In the present business environment, it is important that the business organizations abide by ethical practices and policies. The ethical system refers to the values, behavior and decision of the organizations, which foster positive environment and build positive reputation within the organization. The business ethics vary from industry to industry; however, they are important in the industry as they have a far-reaching effect on the loyalty and morale of the employees [3]. In the preset report, two case studies are solved with the help of ACS code of ethics.
Case Study 1:
In the present case, the website development team wants to perform a usability test on the website with the help of internal and external participants. However, the ethical issue is whether the company should take consent from the external as well as internal stakeholders. The employers are arguing that the employment terms are enough in coercing the employees to participate. However, other people argue that the informed consent should be taken from each participant so that the participants understand the objective, necessity and the involvement in the test.
The participants will also understand the type of data collected and can voluntary participate in the test. The ethical dilemma in the case is that if the internal participants will not be informed about the test, they will not be able to voluntary participate in the research. In the present case, the company hired some employees and paid them to participate in the test based on employability terms [7]. However, it breaches the right of the employees to make their own choice in participating in the usability test. The voluntary consent is universally accepted precondition for scientific research. It is an ethical right of the participants to decide themselves whether they want to take part in the research or not. The principle behind informed consent is that the people should know what they will be doing at the experiment or the research.
The internal stakeholders of the organization are not free to participate or voluntary leave the usability test. The employability terms do not explicitly cover the whether the employees have to participate in the usability test. Therefore, they should to be informed before the consent. A proper consent form should be filled in which the terms of the usability test and the requirements and the needs of the test are described. The ACS code conduct states that a professional should adhere to the dignity and effectiveness of a professional by following certain codes, namely, the primacy of the public interest, enhancement of quality of life, honesty, competence, professional development and professionalism.
The primacy of public interest states that the public should place the interest of the person and the business at the highest place [6]. Other than that, the business professionals should strive to improve the quality of life of the people with their work. In this regard, it can be evaluated the current step of the company will coerce the employees to participate in the testing procedure. It is also against the honesty code of the professional ethics, which means that an ICT professional should be honest in the representation of the skills knowledge and the services. The ICT professionals should ensure that they do not breach the public trust. They should ensure that they observe honesty and integrity in all their professional decisions and actions. They should not mislead a person regarding a particular process.
Case Study 2:
This case study highlights the ethical dilemma of environmental compliance manger in a plastic manufacturing organization. The manager is facing the ethical dilemma whether she should spend on the new technology, which will be beneficial for the environment. The decision of the organization is whether the employee should invest in technology, which can reduce the chemical waste from the factory. Currently, the waste emitted by the company is within the legal limits of the country. However, if the emission remains at the same level, it will impact the nearby aquatic life and the fish and the rivers at the nearby lakes will soon become unfit for the human consumption.
The environmental compliance manager is facing the dilemma whether the policies of the organization is facing the aquatic life in the nearby places. Although the emission rate of the company is under the legal limits, it is negatively impacting the life in the nearby area. The compliance office can reduce the emission rates; however, it will involve the use of new technology. It means that the company has to invest in building infrastructure for the new organization.
The ACS code of professional conduct involves six values, which are the primacy of the public interest, enhancement of the quality of life, honesty, competence, professional development and professionalism [1]. The primacy of public interest states that the company will keep the interest of the public above the interest of the business or any other personal interest. According to this ethical code, the professional should give the highest importance to the public benefits. In the present case, if the company continues to emit the waste with the similar rate, it will negatively impact the public interest of the people. The fishes in the pond will become contaminated and unfit for the human consumption. Furthermore, it will also disturb the balance in the aquatic life in the nearby areas. Therefore, the best-fit action is to control the waste from the manufacturing unit. The second code in the ACS code is the enhancement of the quality of life among the employees [5].
It means that the company should be able to enhance the quality of life of the employees as well as the consumers. However, the current practices of the organization are not enhancing the quality of life of the consumers. They will have to eat the contaminated meat, which will eventually impact their health. The third code in the ACS code of ethics is honesty [4]. It refers to the representation of the skills, knowledge, and services in the most appropriate manner. Other code is the competence of the organization; it means that the organization should work in a competent and diligent manner.
It means that the organization should work in the benefit of all the stakeholders. In the current, the organization has to work in the benefit of the consumers and the local community. However, the current practices of the company will negatively impact the environment of the organization. In the current case, the competence of the organization is to adopt novel practices, which can reduce the environmental impact of the organization. The professional development and professionalism are other code of the professional code of conduct, which states that the ICT professionals should emphasize the professional development of individual and the team members [2]. The professionalism code states that the employees follow the integrity of the ACS and respect individual members.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that the ethical codes are important in maintaining a proper code of conduct in the organizations. The ethics assure that the business organizations have to maintain the ethical conduct in all their business operations. In the present report, two case studies have been solved with the help of ACS code of conduct. According to the ethical codes, the ICT professionals have to maintain proper conduct in all the professional settings. The ICT professionals have to maintain these ethical conducts in the professional setting, so that they can maintain the integrity of the profession.
References
[1]. Barry, L., Blair, P. G., Cosgrove, E. M., Cruess, R. L., Cruess, S. R., Eastman, A. B., … & Sachdeva, A. K, One year, and counting, after publication of our ACS “Code of Professional Conduct”, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, vol. 199, no. 5, pp. 736-740, 2004.
[2]. Berleur, J.J., & Brunnstein, K, Ethics of Computing: Codes, spaces for discussion and law. Springer, 2016.
[3]. Bowern, M., Burmeister, O., Gotterbarn, D., & Weckert, J, ICT Integrity: Bringing the ACS Code of Ethics up to date. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 2006.
[4]. Jungers, C, & Gregoire, J, Counseling Ethics: Philosophical and Professional Foundations. Springer Publishing Company, 2012.
[5]. McDermid, D, Ethics in ICT: An Australian Perspective. Pearson Higher Education AU, 2015.
[6]. Pye, G., & Warren, M, Striking a balance between ethics and ICT governance. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, vol. 13, no. 2, 2006,
[7]. Rogerson, S., Weckert, J., & Simpson, C., An ethical review of information systems development–The Australian Computer Society’s code of ethics and SSADM. Information technology & people, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 121-136, 2000
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