Ethical Issues in the Development and Implementation of Information Systems - Literature review Example

ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS Name Course Institution Professor’s name Date Introduction The ease for people regardless of who they are and where they are to assemble, incorporate and distribute information has generated more concerns regarding security of information, safeguarding of individual privacy, safeguarding of intellectual property and rights and the suitable use of information as supported by Rogerson et al., (2000). In addition, there are questions of accountability for the costs of information systems, creation of standards to ensure quality systems which safeguard the safety of every person and the society and more significantly, sustainability of institutions and ideals which are fundamental to leading quality life in the new world order of information society (Wu et al., 2001). All these variables necessitate an urgency to deal with ethical issues that are arising, which are not effectively and efficiently addressed by traditional regulations and institutions as indicated by Avison & Wood-Harper, (1990). This informs this report which seeks to analyze whether an information systems software company is ethically compelled to release software that are guaranteed to be error and bug free. Definitions of terms Stair, et al., (2008) describes ethics as the principles of knowing what is right and wrong, which people, as members of society practicing free will have to utilize to come up with choices that inform their behaviors. Are information systems Software Companies ethically compelled to release software that are guaranteed to be error and bug free? The basis of this discussion is to evaluate if information systems software companies are ethically compelled to release software that are guaranteed to be error and bug free. Ethically, speaking, these companies are compelled to do so but as this report indicates, sometimes, information systems software companies are unable to correct errors and eliminate bugs completely owing to the fact that doing so would be economically unviable (Wu, et al., 2001). Prior to analyzing the ethical responsibility and accountability of information systems software companies towards developing bug free and error free information systems, it is crucial to examine the significance of ethics in information systems. As earlier indicated, information is a valuable resource to both profit and non-profit making organizations since it is critical to the success of those people with accessibility to it. As a result, development of information systems entails social and political correlation that make ethical considerations in how information is utilized all the more essential (Avison & Wood-Harper, 1990). Information systems are so embedded in every aspect of modern living which includes within government structures, within working environments and in personal lives, which makes it critical for information systems developers, companies and relevant stakeholders to continuously develop ethical and legal decisions that are vital in balancing the needs and the rights of every member of the society (Rogerson, et al., 2000). Stair, et al. (2008) notes that, ethics in information systems have taken an active role compared to legal decisions and systems, which have been unable to keep up with technical growth and developments while people negotiate the way forward in regards to development and utilization of information systems software. It is important to note that, ethics do not eradicate the significance of legal decisions and systems but they act as a guide and reinforcement in developing and implementing them as echoed by Wu et al., (2001). Most important ethical issues regarding the development and sale of information systems The ethical accountability and responsibility of information systems software companies in developing and distributing error and bug free information systems cannot be over-emphasized. This is because, bug and error free information systems ensures credibility, privacy, improved quality of information and data, safety of information and it ensures the accessible information is used appropriately and correctly (Kizza, 2010). There are fundamental ethical issues regarding the development and sale of information systems, which are interconnected with social and political matters that need addressing at all levels, that is, personal, social and political levels (Rogerson et al., 2000). These includes ethical responsibilities, which refers to questions in regards to who bears the costs of harm done on people and the society due to development of information systems software that have errors and bugs, what are the roles and duties particularly in describing who does what and when and taking accountability for any decisions made during development, distribution and marketing processes of information systems software that have errors and bugs (Wu et al., 2001). The other important ethical issues regarding the development and sale of information systems is accountability which is a variable of social institutions and systems which questions the systems that are in place to establish those that make and take responsible decisions and actions respectively and it defines those that are responsible for any harm that occurs owing to development and sale of systems that are faulty in nature knowingly or unknowingly as argued by Rogerson et al., (2000). Accountability is an important ethical issue because, institutions and systems where it is difficult to determine the actions taken by varied stakeholders are innately unable of carrying out effective and sufficient ethical analysis, thus, poor ethical actions (Stair et al., 2008). As earlier mentioned, ethical issues in information systems are interlinked with social and political issues and therefore, the third most important ethical issue regarding the development and sale of information systems is liability. Kizza, (2010) mentions that liability as an element of political systems where laws are developed with the view of allowing people to take ethical actions and sue for harm done through development and sale of information systems software that have errors and bugs. The use of due process ensures all stakeholders are aware and they understand laws (Avison & Wood-Harper, 1990). This is crucial in ensuring all actors comply with set laws and regulations and when they do not, they are made liable for their decisions and actions. The ethical issues have varied moral aspects among them information rights and responsibilities; which deals with addressing issues relating to the form of information rights that people and firms have in regards to themselves, issues relating to the type of information that needs to be safeguarded and addressing issues pertaining to the obligations that people and businesses have pertaining the information in question (Kizza, 2010). Property rights and responsibilities; this deals with issues on ways that convectional intellectual property rights are safeguarded in present information society, where tracking and taking into account of information ownership is complicated and overlooking property rights is easy (Wu, et al., 2001). Accountability and control; are the other moral perspective to ethical issues regarding the development and sale of information system which deals with issues relating to assessing who is responsible and liable for the cost of information systems particularly when people, collective data and property rights are made vulnerable to harm and risks (Rogerson et al., 2000). Systems quality; deals with ethical issues relating to the kind of standards of data and quality of systems required to safeguard the rights of people (Kizza, 2010). Finally, Quality of life; which is a moral perspective which focuses on the type of ideals that are required to be maintained in an information society and dealing with issues relating to cultural ideals required to support new information systems (Stair, et al., 2008). Steps or processes involved in the development of software and how they might relate to the ethical creation of software According to Avison & Wood-Harper, (1990), the processes or steps involved in the development of information systems software must shift from focusing on technical systems that have social and behavioral issues and instead, put into much consideration social systems that significantly depend on information technology. The author emphasizes the need to focus on human, social and organizational variables not only during systems failures and poor performance, but also integrating them in the processes involved in the development of information systems software (Avison & Wood-Harper, 1990). Information systems development methodologies such as the Structured Systems Analysis and Design Methodology also referred to as SSADM have been highly criticized for their hard approaches particularly for the minimal considerations on social and ethical perspectives of Information systems development (Rogerson et al., 2000). According to the author, soft ethical methodologies such as Soft System Methodology also known as SSM and Effective Technical and Human Implementation of Computer-based System also referred to as ETHICS are preferred (Rogerson et al., 2000). Therefore, it is important as information systems software companies develop and market their systems which are bug and error-free, they should be developed in such a way to ensure, soft approaches are integrated in the development process. The basic steps or processes involved in the development of software includes carrying a preliminary analysis and planning, systems analysis and requirements definition, system designing, systems development, integration and testing, acceptance, implementation and deployment and eventually maintenance (Wu et al., 2001). During analysis and planning stage, the system developers need to be aware of the gaps and opportunities that exist while using existing information systems and evaluate the potential benefits and risks of developing such an information system (Avison & Wood-Harper, 1990). The analysis and planning stage also entails setting specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound goals and objectives and balancing of systems requirements. It is in the planning stage that resources are allocated to ensure the system development process is a success (Kizza, 2010). In the systems analysis and requirements definition step, user information needs are assessed while at systems designing; the desired features of the system are described comprehensively which includes system layout, rules, and process designs among other documentation (Stair et al., 2008). Kizza (2010) indicates that, during development step, the system is created and all the pieces are incorporated together in a testing environment to screen for interoperability, bugs and errors in the integration and testing process. The system is produced in the acceptance, installation and deployment stage. Regular maintenance is carried out to facilitate changes to align the system to changing needs and expectations (Wu et al., 2001). It is critical that not only technical issues are addressed in all the systems development stages, but also, all relevant stakeholders should be engaged to facilitate commitment and ownership, which ensures the ethical issues are effectively and efficiently addressed (Kizza, 2010). In deciding whether a company developing information systems should be ethically compelled to market bug and error free systems can be evaluated by applying the ethical principles. There are primarily six ethical principles which includes the golden rule, the Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative, Descartes’ rule of change, utilitarian principle, risk aversion principle ethical ‘no free lunch’ rule as described by Stair, et al., (2008). According to the Golden rule, one should do unto others as they would want done unto them, which entails a company or the management making decisions that are fair (Stair et al., 2008). This means that a company can develop and market information systems which are error and bug free taking into account how objective the decision to do so is. Based on the golden rule, as a manager, the decision would be that an information systems software company is ethically compelled to release software that is guaranteed to be error and bug-free. The Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative principle suggest that when an action is not right for all to take, then it is not right for any person (Stair et al., 2008). This means that if one company develops and releases software that is guaranteed to be error and bug-free, and all companies did that as well, then, the outcome should inform the decision whether an information systems software company is ethically compelled to release software that is guaranteed to be error and bug-free. From this principle, when one company is ethically compelled to release software that is guaranteed to be error and bug-free, then all companies are ethically compelled, which means development of error and bug-free software, which would resolve issues of safety, security, accountability and liability. Reasonable efforts for producing acceptable quality in information systems development Companies that develop and releases information systems software are responsible and accountable for any costs that are preventable and predictable that that are obligated to identify and rectify (Kizza, 2010). Be it as it may, there are errors in information systems that can be predicted and rectified but at a high cost, so high that, seeking to guarantee information systems perfection becomes economically unviable since no one could afford the developed system (Avison & Wood-Harper, 1990). Despite ethical obligations, a company may release systems that have minor bugs since trying to eliminate all of them would mean production and release is eventually stopped (Stair et al., 2008). This does not mean a company should fail to debug their developed systems and take advantage of this gray area. Reasonable efforts for producing acceptable quality in information systems development can be achieved through complying with relevant and current best practices in development of information systems (Kizza, 2010). Among the main sources of poor performance of information systems includes errors and bugs, facility and hardware malfunction and low quality data input (Rogerson, et al., 2000). Conclusively, the company is ethically compelled to guarantee release of bug and error-free systems but the management should be keen to ensure debugging does not make the developed systems economically unfeasible. Information systems that are good enough for release are not necessarily those which are error and bug free, instead, they are those that are functional, in that, they are able to function as expected, they are usable and friendly to use since they are easy to understand and they are reliable in terms of having consistency in operating as it is expected to (Wu et al., 2001). The author adds that they need to have high rate of performance by effectively and sufficiently meeting the needs of the end users and they are portable in regards to their ability to be used in varied environments (Wu et al., 2001). Other than applying the varied processes and principles in development of information systems to deal with ethical issues regarding release of bug and error-free systems, the company can carryout an ethical analysis where it establishes clear facts about the ethical issue in question by identifying the how, who, where and when. It is important all relevant stakeholders are engaged in dealing with the ethical issue (Rogerson, et al., 2000). It is important to establish the point of ethical concerns for all relevant stakeholders, which informs designing of effective solutions to the ethical issues. Other than that, identifying varied alternative ethical actions to take is critical. The final step in an ethical analysis is to establish possible outcomes of the alternative ethical actions in order to select the one that has the highest potential to address all the major ethical concerns and issues (Stair et al., 2008). Conclusion Modern social and business environments have witnessed enhanced development and reliance on modern technology systems that have influenced significantly how people work, transact business, share knowledge and information, entertain, socialize, learn and more importantly how they live. The information resource is not only fundamental for organizations and businesses but also forms an integral aspect in ensuring overall performance and success. Development of information systems have brought with them new ethical dilemmas for the society owing to their ability to develop opportunities for significant changes socially, hence, threatening the current allocations and division of power, responsibilities, rights and more importantly, resources such as finances. Conclusively, companies are ethically compelled to develop and release software that is guaranteed to be error and bug-free. However, the management should be able to ensure the products do not become economically unviable. Additionally, other qualities such as functionality, usability, consistency, maintainability, performance and portability should be considered. References Avison, D.E. & Wood-Harper, A.T. (1990). Multiview: An Exploration in Information Systems Development. Sidney: Alfred Waller. Kizza, J.M. (2010). Ethical and Social Issues in the Information Age. New Jersey: Springer. Rogerson, S., Weckert, J., & Simpson, C. (2000). An ethical review of information systems development: The Australian Computer Society's code of ethics and SSADM. Information Technology & People, 13 (2): 121-136. Accessed on 28th July 2012 from http://www.ccsr.cse.dmu.ac.uk/jpapers/papers/rogerson_weckert_simpson_2000_itp.pdf (Accessed July 27, 2012) Stair, R.M., Reynolds, G., Reynolds, G.W. (2008). Fundamentals of Information Systems. London: Cengage Learning. Wu, X., Rogerson, S., Fairweather, N.B. (2001). Being Ethical in Developing Information Systems: An Issue of Methodology or Maturity in Judgment? Proceedings of the 34th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, pp 1-9. Accessed on 28th July 2012 from http://www.ccsr.cse.dmu.ac.uk/jpapers/papers/wu_rogerson_fairweather_2001_hicss.pdf (Accessed July 27, 2012) Read More