Reflection on IT Ethics and Practice - Coursework Example

Reflection of IT Ethics and Practice by + Student’s name Code+ course name Professor’s name University name City, State Date of submission With the existence of continuous growth and spontaneous changes in Information and Technology, the livelihood of people today revolves around information and technology as they focus on accomplishing their desired goals and objectives. Though Information and Technology do not offer a solution to all the challenges existing in the world, its significance on the various environment remains vivid[Ste04]. The integral role played by IT in every industry facilitates the continuous improvement of the companies in the market in terms of cost effectiveness and maintenance of competitive advantage. The improvement of performance in the society through the upholding of IT components that are aligned with society objectives assist in increasing productivity and mitigating the risks involved with technology decisions. The embracement of Information and Technology in the modern society has facilitated organizations industries and researcher to adopt IT as they focus on upholding security, computation efficiency and effectiveness in communication[Ric03]. Moreover, the information society existing in the present days facilitates in transforming information into resources that assist the society in adopting effective actions regarding development in the society. The present day society upholds vast improvement on data creation and information dissemination that arises from the innovation of information and technology. Ethics in information and technology is not highly upheld in the various sector as people embrace more on science and technology development. Areas such as surgery, law and pharmacy highly need to uphold ethics as an attempt to ensure social values upheld by the society are not compromised. The significance of social ethics remains crucial as IT continues to be embraced by the society. The paper focuses on the reflection of the main knowledge learned throughout the course. In this case, it comprises the lecture notes and tutorials and the impacts of the knowledge in the future. Tutorial and lecture reflection In lecture 1 it emphasized the significance of understanding terms, context and the role of an individual in information and technology. In this case, information, data and the organization knowledge remained were the critical terms that remained significance in understanding the IT course. Data happens to be the discrete objective facts about events while in the context of the organization it focuses on structured records of transactions. In this case, data on itself does not have the significance of purpose. In terms of information, it was defined as a message that is meaningful when exchanged between a sender and the receiver[Ste04]. Moreover, the lectures offered an explanation for organization knowledge as which is created as people interact with each other and the environment. Additionally, organizational knowledge remained subjective, action-oriented, process –relational and created through practice. Moreover, the lecture focused on IT professionals and the ethics they need to uphold. In this case, IT professionals perform specialized activities in technology and the internet for a fee and have agreed to abide by the existing code of conduct[Hon07]. For instance, the primacy of the public interest should remain essential in any IT professional. Moreover, facilitation of quality life to people in need should be the objective of any IT professional. This can only be accomplished through upholding honesty, competence, and professional development in an attempt to accomplish the objective and goals of IT through enhancing integrity and professionalism. The meaning of innovation was focused either in the lecture with two types of innovation being emphasized. Incremental innovation involves continuous improvement with existence of various solutions in a given frame to enhance bettering the services rendered while radical innovation involved a change of frame mainly focused on adopting new mechanism and system that did not exist. In this case, an IT professional has responsibilities from the leadership of the organization he works for and thus there exist various expectation. In this consideration, an individual needs to create contribution that are measured by the purpose and the impacts towards the objectives and goals of the organization. Additionally, the compatibility of the creation of other groups, peers, and other organization remains critical in enhancing accomplishment of various objectives. In lecture 2 the theme revolved around social ethics. In this case, the lecture emphasized on social complexity from an ethical perspective and ethical choices that aim to facilitate collaborations and reduce conflict. In terms of ethical choices, I learned the significance of responsibility as the lecture emphasized on free will, responsibilities and ethics in enhancing self-continual reassessment of ethical choices. The vitality of understanding free will in terms of being in control of our actions to the extent of being held responsible leads to upholding the virtues in the organization. Moreover, in terms of ethics it revolves around making choice acceptable within the environment and ready to accept responsibilities for the choices. The business layer upholds the law and customs as the organization focus in devising the ethics that creates the culture[Ale11]. The significance of the culture arises as it focuses on inspiring communication between employees, uphold respect and strengthen customer relationship based on integrity and honesty. IT significant role in ensuring upholding of ethics in an organization arose through learning extended cognition. The lecture reflected extended cognition to enlighten a two-way interaction existing between human and an external device in creation of coupled complex system. The complex coupled system is reflected as a cognitive system, and it plays a significant role in governing the behavior. Moreover, IT reduce uncertainties through the existence of identity that is based on impression management existing in digital communities. The upholding of Agile practices enhances the creation of culture in the organization through various rules. In this case, organization are complex and adaptive system thus enhancing decentralized and independent individuals to interact in a self-organizing ways. The rules are simple and generated to facilitate innovation from the emergent rules. Adoption of facilitation method in implementing ethical issues reflects the significance of the agile teams and upholding culture of an organization in ensuring it accomplishes its objectives and goals[Jud97]. The case study of Woolworth remained critical in understanding the impacts of the culture in business and how uncertainties affect the coexistence of stakeholders in an organization. This was facilitated by John Rose a HP chief consultant and mainly discussed on business layer, professional layer, significance of ethics and the workplace with Woolworth as the case study. In lecture 3 by Dr. Roman Danylak I understood the journey of being ethical as a journey of continuous improvement on issues revolving around the ethical choices. Moreover, the imperfection that exist in the world of social interaction arises since people are different point and speed in their ethical journey. In this case, development of strategies is needed to address the understanding the gaps that are presented by the ethical island. Additionally, lecture 8 expounded on the various characteristic of a profession such as specialized body of knowledge, code of ethics and a professional body. John Ridge Executive Director of ACS Foundation talk revolved around the ICT industry and profession. In this case, he highlighted the importance of differentiating profession from professional, the ICT professional body and the ACS code of Ethics. The director hinted on the importance of ICT with various industry sector highly adopting technology to improve efficiency. Accomplishment of this in future revolves around upholding society ethics such as privacy, accuracy property and access as reflected in lecture 7 Understanding of various theories such as cognitive distance assists in explaining the difference in culture between people. I learned the significance of low cognitive distance in understanding each other and utilization of complementary capabilities towards a common goal. With high cognitive distance creating uncertainty and complexity. The lecture also reflected on media naturalness theory with the lower naturalness of the medium subjecting higher mental effort involved in sharing of knowledge. Moreover, the greater the chances of misinterpretation of communication during knowledge sharing. This information remained relevant in Information and Technology (IT) as IT professionals focus on upholding the acceptable ethical issues. In terms of cognitive distance, the lecture enlightened me on the strategies to be adopted by an IT profession in heightening coexistence. In the tutorial, the dilemma that exist between society and IT was reflected through analyzing Australian software Development Company. Easysoft focuses on individual and small business in enhancing effective adherence to taxation policies. However, the company expects dysfunction of the software with various queries and incorrect tax returns to be experienced to people without the knowledge of using the software. Moreover, the company does not plan on sensitizing the population on how to effectively utilize the software. In this case, a dilemma arises as Nabuko focuses on ensuring people adhere to Australian Taxation Office, but there exist ineffectiveness of the software that is being used as a pilot project. Furthermore, through lecture 7 I learned the various approaches of analyzing ethical dilemma such as Goal-Based Analysis, Duty-Based Analysis and Right-Based Analysis. The Goal-Based Analysis focuses on maximizing benefits for all stakeholders, while Duty-Based Analysis emphasizes professional to consider actions that does not violate the ethical duties. Additionally, it remains the responsibility of a professional to determine the action that upholds the human rights and legal rights through Right-Based Analysis. We discussed this approaches at length in tutorial of week 3 through analyzing the general principles of the approaches. Approach 2 consisted 13 questions to ask when considering unethical potential actions while approach 3 involved four steps approach determining ethical dilemma situations. Step 1 involves analyzing the facts of situations, step 2 involved isolation of ethical and legal issues, step 3 decide on step to resolve the current situations and step 4 include upholding policies and strategies to prevent recurrence[Mic00]. Moreover, the lecture enriched my knowledge concerning the changing social practice with security moving from personal to protecting the privacy, identity and security of the employer and the clients. In this case, the professionalism of an individual facilitates the accomplishment of the company objectives. Ethical and sustainability were reflected in lecture 4 with information and technology professional intended to uphold the ethics in ensuring they work towards the three pillars of human experience that are environmental, social and economic.[Ale11] In this case, the corporate social responsibility impacts to the current business situation are rarely measured or rewarded while alternative business situation upholds generally agreed on a definition of sustainability. This is agreed on measure and valuation for inputs and outputs of the environment. Lecture 5 focused on improvement of collaboration through social practice and IT professional. The concept behind this lecture revolved around technologically feasible development that focus on a viable business strategy that can be converted into customer value and market opportunity. Moreover, the lecture enlightened on collaborative wellness as the gap existing due to the comparison of current state and the desired state that is expressed in fulfilling joint value proposition. Furthermore, it considered the responsibility of each creator as significant in ensuring the role is acceptable in the society[Rob06]. In terms of collaboration, each creator must interact with other involved to ensure the accomplishment of the objective of the project. Catherine Logan was instrumental as a guest of the course as she explained the legal system of Australia and its integration with IT and practice. She reflected on Australian legal system throughout the course as she focused on sensitizing the student how the law applies to issues of ethics and business. I learned there exist no specific laws regulating IT profession, and there exist various associations of IT profession such as Australian Computer Society (ACS). However, laws such as overlapping laws are relevant to the IT industry, and they involved Intellectual property, consumer protection laws, technology-specific laws, criminal law, contract, and privacy[Jud97]. Catherine also facilitated Tutorial of week 6 presenting various question revolving around legal system. Not until this tutorial I learned the relevance of understanding the law as an IT profession to reduce the chances of violating the law and continuously focus on upholding the ethics. Impact on Future The course will remain instrumental in my life in the sense that it focused on issues to be upheld in the society by any successful IT professional. The course highlighted on various laws that need to be adhered to by any IT professional without violation of the set laws by the Constitution. For instance, the 6 week tutorial involved discussions on the Australian legal system facilitating the understanding of the integration existing between Intellectual Laws and IT laws[Gun09]. In this consideration, it has an impact in future as I equipped with the laws that need to be upheld. The laws protect the client and the IT professionals, and thus it equips an individual on instances the law protects him and on the situation he may violate the laws towards the client. In future, I have the knowledge of patenting ideas to ensure I own the rights. Moreover, the overlapping laws that are relevant to IT career have been well tackled in the course equipping an individual while pursuing IT career in the industry. The course equips an individual on the mechanism that should be upheld to ensure success in IT industry. For instance, collaboration has been discussed effectively to sensitize an individual on the significance and the benefits it subjects the business in the market. The improvement of collaboration, therefore, subjects an individual in identifying various opportunities existing in the market. Moreover, the necessity of the internal diversity of an organization matching the environment complexities impacts the future through challenging the IT professionals to focus on projects that match the environment requirements (Schultz, 2010). An ethical environment makes sense to business as it enhances overcoming of communication, isolation, and time barriers. Moreover, it enables reduction of the cost, with the existence of automation of overheads. In this consideration, the IT professional success revolves around maintenance of an ethical environment and thus upholding of cross-team cooperation remains vital for success. The ethics and choices adopted by an IT professional or an organization in IT industry determine the success in the market[Hon071]. Moreover, in future embracement of IT will be prevalent and thus an organization or individual with the ethics acceptable in the society have a higher chance of benefiting and succeeding in the industry. Moreover, in the event all the professional upholds the ethics reflected in the course the level of privacy and security among people and industries will increase. The course emphasized on low cognitive distance and thus in future increasing sufficient alignment of mental categories would facilitate accomplishment of a common goal through utilization of complementary capabilities. This focus on IT professional is reducing the level of uncertainties that exist where high cognitive distance exist. Moreover, learning has embarked on knowledge sharing process but naturalness theory emphasizes on lower naturalness to control the level of misinterpreting the communication. In this consideration, sensitizing learners on the effectiveness of lower naturalness will facilitate effective interpretation in communication leading to the higher mental effort needed in knowledge sharing[Dow11]. Effective sharing of information contributes to continuous development in information technology in the modern society. Conclusion The course enlightened me on various ethical issues vital for an IT professional in the dynamic IT industry. Additionally, the course subjected my understanding of IT to more conversant level regarding issues of ethics and the impacts they have in future. In this case, the course emphasized on the laws that govern IT industry as an attempt to equip an individual fully in IT career. The level that IT industry can subject a business and an individual in terms of security and identity is high as the course highlighted the strategies and ethics needed in accomplishing the various objectives. The responsibilities of various IT industries impacts the society on developing programs and software aimed at making life efficient in terms of carrying out activities. The responsibilities that facilitate development and sustainability of the society revolve around commitment of the leaders in terms of objectivity[Ste04]. The commitment to objectivity facilitates the development of a framework that focuses on the appropriate strategies and mechanisms of sustainability through facilitating inputs and outputs in the environment. Furthermore, the course enlightened me as an IT professional on various strategies to adopt in case a dilemma exist in the line of duty. Upholding ethical codes remain critical as an IT professional as the course provides an effective understanding of the relevant decision that exist regarding various dilemma in IT industry. The course facilitated greatly on changing various perspective I had regarding IT and practice in the society[Hon07]. Additionally, it emphasized on various concepts that are relevant for continuous change in IT industry as well as reflecting on the integration that exist with other subjects. References Ste04: , (Northcutt, 2004), Ric03: , (George, 2003), Hon07: , (Hongladarom & Ess, 2007), Ale11: , (Rajko, 2011), Jud97: , (DeCew, 1997), Mic00: , (Pemberton, 2000), Rob06: , (Schultz, 2006), Gun09: , (Gunning, et al., 2009), Hon071: , (Hongladarom & Ess, 2007), Dow11: , (Downey, et al., 2011), Read More

In terms of information, it was defined as a message that is meaningful when exchanged between a sender and the receiver[Ste04]. Moreover, the lectures offered an explanation for organization knowledge as which is created as people interact with each other and the environment. Additionally, organizational knowledge remained subjective, action-oriented, process –relational and created through practice. Moreover, the lecture focused on IT professionals and the ethics they need to uphold. In this case, IT professionals perform specialized activities in technology and the internet for a fee and have agreed to abide by the existing code of conduct[Hon07].

For instance, the primacy of the public interest should remain essential in any IT professional. Moreover, facilitation of quality life to people in need should be the objective of any IT professional. This can only be accomplished through upholding honesty, competence, and professional development in an attempt to accomplish the objective and goals of IT through enhancing integrity and professionalism. The meaning of innovation was focused either in the lecture with two types of innovation being emphasized.

Incremental innovation involves continuous improvement with existence of various solutions in a given frame to enhance bettering the services rendered while radical innovation involved a change of frame mainly focused on adopting new mechanism and system that did not exist. In this case, an IT professional has responsibilities from the leadership of the organization he works for and thus there exist various expectation. In this consideration, an individual needs to create contribution that are measured by the purpose and the impacts towards the objectives and goals of the organization.

Additionally, the compatibility of the creation of other groups, peers, and other organization remains critical in enhancing accomplishment of various objectives. In lecture 2 the theme revolved around social ethics. In this case, the lecture emphasized on social complexity from an ethical perspective and ethical choices that aim to facilitate collaborations and reduce conflict. In terms of ethical choices, I learned the significance of responsibility as the lecture emphasized on free will, responsibilities and ethics in enhancing self-continual reassessment of ethical choices.

The vitality of understanding free will in terms of being in control of our actions to the extent of being held responsible leads to upholding the virtues in the organization. Moreover, in terms of ethics it revolves around making choice acceptable within the environment and ready to accept responsibilities for the choices. The business layer upholds the law and customs as the organization focus in devising the ethics that creates the culture[Ale11]. The significance of the culture arises as it focuses on inspiring communication between employees, uphold respect and strengthen customer relationship based on integrity and honesty.

IT significant role in ensuring upholding of ethics in an organization arose through learning extended cognition. The lecture reflected extended cognition to enlighten a two-way interaction existing between human and an external device in creation of coupled complex system. The complex coupled system is reflected as a cognitive system, and it plays a significant role in governing the behavior. Moreover, IT reduce uncertainties through the existence of identity that is based on impression management existing in digital communities.

The upholding of Agile practices enhances the creation of culture in the organization through various rules. In this case, organization are complex and adaptive system thus enhancing decentralized and independent individuals to interact in a self-organizing ways. The rules are simple and generated to facilitate innovation from the emergent rules. Adoption of facilitation method in implementing ethical issues reflects the significance of the agile teams and upholding culture of an organization in ensuring it accomplishes its objectives and goals[Jud97].

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