Development And Implementation Of ICT Policy: Types Of Ethics In The Workplace

Describing each theory and comparative analysis

Discuss about the Development and Implementation of ICT Policy.

A code of ethics is a set of principles and guidelines that are designed to help the professionals to conduct their business honestly and do it more with integrity. Code of ethics generally outlines the mission and values in an organization or business. This also gives a basic outline of how to solve any problems, ethical principles related to the organization values and standards to which professional is conducted. Businesses and trade organizations both have some sort if code of ethics presents that the employees are bound to follow (Acm.org 2017). Breaking of these codes can lead to severe punishment and it varies from organization to organization. It is very important for any organization to monitor as this ensures that every employee is following all the company’s norms and policies. There are various codes of ethics that every employee has to follow strictly (Brinkman et al. 2016). The following essay deals with the types of ethics that an employee has to face and what are the complications that the employees had to face while following it and what are the constraints of following it.

Each of the ethical theories has been defined in the beginning part of the essay. After providing the basic definitions of the theories, the comparative analysis of the ethical theories have been given in the paper. In the later part of the paper, the professional code of ethics and the connection between the codes and theories have been analyzed. Finally the conclusion has been drawn based upon the analysis of the whole paper.

The concept of rights or rights based ethics are developed on the basis of some positive and negative. The main motive behind the rights based ethics is the fact that all the professional are human beings and they have some basic rights while they are working in their professional life. These rights may be both the natural and conventional rights (Jones 2016). Natural rights refer to the moral ethics while the conventional ethical rights are developed by the human beings for reflecting the society’s values.

It is associated with the mind and character of the concerned person. Virtues are the broad term for the theories that have the main focus on the area of the character and virtue in the area of the moral philosophy instead of the duty or acting of an individual in the workplace (Coyle and Finnis 2016). Virtue refers to the actions due to the character of an individual in different types of situation, not because of the responsibilities he or she has in those situations.

Right vs Virtues

In context of Rights and Virtue, software developers should take full responsibility for their own work that is after launching the application, the developers should not make any excuse if the application is not running properly. Another important thing is that if any user is using their application, they should make sure to take the consent of the users before performing any tasks (Harriss and Atkinson 2013). While developing the applications, the developers should identify any problems if there are any and should report to their higher authorities. They should make sure that the applications that they are making are meeting the requirements of the users to perform their daily tasks. Before launching the applications, the developers should perform every test and do a debugging before the final release so that there may not exist any faults by which hackers can steal the data. Also the applications should install in the users’ system without any further hindrances. Last is that developers should try to improve their user accessibility in order to give them more space to work with more ease. They should try to make the application more user friendly, safe, reliable and useful so that it benefits every section of the users who comes across it and for this to maintain, the developers should try to make a well structured application (Brotherton, Kao and Crigger 2016). Also they should try to add more and more featured in the application which will make the work easier for the users to perform. Should maintain the application on a daily basis and if any faults are found, then it should be rectified as soon as possible by the developers so that one cannot use those loop holes to exploit others (COMMISSIONERS 2013).

Relativists have the belief that all points of views have the equal level of validation. In ethical consideration, all the moralities are equally good. Relativists consider that one thing (e.g. knowledge, taste, moral values or meaning) is relative to some particular standpoint (e.g. culture, era, language or conceptual scheme) (Johnston 2014).

Objectivists are fully secular and absolutist; they are neither conservative nor liberal nor anywhere in between. These people recognize and uphold the secular source and nature of the ethical considerations and foundations of the fully free and civilized society. Objectivism advocates the virtues of rational self-interest – virtues like independent thinking, justice, honesty and self-responsibility (Johnston 2014).

In context of relativism and objectivism, if the application is not reliable to the users then the application is of no use so in order to use the application for the public, it should be made reliable as well as secure but in order to make it secure the developer should be extremely skilled or experienced. In order to remove that from happening, the application should be made secure (Brotherton, Kao and Crigger 2016). If the developers keep the personal data of the users with them then it is a direct violation of the laws so before using the application, it should come from a genuine developer so that they do not store the data. Another main concern is that developers should take full responsibility for their doings and should not blame others for their deeds (Jackson 2014).

Relativist vs Objectivist

Consequentialism is a theory, which is associated with the normative ethics. The consequentialist have the belief of that an act is ethical or moral when it has good end or conclusion. They have the belief of that every moral or ethical action has to produce a good outcome (Sandvig et al. 2016).

This is an ethical concept which has the focus on the rightness and wrongness of the action themselves. Therefore, according to the deontologists, the actions taken are right or wrong from the moral form can be decided based on the way of performing the actions. Deontology may be consistent with the moral absolutism sometimes, but not necessarily (Sandvig et al. 2016).

There are various issues that need to be addressed in order to make the lives easier. If the applications are not met with expectations, then the applications will be of no use to others. In context of consequentialism and denotology, if the applications are not maintained properly then any hacker would get to know about the loopholes and will try to exploit the user and take their information and use it for some malicious purposes. In order to remove that, the application should be maintained properly but maintaining of all these applications also require money as well as time which could be a problem for any developer (Stahl 2014). Also without proper checking and debugging, the same thing can happen so before launching the application to the public it should be checked thoroughly in order to find the exploits and removing it (Harriss and Atkinson 2013).

There are several codes of professional ethics like they should try to maintain good relationship with others and provide counseling to them who needs it. The employees should try to maintain the confidentiality and privacy among the users so that the developers cannot sell the data to any other (Jackson 2014). They should always try to maintain the professional responsibility within the workplace also when the application is launched. If any user faces any difficulties while using the application, then the developers should take full responsibility for their doing (Krier 2014). In contxt of Rights and virtue, they should always try to make good relationships with their peers and if any dispute is there, it should be resolved as soon as possible so that it may not hamper the working area (Leicester 2016). Another important thing is that they need to make correct evaluation, assessment and interpretation of their works so that the users may not have to face any problems in the near future. In order to achieve all this, proper training and teachings should be given under correct supervision so that if they make any fault it can be rectified then and there only (Özdemir 2015). The last one is that they should try to resolve any ethical implications that are present within the working area so that others can work without any problem and this could increase the productivity of the employees as well.

Consequentialist vs Deontology

Both are similar in many ways as their main objective is to encourage the employees to work in an honest path (Phillips 2013). They also encourage specific forms of behavior by employees. Ethics and guidelines attempts to provide guidance about values and choices in order to make more efficient decision making which will help the organization to work smoothly whereas theories regulations assert whether some specific actions are appropriate or inappropriate (Shoemaker 2015). In both the cases, the organization desire to get acceptable behaviors from their employees. They also ensure that all are following the regulations properly. Theories and codes work side by side as theories tell what could happen and code tells what they should follow so that the users do not have to face any problems due to their actions.

According to Leicester (2016), professionals who work in their respective fields employ specialist skills and knowledge so that they can carry out their duties. They also know how well to use their spatiality and how they are governed with the code of ethics. The employees also know that they are bound with this code of ethics and they cannot break these under any circumstances. The author also discusses the growing needs for global standards for any ICT. The author also highlights that many firms have different perspective of looking into this code of ethics.

Conclusion

Having code of professional ethics is really important as it sets guidelines for all the employees to follow the company’s rules and regulation and also when they are working for any client, the requirement that they are asking have been fulfilled or not. Also the applications they are making are of use to the users or not and how secure the applications are as every user wants privacy in their life so it would be of shame if any developer develops an application which is full of loopholes. In this way, any hacker can hack into the application and steal all the data that are stored there. In that case the developer should be held responsible and the developer should take full credit for his doings. Also they should bring new and innovative ideas rather than stealing ideas from any other person.

Reference

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