Ethical Decision Making and Information Technology

Question: Discuss about the Ethical Decision Making and Information Technology. Answer: Introduction: Business ethics states the application of ethical values like integrity, respect and openness in the behavior of the business (Ferrell and Fraedrich 2015). It is important to look around how people perform to carry out their respective roles. The paper discusses the ethical dilemma associated with the workplace at ACE Inc. Ethical dilemma: The ethical dilemma arises in the organization when it was found that Harry, a network programmer developed a program and released it under the name Safe-T under the name of Lock Smith. Jill, the manager of Harry did not trust on the program designed by Harry and later on discovering the fact that the program has been launch on the internet under the pseudo name Lock Smith, immediately took the decision to fire him. In addition to this, Brockley Smetherton, Jills manager did not cross check the situation and just nodded with the decision made by Jill and fired him. However, Ima, the owner of the Company on hearing good feedback by an independent head-hunter about the innovative program, asked Brockley to offer Lock Smith a position of the expertise at ACE Inc. Here lies the ethical dilemma upon Brockley whether to hire Harry again or not. According to the Code of Ethics, it falls under professionalism to uphold and advance the honor, dignity and the effectiveness of the professionals of the information technology. It is indeed important to be honest and loyal towards the community and keep high standards of competence and ethical conduct. Ethical analysis and decision making process Understanding the situation: Brockley is under a situation of ethical dilemma because he himself did not clarify the issue all by himself and depending on the decision of Jill at the time of firing Harry. It has to be understood that Jill had recognized certain faults in the program designed by Harry. The ACS framework put forwarded the framework that the employer is responsible for serving the interest of employees and the colleagues working in an organization. However, the approach was not found at the time of dealing with the situation of Harry. Again, at a certain point of time, it can be said that Jill also conducted an unethical approach by directly firing Harry. Another important issue has been highlighted here that Harry, even working at the Pvt. Firm, has developed a program and published the same in the internet under the pseudo name Lock Smith. Isolating the major ethical dilemma: Among the ethical dilemmas identified above, it can be said that the central ethical dilemma was related to the approach made by Brockley by firing Harry without investigating the situation by him (Shapiro and Gross 2013). This approach can be considered to hinder the ACS codes of ethics. It can be said that Brockley had utilized its power and the authority of being at a higher position and fired Harry without even thinking about the situation of Harry after getting fired. Ethical analysis Consequentialism: As stated by Sverdlik (2016), Consequentialism holds the consequences of ones conduct states the ultimate basis of any judgment based on the rightness or the wrongness of the specific conduct. If the case of Harry in the case study is considered, it can be easily said that there remained certain faults from the end of the management in deciding the firing process of Harry (Pettit 2016). Rights and duties: People at the higher authority in an organization posses certain rights as well as duties. Ethical actions should not be performed out of ones personal inclination but on the basis of moral and ethical approach (Kallman and Grillo 1996). The situation can be easily inclined with the situation of Harry. It has to be said that Harry utilizes his talent of creating the particular program and publish the same in the website. This can be considered as an unethical approach from the end of Harry. On the other hand, the way Harry was treated and terminated from the job was another unethical approach taken by his manager, Jill. Kants Categorical Imperative: According to the deontological or the duty based ethics, the actions done by an individual cannot be justified by showing the consequence of the thing done. As commented by Sverdlik (2016), there are certain acts that can be considered as good acts for the duty based ethics but the result can be non-fruitful. For instance, it has been evident that Jill had fired Harry due to the mal practices conducted by him but ultimately it was observed that the program was fruitful for the organization (Peterson 2013). Thus, there were certain approaches that were taken against Harry unethically. Discussion: From the above analysis it can be said that the major ethical dilemma lies on the part of Brockley. He is supposed to come up with the decision of rehiring Harry to the Company. On one hand, it has been found that Harry under the pseudo name has come up certain practices that are not ethical and this was the reason when Jill fired him. However, the final decision of firing Harry had remained with Brockley. It was in his part to investigate the situation and then come to a conclusion, but the same approach was lacking from his side that has created the most ethical dilemma in the whole consequence. However, the present situation has demanded the presence of Harry in the organization as a program analyst that has to be fulfilling because of the demand of the higher authority. Making a decision: In case of making a right decision on the part of Brockley, it is important to identify the stakeholders involved in the complete scenario. It has been understood that the major stakeholders involved in the complete scenario are the employees and the people at the higher authority (Shaw and Barry 2015). Therefore, any kind of decision that has to be made must be following the perspective of the stakeholders. Here, Ima can be regarded as the most important person whose decision matter the most in the organization. It is true that Brockley had faced a situation where he had to think of his decision on firing Harry for the approach that has been highlighted by Jill. There is no doubt that Brockley is under such a situation where an intense ethical dilemma is present. In order to cope with the situation, it is expected that Brockley would examine the situation well and go through the complete program that had been designed by him (Weiss 2014). In the first place, Brockley should not have reached to a conclusion and made judgment on firing Harry. In this respect, the role of Jill will also be highlighted because Brockley fired Harry on the recommendation of Jill. Therefore, in case of rehiring Harry, there might raise the situation where Jill would have to suffer because the main decision was made by her. Therefore, it is expected that Brockley will investigate the complete situation and make a proper report to his higher authority, Ima and make effort to improve the situation where the ethical dilemma has raised. Conclusion: A detailed analysis of the situation has been made and it has been understood that at the first place Brockley had conducted unethical approaches by not evaluating the situation and directly coming to a conclusion. In order to deal with the situation, it is important to follow the entire discourse and coming down to a conclusion that is both ethical as well as beneficial to the Organization. References: Baker, K., 2016. The Consequences of Accepting Consequentialism.Philosophy Now,115, pp.38-40. Ferrell, O.C. and Fraedrich, J., 2015.Business ethics: Ethical decision making cases. Nelson Education. Kallman, E.A. and Grillo, J.P. 1996, Ethical Decision Making and Information Technology, McGraw-Hill, Ch. 3 Peterson, M., 2013.The dimensions of consequentialism: Ethics, equality and risk. Cambridge University Press. Pettit, P., 2016. Non-consequentialism and political philosophy.Enfoques,18(1-2), pp.27-49. Rothman, J.C., 2013.From the front lines: Student cases in social work ethics. Pearson Higher Ed. Shapiro, J.P. and Gross, S.J., 2013.Ethical educational leadership in turbulent times:(Re) solving moral dilemmas. Routledge. Shaw, W.H. and Barry, V., 2015.Moral issues in business. Cengage Learning. Slade, S. and Prinsloo, P., 2013. Learning analytics ethical issues and dilemmas.American Behavioral Scientist,57(10), pp.1510-1529. Sverdlik, S., 2016. Consequentialism, Moral Motivation, and the Deontic Relevance of Motives.Moral Motivation: A History, p.259. Weiss, J.W., 2014.Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.