Ethical Issues in an Age of Information and Communication Technology - Term Paper Example

?THE DEVELOPMENT OF A OF-ETHICS: IT CHALLENGES  Introduction: With the emphasized importance of ethics in every business conduct and the technology gaining main stream position, the overall outlook of the businesses all around the world has changed. There are approximately million of people who daily connect to internet, this along with the constantly changing business models develop an extensively important relationship between the two business steering wheels (ethics and information technology) which is also a challenge for regulators and business itself. Some ethical concerns with respect to IT are related to its usage resulting in violating people’s privacy, increase in the jobless people because of the increasing trend of automation, and misusing of management information and other associated systems for personal interests.  Extensive literature has been presented on the fact with considerable suggestions. There has been found some gap in implementation status. For the purpose Brooks (2010) suggested to have some ethical relationship development and higher education institutions, in particular, to take responsibility. Societal Ethical Changes Caused by Information Technology: Declining moral values has accelerated in pace due to information technology. This notion has been supported by the fact that growing information technology allows misconduct and deceits as compared to the situation in the past (Brooks, 2008). This is being done repeatedly and due to the lack of proper framework for stopping these activities the overall concern and thoughts regarding the ethical impact of such activities have reduced (Gleason, 1999). Consequently, ethical values which are being inducted in society are bad and negative. Painful realities of cheating (64 percent), lying (42 percent) and stealing (35 percent) has become conduct of American youth with all these menaces in upward trend in two years (Josephson Institute, 2009). The worst part of situation is 93 percent of the surveyed people are satisfied with their conduct; how a person can improve without considering him/herself wrong. The excessive use of information technology through every mean has resulted in enforcing negative societal ethical implications. According to Britz (1996), the technology has resulted in creating a threat for the privacy of the people and there is a need to come up with proper code of ethics and measures for overcoming this ethical issue related with the information technology. Information technology has made it easier for the people to intervene into the privacy of other people and thus people are learning to cheat, steal, and lie. Business Decisions about the firm’s conduct are self reflective of firm’s concern for ethical conduct. In a survey cited by McCuddy, Reichardt, and Schroeder (1993) it was found that employees refer to unethical behavior for any of three reasons; first, the organization itself expects it, second, everyone in the organization is unethical, or / and thirdly to get ahead in position it is the only exercisable option left for employees. Decisions to get the mentioned or planned results by any ways to satisfy shareholders are responsible for the unethical behaviors in the employees and management. Employee if resigns to resist from such behavior then this affect his/ her career and management level if resists to indulge in any unethical behavior in order fulfill the goals set by the shareholders then they are penalized by shareholder (by taking share price down etc). Hence, it is the decision maker who is required to be more ethical to have reflection in downstream. The Ethical Usage of Information Technology: Defining line for the ethical usage of information technology is difficult to determine for the fact that ethical values cannot be grained in a click and developing ethics are long term constant process. Former is faster in development and latter requires efforts. Ethical usage of technology is more concerned with ones’ inner self, for Instance, Brooks (2010) mentioned example of Harbert (2007) as “Dark Secret Ugly Truth –and The Little Guidance”. The most common example laps of ethical conduct lies when common man develops an email account or install any software and does not read code of conduct given and instantly accepts “I Agree” option. The ethical usage can be enhanced by developing these terms friendlier and smaller in length. Hence, ethical usage of information technology is more of one’s’ self conscious conduct and has to be inducted from overall development age than strict regulations imposed. However, constant awareness programs would surely be support in raising reminding employees every often. The Development of Code of Ethics Associative with These Ethical Issues: Every company small or big, private or public has its IT policy. This policy encompasses all areas that are expected to happen in business conduct and enlists dos and don’ts in specific conditions. Such as Johnson & Johnson’s have its code of ethical conduct, which it refers to as a Credo (Garrison, Noreen, and Brewer, 2009). It is not only developed for the sake of presenting it but its implementation is also adhered to and every two to three years survey is conducted to further improve it (Garrison, Noreen, and Brewer, 2009). There have been large number of suggestions that are already incorporated in rules and regulation book of guide but like term and conditions of any e-program these are ignored by most professionals. Lundquist (2008) in his work mentioned that Society of Information Management (SIM) listed ethics and morals in the list of top 15 skills SIM seek in their entry level employees. Attempts like these are appreciable but must be extended to the point of being made part of entry level exam as math, management and IQ is done. This would give clear idea if the person has true ethical conduct or the just an “I Agree” opted for getting into firm. Furthermore, Brey (2012) in a study developed Anticipatory Technology Ethics (ATE) that provides three levels consisting of technology, artifact and application levels. ATE analyses result in the identification and evaluation of a broad range of ethical issues that can be anticipated in relation to an emerging information technology. Adoption of such applications would ensure reduction in ethical-abuse in information technology by putting less ease in operations that influences conduct beyond ethical boundaries. The Conflicting Objectives of Business Leaders Who Influence Business Decisions: Ethical decision making usually encounters conflicting objectives such as best financial results for shareholders are only possible by having low cost and higher profit. Firms to achieve low cost have to some extend compromise on quality or other tactics. Quality compromise is important to remain competitive and hence, ethical concern arises. Practicing decision making that remains ethical on all three levels; individual, corporate and national, is a difficult task and there usually remains conflict (Berzai, 2012). Conflict between individual and corporate is common stories. Conflict between corporate and national level arises when national interest decisions affect corporate world e.g. Iran, in order to keep its stance of true independence and no foreign interference has to face bans from counties with anti-Iran agenda affecting its corporate performance. Hence, decision makers have to find a mediating way by assigning weight to each level knowingly to achieve one interest it has to compromise other (Quinn, 2011). Ethical Usage of Information Technology and Development of Code of Ethics – Difficult Task: The procedure of the developing the code of ethics for the ethical use of the Information Technology is not easy. There are different parties stakeholders involved in the process and thus make it complex (Tavani, 2004). The parties who are involved in the business decision making or influence the process of decision making are negligent of the rights of the people and stakeholders who get influenced by the decisions made on their parts. One important dilemma in this regard is that what is unethical for one stakeholder is considered as ethical for another stakeholder (Moor, 2006). For instance the automation of jobs is perceived to be ethical on part of the organizations that are looking for ways to improve the overall productivity and performance while keeping the cost down. On the other hand it is considered to be unethical by employees who lose their jobs because of the increased automation. Organizations justify their decisions of monitoring the browsing history of the employees and accessing their data on the basis of different grounds for example to keep a check on the daily activities of the employees in order to avoid any negative situation later (Cavoukian, 2008). On the other hand employees are not ready to compromise with any of their private information or data being accessed by the organization for any reasons. Hence, it is not easy to come up with one standard code of ethics for the usage of Information Technology. The organizations and decision makers should keep in consideration the concerns of all stakeholders while using the Information Technology for their personal gains. On the other hand the government and other regulations authorities should come up with proper code of ethics with the consent of all related stakeholders. Apart from this the educational institutions should take the responsibility for teaching the ethical and social values to the students so that they are not inclined towards unethical practices at any stage of their lives (Capurro, 2005). Actions Company Take To Meet Ethical Considerations Relative To Social Performance, Financial Performance, And Reputation: Extensive guideline has been devised by many firms and agencies to make decisions on accountable on ethical yardstick. Organizations are required to make complex decision that has to be ethical as well as rational for social, financial and reputational perspectives (Wolter and van Cleeff, 2009). For instance, example mentioned above for Iran has strong implications on both financial as well as social front. Due to ban, international economic activity is limited which multiplies the impact of recession on it. Similarly, for a case of Enron Corporation an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas, scandal of fictitious accounting practices which gained popularity as Enron Scandal was a big disaster of unethical conduct that had incremented detrimental impact on social, financial and biggest of all reputational perspective (Karpoff, 2002). In the two examples given above two different perspectives have been discussed; one focused on ethical values only and the other ignored ethical values and both had to face difficult conditions. Hence, individual, firm or nation all must focus on mediated way. Extent to Which Social, Ethical and Public Issues Must Be Considered In Internal and External Stakeholder Relationships: Determining this extend is a difficult task; however, some general rules can be developed that can be adhered to in order to retain the balance that does not affect interest of any stakeholder to disastrous level. One should keep in consideration the well-being of all stakeholders involved and should also keep in mind the well-being of the whole society and community. At the same time it is important to abide by the laws and regulations but should also be self considerate about the interests of others in order to refrain from unethical practices (Berzai, 2012). There should be a balance between the social and ethical concerns and rational decision making while dealing with internal and external stakeholder relationships. Since, boundaries for ethical conduct cannot be determined, there comes intuition of decision maker and arriving at the decision which is ethical as well as rational. Ethics in an Academic Setting:  Academic institutions have always been found stringent in ethical conduct and penalties (usually in form of termination, which can have detrimental impact on overall career of a student). In assignments and tasks, plagiarism is made detected using highly detective software. But unfortunately, students have adopted white label reports practice from corporations (where corporation buy reports from professional who produce it and present it with corporation’s label). Rise in such activity has been due to extensive research oriented assignment given in many subjects that makes difficult for students to manage and cost of getting these assignments done is much less than failing course. Both corporations and students have reason of cost behind their conduct. Conclusion: Ethics and business has been long debate and advent of technology has increased portion of literature. For concise conclusion, it is necessary to accept fact that whatever is there at the bottom is actually the shade of what is at the top and ethical values are translated from national to corporation and from corporations within it and individual and to mentions students pick what is practiced around. Hence, ethics needs to be inculcated from top and ultimately it will translate impact horizontally as well as vertically. It is also important to acknowledge here that on one hand technology has allowed organizations to create competitive edge and provide the customers with better output but at the same time this technology is being used for unethical purposes like violating the privacy of people, abuse of different management information systems for personal benefits and gains. Apart from this the increasing use of technology and automation is resulting in reducing the overall jobs opportunities. Hence, organizations should be careful in coming up with appropriate mixture of technology and ethical practices. References Berzai, L. (2012). Ethical Decision Making and the IT professional. Association of Information Technology Professionals. Retrieved September 26, 2012, from http://www.aitp.org/news/95365/ Brey, P. (2012). Anticipating ethical issues in emerging IT. Ethics and Information Technology, 1-13. Britz, J. (1996). Technology as a threat to privacy: Ethical changes to the information profession. Retrieved September 25, 2012, from http://web.simmons.edu/~chen/nit/NIT'96/96-025-Britz.html Brooks, R. (2010). The development of a code of ethics: An online classroom approach to making connections between ethical foundations and the challenges presented by information technology. American Journal of Business Education, 3(10), 1-13. Brooks, R. A. (2008). Addressing ethics and technology in business: Preparing today's students for the ethical challenges presented by technology in the workplace. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 1(2), 23-32. Capurro, R. (2005). ‘Privacy: An intercultural perspective’. In Ethics and Information Technology, 7, 37–47. Cavoukian, A. (2008). ‘Privacy in the clouds’. In Identity in Information Society, 1, 89- 108. Garrison, R., Noreen, E., and Brewer, P. (2009). Managerial Accounting. New York: McGraw-Hill. Retrieved September 26, 2012, from http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073526703/student_view0/ebook/chapter1/chbody1/the_importance_of_ethics_in_business.html Gleason, D. (1999, March). Subsumption ethics. Computers and Society, 29(1), 29-36. Harbert, T. (2007, Otober 29). Ethics in IT: Dark secrets, ugly truths, and little guidance. ComputerWorld, 41(44), 34-36 Josephson Institute (2009, October 29). Character study reveals predictors of lying and cheating. Retrieved September 25, 2012, from http://iosephsoninstitute.org/survevs/index.html Karpoff, J. (2002). Regulation vs. Reputation in Preventing Corporate Fraud. UW Business, 28-30. Lundquist, E. (2008, December 1). The skills that really matter: Technology prowess isn't necessarily No. 1 on hiring managers' lists. eWeek, 25(35), 46 McCuddy, M., Reichardt, K., and Schroeder, D. (1993). Ethical Pressures: Fact or Fiction? Management Accounting 74(10): 57–61. Moor, J. (2006). ‘Why we need better ethics for emerging technologies’. Ethics and Information Technology, 111-119. Quinn, M. (2011). Ethics for the Information Age, 4th ed. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley. Tavani, H. (2004). Ethics & Technology: Ethical Issues in an Age of Information and Communication Technology. NJ, John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Wolter, P., and van Cleeff, A. (2009).’The Precautionary Principle in a World of Digital Dependencies’. In Computer, 42 (6), 50-56. Read More