1. Introduction
For this report, the case study 3 is selected which is about the “James” which is hired by the well-known consultancy company with the purpose to interview the staff members of the company to check the current knowledge of the staff. James is advised to keep the information gathered from the employees safe and private. As the Vice president of the company ask James about the staff members who did well in this study. James is in an ethical dilemma to respond to this question. He is confused about whether he should give the information to the senior vice president or reject the proposal. The main aim of this report is to analyse the case study and discuss the legal, ethical and professional issues associated with the given case study in accordance to the ACS code of ethics, ACS codes of professional conduct and various legislations. This report also aims to discuss the ethical dilemma faced by James.
2. ACS codes of ethics and professional conduct
This section defines the various ethical and professional issues associated with the selected case study in context with ACS codes of ethics and ACS codes of professional conduct.
Honesty:
1. As a professional, James will reject the offer of inducement or bribery.
2. James will not knowingly misrepresent the clients as to the suitability of service.
3. James will not attempt to enhance his own position at the expense of the reputation of employees.
4. James will distinguish between his personal opinions and professional opinions or advice.
(ACS Code of Professional Conduct, 2014).
According to this value, James cannot breach the trust of its stakeholders (Burmeister, 2017). As a senior vice president wants to know the performance details of its employees from the James, it may lead to a breach of this value of ACS codes of ethics and cause the serious ethical issues associated with honesty.
The primacy of public interest:
1. James will respect the intellectual property of others
2. James will endeavour to preserve the privacy and security of the information of staff members or others.
3. James will endeavour to preserve the integrity, security, continuity and utility of ICT
4. James will raise with stakeholders any potential conflicts between your professional activity and legal or other accepted public requirements
(ACS Code of Professional Conduct, 2014).
This ethics code is relevant to this case because James is advised to keep the information gathered from the employees safe and private. If James accepts the proposal of senior vice president and discloses the details to him, then it may lead to a breach of the primacy of public interest. To ensure the integrity, privacy and confidentiality of information collected from the individuals, James must follow the above-explained clauses.
Professionalism:
1. James will take informed, objective, calm and knowledgeable stance on your professional work, complementing his engagement and enthusiasm in it.
2. James will neither require, nor attempt to influence, any person to take any action which would involve a breach of this Code.
3. James will refrain from any conduct or action in his professional role which may tarnish the image of the profession or detract from the good name of the ACS
4. James will endeavour to extend public knowledge and understanding of ICT
5. James will have pride in your profession and protect and promote professionalism in ICT.
(ACS Code of Professional Conduct, 2014).
In this case, James must maintain professional standards and must treat all the staff members with respect and dignity.
3. Legislative implications
If James discloses the information of staff members to the senior vice president or others, it may lead to the violation of the privacy and data protection acts. According to these laws, the confidential information cannot be disclosed to others (Frenz, 2017).
4. Thomas White’s methodology for analysing and resolving an ethical dilemma
Thomas White’s methodology consists of three steps which can be very helpful for James in order to resolve the ethical dilemma (White, n.d.).
Analyse the consequences:
In this step, James can analyse the various consequences of various options. For example, if James wants to disclose the details to senior vice president, then he should analyse the consequences of following this option such as violation of ethical values, violation of privacy laws, discrimination between staff members based on their performance etc. On the contrary, if James does not want to tell the details to senior vice president, he can approach to management regarding this problem or discuss the various ethical as well as legal implications with the senior vice president in order to pursue him to support its decision.
Analyse the actions:
James must keep in mind the above-explained ACS codes of ethics before taking any action. Instead of focusing on consequences, James should only focus on actions such as he should focus on how to measure up on ethical values. In this case, James will be recommended to select the option whose actions are least problematic, i.e; not disclosing the details to senior vice president.
Decision:
After analysing the consequences and actions associated with various options, James can make the decision which is most suitable to the problem.
5. References:
ACS Code of Professional Conduct. (2014). Retrieved from https://www.acs.org.au/content/dam/acs/rules-and-regulations/Code-of-Professional-Conduct_v2.1.pdf
Burmeister, O. (2017). Professional ethics in the information age. Journal of Information, Communication And Ethics in Society, 15(4), 348-356. doi: 10.1108/jices-11-2016-0045
Frenz, R. (2017). Legal & Ethical Responsibilities Related to Information Systems. Retrieved from https://bizfluent.com/info-8504478-legal-responsibilities-related-information-systems.html
White, T. Resolving an Ethical Dilemma. Retrieved from http://bourbon.usc.edu/engr102-f09/ethics.pdf
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