Reflective Journal Assessment: Professional Issues In Information Technology - Essay.

The outline of the report

Discuss about the Professional and Ethical issues in IT.

The Professional issues in Information Technology is the unit which deals with social, legal, financial, industrial and ethical issues faced by ICT Professionals. The ICT professionals are Information and Communication Technology professionals who regularly deal with the professional issues associated with IT systems in an Organization (Ruivo, Santos and Oliveira 2014). The report shows reflective journal assessment which provides learning outcomes for this unit through ICT professional’s analysis. The purpose of this report is to provide reflection for what I have learned from the unit of Professional issues in Information Technology. The report focuses on change of perspectives of interpersonal issues and IT-related issues in terms of ICT professionals.

The outline of this report is to answer the question related to interpersonal issues and analysis of IT-related issues of Professional issues in Information Technology degree. The report includes question from Part A and analysis of Part B.

The goal for adopting for Professional issues in Information Technology degree was due to growing career prospective of ICT professionals in current scenario. I was interested in Information Technology career from early days due to fascination towards computer world. Information Technology is the base for any Organization and it is growing rapidly due to its potential. Nowadays every organization wants employees that have required knowledge for Information Technology and especially in the area of professional and ethical issues. The consideration for choosing Professional Issues in Information Technology helped me to explore and get deep understanding and knowledge on Information Technology. This consideration will help me in my future career as an ICT professional in an organization (Al-Saggaf, Burmeister and Schwartz 2017). My enrollment into Professional issues in Information Technology degree visualizes my goals and motivation due to interest in Information Technology. The Information Technology has various courses which focus on different areas. However Professional Issues in Information Technology is one course which helps to understand issues in Information Technology. My goal was to go in the field which requires more realistic and creativity in the field of Information Technology. This creativity can be achieved only through Professional Issues in Information Technology degree. Therefore, Professional Issues in Information Technology degree perfectly fit into my overall goal of becoming an ICT professional. The choice for opting Professional Issues in Information Technology degree was the right decision for me. The degree helped me to get deep understanding and knowledge of issues that exist in Information Systems. The unit also helped me to focus on unknown future risks that can happen in Information System. These understanding and knowledge proved my decision right and helped me to apply this knowledge in my future (Avgerou and Walsham 2017). This degree helped me to change my plans and aspiration in a better and improved way. This degree helped me to get an understanding and knowledge on ethics of Information Technology that ICT professionals should follow. I got to learn and develop technical aspects and interpersonal skill to be applied in real world.

My goal for adopting Professional Issues in Information Technology degree

The kinds of behaviors that might be important for an ICT professional to show while working in a group or team are given this section. The group or team includes people from different backgrounds consisting of different genders, castes, skills and religion. The positive behavior in workplace contributes to better and improved working environment where all participate equally. The important behavior that an ICT professional should have is maintaining equal opportunity for all genders (Laudon and Laudon 2016). The other important behavior is diverse working skills to deliver while working in a team or group. The ICT professional must possess skills such as project management, problem solving, solution for technical aspects and managing business environment internally and externally. Apart from these behaviors, the most important behavior that an ICT professional should have is trust while working in the team or group. The trust is an important part in any working environment to encourage and motivate people to work in a better way. The behaviors that an ICT professional should show must be adhered to ethical standards which are the first and foremost duty of an ICT professional. ICT professionals need should exhibit these behaviors to encourage and motivate their group or team to work efficiently and equally. My contribution to a sound team performance shows technical aspect along with behavioral aspects. The first contribution is making contribution of new ideas to the team. The second contribution is to listen and understand the view of team members and respecting their views and opinions (Sargolzaei and Nikbakht 2017). The third contribution is to offer and accept criticism for developing cohesive group work performance and behavior. The fourth contribution is interaction and coordination among the team members for better performance. The fifth contribution is avoiding any discrimination in the workplace. The contributions that I made should have been better for team’s performance if I have known the culture and behaviors of team members (Schwalbe 2015). I can have helped the team members to be comfortable and friendly with each other and with the environment.

The most memorable moments of Professional Issues in Technology degree was dealing with real world problems that have occurred. I have always been fascinated towards computer world and its happenings. I always wondered what Information Technology professionals do in an organization and how they organize their findings. This degree helped me to achieve that. The real world problems and issues such as Equifax data breach and Ransomware cyber attack were also included in the learning part (Miloslavskaya and Tolstoy 2016). The dealing with these real world problems and issues were the most memorable moments as it helped me to indulge in the real scenario. I used my own interpersonal skills, understanding and knowledge to solve the issues of real world problems. This is where I enjoyed most and developed some new level of understanding. The other most memorable moments was that when I was told that I have to visualize that I am an ICT professional. This situation helped me to use my understanding and thoughts to handle the issue and propose innovations for the issue (Sampson and Makela 2014). This situation helped me to have confidence of what innovations I propose for the issues. This moment also helped me to gain effective communication as a professional such as an effective leader or a team member. These were the moments which were most memorable and it does impact me in a better way to improve my skills and knowledge. This understanding will help me to grow in future within an organization.

Behaviors important for an ICT professional to exhibit while working in a team

The key professional roles and responsibilities for a modern ICT professional are described as follows. The roles and responsibilities of ICT professionals vary in different organizations as the roles of ICT professionals vary from senior positions to an employee position (Kerckaert, Vanderlinde and van Braak 2015). However the key professional roles that an ICT professional has are team leader, project manager, technical assistant and a team member. Apart from these major roles, other roles are business partners, information technology advisors and information technology facilitators (Leendertz et al. 2015). The role of ICT professionals as team leader is to deliver skills to team members and help them to manage the team in a better way. The role of ICT professional as project manager is to acknowledge the project and manage the project. The role of ICT professional as technical assistant is to manage the networking part and its issues. The role of ICT professional as a team member is to deliver task. The roles of ICT professional as business partners, advisors and facilitators functions internally and externally for an organization. The key professional responsibilities of ICT professional are as follows. The first responsibility is development and designing of application and software for security purposes. The second responsibility is management of information technology systems to ensure safety and security. The third responsibility is evaluation, operation and upgrade of information technology systems in an organization. The fourth responsibility is adherence to ethical standards in managing the issues of information technology (Nederhand and Van Meerkerk 2017). These roles and responsibilities will help me in my career growth in future in an organization. The roles and responsibilities such as technical aspects, teamwork and management skills and ability to solve problems will help me to have secured and active job within an organization. This will also help me to work efficiently and effectively in a group or team in an organization.

The first topic which is analyzed is Information Security which helps me to evaluate my working as a professional in future. The topic deals with detailed understanding of information security in an organization and an example where information security comes into play (Peltier 2016). This topic helps me to get an analysis of what I can do in risky situations in an organization. I get an overview of what I can do as an IT professional in an organization and how to handle a team. This topic helped me to grow as a professional and look at the situations in a more responsible way. I also get an understanding of what I can do when anything goes wrong in an organization through the example given in this topic. I thought that information security is a small area where limited knowledge can work. However, this topic changed my thoughts as information security needs active participation and environmental knowledge and understanding (Safa, Von Solms and Furnell 2016). The information security a professional does not have to look any issues from single perspective but they have to look from different perspectives. The information security topic also helps to get understanding and knowledge of how to analyze a risk and mitigate the risks. The topic has impacted me positively by helping me to get deep understanding of what can be done in difficult situations in an organization. This topic will help me in my future career growth as an information security professional.

My contribution to a sound team performance

The second topic which is analyzed is Ethics which helps to get an understanding of ethics related with Professional Issues in Information Technology (Tse et al. 2015). This topic helps me to understand the ethics which are associated with Information Technology and how it is perceived by ICT professionals. This topic has impacted me in a positive way as it helps me to analyze and evaluate the security issues with adherence to ethics of information technology. The detailed description of ethics has helped me to approach any issue in a professional way. The ethics in Professional Issues in Information Technology degree helps me to get analysis of different types of ethical issues, privacy and integrity associated (Lloyd 2017). I can now understand how to analyze and solve any issues of information technology in an organization. The different types of ethics and privacy help me to know what role ethics and privacy play in information technology in businesses. The topic will help me to apply this ethics in the organization where I will be employed and through this I can upgrade myself. I can now understand that knowledge of ethics is going to be a major turnout for me in future scenarios. Ethics is not a small topic to be understood through learning rather it is a more practical thing which needs basic environmental understanding (Halinen and Jokela 2016). Therefore, ethics in Professional Issues in IT has impacted me the most and in a positive way to become a better and improved professional in future.

The third topic which is analyzed is Triple threat leadership and charting one’s career that does not impact me completely in a professional way. This topic has helped me get an overview of project planning, leadership and career planning. This topic does not help me to get deep understanding of what actually a project does and triple threat leadership understanding in businesses. The topic does not illustrate how project works and how triple threat leadership contributes in business performance (Lundin et al. 2017). However, I did get some understanding of project, triple threat leadership and career planning which can help me in my professional career. This topic does impact me in a way that I can now understand how to plan my career with appropriate action for achieving the required goal. I can use this understanding to start my career initially and boost my confidence in my professional career. The topic gave me most important learning and that is competencies required in an organization to be able to retain in the business environment. The competencies will help me in my future by giving me enough knowledge to how adjust and grow professionally in a challenging business environment. This learning will help me to grow professionally in an organization. The career planning is necessary to fit in an organization as it helps to focus on professional career (Rothwell et al. 2015). Therefore, this topic impacts me by helping to start my career initially however it lacks detailed illustration which is important to grow in future.

Most memorable moments of Professional Issues in Technology degree

The fourth topic which is analyzed is Professionalism in ICT which helps to get an understanding of how to become an ICT professional. The exact working and operation of ICT professional in this topic also helps me to learn how to become a good ICT professional. This topic impacts me in a most influential way as it helps me to understand what I have to do to become an ICT professional. I thought that ICT professionals require only information technology understanding and knowledge. However, this topic changed my thoughts. Now, I can understand that an ICT professional has to do a lot of research on issues (Al-Saggaf, Burmeister and Schwartz 2017). They have to do analysis from different point of views and use their own interpersonal skills and behaviors to understand the issues. This topic helps me to understand that ethics is an important part of an ICT professional and this is where they need major focus. The topic helps me to understand that becoming an ICT professional is not easy they require multiple skills. These multiple skills range from interpersonal skills to professional skills. I am now able to understand that professionalism in ICT requires work culture behavior, interpersonal behavior and knowledge of code of ethics (MacKrell et al. 2016). This will help me to grow in future professionally. The ICT professional requires being active and can understand the issues personally. Therefore, this topic on professionalism in ICT helps me to be a better ICT professional in business work environment.

Conclusion

The above Part A and Part B show that the degree of Professional issues in Information Technology helps to develop interpersonal and IT-related issues. The reflective journal shows that every individual has its own opinion and own way of understanding which they take away. The discussions show that interpersonal skills show the overall take away from Professional issues in Information Technology degree. However, IT-related issues show the take away from the particular topic of the degree. This shows that everyone has its own perspective to view things and analyze. Therefore, it can be concluded that the understanding and knowledge that I got from this degree will help me in future as a professional.

References

Al-Saggaf, Y., Burmeister, O.K. and Schwartz, M., 2017. Qualifications and ethics education: the views of ICT professionals. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 21.

Al-Saggaf, Y., Burmeister, O.K. and Schwartz, M., 2017. Qualifications and ethics education: the views of ICT professionals. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 21.

Key professional roles and responsibilities of a modern ICT professional

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Kerckaert, S., Vanderlinde, R. and van Braak, J., 2015. The role of ICT in early childhood education: Scale development and research on ICT use and influencing factors. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 23(2), pp.183-199.

Laudon, K.C. and Laudon, J.P., 2016. Management information system. Pearson Education India.

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Lloyd, I., 2017. Information technology law. Oxford University Press.

Lundin, R.A., Arvidsson, N., Brady, T., Ekstedt, E., Midler, C. and Sydow, J., 2017. Project Networks–More than Managing Projects.

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Peltier, T.R., 2016. Information Security Policies, Procedures, and Standards: guidelines for effective information security management. CRC Press.

Rothwell, W.J., Jackson, R.D., Ressler, C.L., Jones, M.C. and Brower, M., 2015. Career Planning and Succession Management: Developing Your Organization's Talent—for Today and Tomorrow: Developing Your Organization’s Talent—for Today and Tomorrow. ABC-CLIO.

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