Reflective Ethics Essay: Ethical Concepts In It
Question
Task: This assessment task addresses the following subject learning objectives
- Explain the social impact of information technology and the social responsibility of IT professionals;
- Critically review the IT profession’s Codes of Ethics and Codes of Conduct, and develop a personal ethical framework;
- Describe the role of the IT professional and the legal and moral responsibility they have to that profession and society;
Reflective Essay
Choose one or more discussion topics from tutorials in weeks 3-5 and reflect on what you have learned from these discussions and relate it to your learning from the lectures or reading resources during weeks 1-5. The reflection must form a coherent and structured work. The essay must be your own thoughts and analysis. As such, use of references is arbitrary. Finally, construct your essay around the following components*:
Description
Here, you need to describe what learning experience/s you are reflecting on. This must be based on one or more discussion topics from tutorials in weeks 3-5. Be concise in this step and just provide enough information to set the scene for your readers.
Thoughts
Discuss your thoughts and feelings about this learning experience. Consider questions such as: What did you think at the time of this experience? How did you feel at the time of this experience? What did you think or feel about the experience afterwards? Be concise in this step as well.
Evaluation and Analysis
In this section you need to evaluate and analyse your learning experience. Consider questions such as: What happened in the discussions? What were your views or ideas on the discussion topic before the start of the discussion? How were your ideas different from others in the discussions? What knowledge from your lectures or reading references helped you in this discussion? Has this experience changed your way of thinking in any way? What you have learned?
Conclusion and action plan
In this stage you need to generalize your learning experience and explain how your learning from this experience can be applied to other situations? What will you do differently next time you face this type of situations? How this experience may be helpful to your future career?
Answer
Description
The concept of ethics followed in the current ethics essay are applicable in information technology (IT) is extremely valuable for professional conduct. From weeks 3 to 5, I have been introduced to a number of issues that are arising in the field of IT that concern legal, ethical, business, cultural and social issues. In Week 5, we have been introduced to relevant law systems that can be applied to ICT so as to regulate the IT Profession [5]. While all these issues are pertinent in the domain of organizations, the role of ethics in IT is the most important because all relevant laws and regulations have their foundation on ethical implications. Though there are several relevant laws that are implemented in the IT profession, fundamental aspects of learning offered by classical and contemporary ethics along with their application on IT provides crucial lessons for professional conduct. Ethics is perceived as an integral aspect of establishing good professional conduct. With IT playing an increasingly important role in modern organizations for achieving their goals, it is critical that a system of IT ethics is developed and applied in an organization. Ethics includes moral choices available for individuals. With the increasing adaptation of the role of IT, there have been an increasing number of incidents where moral reasoning has not been followed [2]. This has led to several implications on decision making in IT with serious implications on the organization as a whole. Though there has been an explosion in IT in the past 20 years, some scholars, practitioners, and students feel that there has not been similar progress in the domain of ethical thinking in the IT space. Even with the development of ethical theories in the IT domain, it was found that these were not connected in the classical or contemporary theories [3]. Hence, in the current ethics essay, I will be discussing my learning regarding the application of ethical concepts as applied in IT.
Thoughts
With the ever-increasing role of technology, there is an increasing social responsibility of IT professionals. In this section of ethics essay, I will detail my thoughts and feelings regarding the learning experience of ethical concepts. While I was learning regarding several ethical concepts and its application in IT, I was considering the social impact of information technology. With the vast application and implementation of IT, there is multifarious social impact, as it is applied across organizations, by individuals and by society as a whole. IT is currently used in making payments, connecting with other individuals, maintaining social relationships, conducting business deals and it has many more roles [1]. Thus, with such vast application of the role of IT, there needs to be some ethical behaviors that should be followed and to derive logic for a particular situation. Ethics is derived from universal principles and from universal human duty for protecting other's possessions. There is the social responsibility of IT professionals especially in such cases to adopt the role of ethics to be binding in their professional practice for the greater good of the society.
At the time of this experience, I feel that more researches should be focussed upon developing ethical principles to be applied in IT. As we were given several legal, social and ethical implications of IT applications, it becomes clear that there have to be certain codes of conduct adopted such that ethical practices comprising of what is good have to be accommodated [7]. Without such guiding principles, it is nearly impossible for any individual or corporation to adopt such practices and apply them for the greater good of society. Humans and corporations are increasingly faced with alternative courses of action or alternative goals to follow, however guiding principles of ethics can assist in making the correct type of decision. Hence, there needs to be universally designed ethical codes of practices that can be applied across organizations and for individuals.
When reflecting regarding the experience afterward within this ethics essay, I think and feel that having a universally accepted code of ethics is nearly impossible. Thus, for this, I feel that there needs to be a growing role in the social responsibility of IT professionals. Application of the IT profession’s Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct along with personal ethical framework is essential. If all IT professional starts applying such codes of conduct within the ethical framework, it is possible for universal ethical codes of conduct to be present. The Codes of Ethics for the IT profession enable crucial input and data for the application of relevant laws from the legal systems as well as ethical codes of practices [4]. This will help avoid ethical and legal complications hence have greater social responsibility. IT professionals have moral and legal obligations towards the society as well as towards their profession to adopt ethical choices in their actions. Hence selecting an ethical course of action will allow better conduct in their professional lives.
I think and feel about this experience is that I have been able to focus on an important aspect of my professional conduct. With this experience, I have been able to effectively take into consideration, the growing and emerging role as well as the importance of ethics in society as well as in everyday lives. With this learning experience, I will be able to learn regarding the Code of Ethics and personal ethical framework in a better manner and implement them during my professional practice.
What is importance of evaluation and analysis stage of ethics essay?
During this stage of ethics essay, I will undertake the evaluation and analysis of my learning experience. My learning experience has mainly concerned the importance of ethics in IT. In the discussion, I undertook a thorough analysis of the importance of ethics in the professional conduct of an IT professional. The discussion also evaluated relevant areas of application of IT in the society currently, this revealed the greater importance of ethics in the domain of IT especially [6]. Then ways in which an IT professional can adopt ethical courses of action have been discussed, such as by codes of ethics and personal ethical framework.
My ideas regarding the topic before starting the ethics essay was negligible. I had no idea that ethics played an important role in the IT profession. Though I knew I had a topic of ethics in this module, to be covered in weekly discussion. Yet I was not aware of the tremendous implications it can have on the IT profession. I failed to analyze and recognize the growing role of IT and its varied applications. Only with this detailed discussion on ethics essay, I was able to evaluate several kinds of literature and understand the growing importance of IT and its implications in society as a whole.
After ending the discussion on ethics essay, my point of view regarding ethics had completely changed. I now understand that IT professionals have the legal and moral professional obligation to the society and profession. They have a greater role to cater to such that there can be lesser instances of ethical complications related to IT. In case an IT professional delivers their roles in accordance with ethical codes of conduct, it will be possible to get free from security and many more ethical issues in IT.
There has been a tremendous transfer of knowledge that has taken place from the lectures and reading references that have helped in the current ethics essay. The most important learning had been providing me with the capability to grow knowledge in this particular area and develop application skills. This allowed me to criticize my learnings and discuss the topic of great lengths. I was able to evaluate the applicability of the topic and also arrive at the key findings related to it.
This experience has totally changed my way of thinking. As I discussed earlier also, I did not have much information regarding the application of ethics in the domain of IT, However, with this learning, I was able to specifically arrive at the challenges that might arise in absence of ethics in IT.
I have learned that IT professionals need to apply relevant codes of conduct and ethical principles in their professional practice. I also learned that there have not been substantial researches and development of literature in the domain of IT, which can allow specific applications. However, there are several laws, regulations, and practices, also code of conduct which can enable IT, professionals, to follow ethical codes of conduct.
Conclusion and action plan
Therefore, it can be concluded that this reflective ethics essay has provided me with a tremendous learning experience. I have learned regarding ethical concepts that can be applied in the domain of IT. I have also learned that this learning can be applied in other situations such as while considering my professional skills and capability, I will consider ethical responsibility as a key factor. In the next time, when I face such a situation, I will try to go through the module's weekly learning and then apply them on to relevant findings from the industry or from companies. This information noted in the ethics essay will help me to evaluate the situation in a better manner. This experience will be helpful in my future career as with this learning, I will be able to shape my professional behavior appropriately and adapt to specific ethical codes and principles of practice.
References
[1] Floridi, L. The ethics of information. Oxford University Press, 2013.
[2] Hartman, L.P., DesJardins, J.R., MacDonald, C. Business ethics: Decision making for personal integrity and social responsibility. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2014.
[3] Heimo, O.I., Kimppa, K.K., Nurminen, M.I. Ethics and the Inseparability Postulate–How to make better critical governmental information systems. InProceedings of Ethicomp, 2014.
[4] Laudon, K.C. Ethical concepts and information technology. Ethics essay Communications of the ACM. 38, 12 (1995),33-9.
[5] Schwalbe K. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning, 2015.
[6] Taddeo M, Floridi L. The Ethics of Information Warfare–An Overview. The ethics of information warfare. 2014.
[7] Tavani HT. Ethics and technology. Wiley. 2016.
