EThical issues in information technology- a conceptual approach. Igbinedion University Journal of Accounting, 2. Retrieved from Igbinedion University Journal of Accounting.

Wells, J. K. (2007). Ethical dilemma and resolution: a case scenario. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, 4(1).

Yip, C., & Sng, B. L. (2016). Legal and ethical issues in research. Indian J Anaesth, 60(9), 684–688.