SI 410 : Ethics And Information Technology

In the factual scenario, Ilnaz is a 22 year old woman from Iran who was offered a job in an Australian Company and she accepted the offer readily. Reporting to her job she found that she has to work with a male colleague as both of them shall be working on the same project. Ilaz is facing a dilemma as it is not permissible in her religion to work with an isolated and unrelated man but she also wants to keep the job.

Thomas White methodology

As per the Thomas White methodology, it is important to look at an ethical dilemma from the approach of solving it by applying two kinds of approaches- first, to check the practical consequences and the second is to look at the actions governing it. To begin with, it is essential to be on the right side of the law and then look at the consequences of act from the point of it either being positive or negative. In gauging the harm, it is important to see what kind of harm might accrue and then the benefit and the harm has to be weighed up against each other. After the consequences have been analyzed, it is important to examine the actions and check them on the lines of honesty, fairness and also respecting the dignity of others (Leicester 2016). The question that the company needs to consider along with Ilnaz is if the actions of the company crossing a line and is the violation a simple case of decency or a violation of an ethical principle (Van den Hoven, Miller and Pogge 2017). In resolving the dilemma, the options should be considered by Ilnaz to select the one which is less problematic and ethically viable for her. Therefore, applying the Thomas White methodology, to resolve the dilemma, Ilnaz has to check if working with a male colleague is against her religion and primary principles or it an important ethical violation which is posing a threat to her family life.

ACS Code of Ethics

As per the ACS Code of Conduct, it is important to maintain professional behavior and abide by the principles of ethics. As per the ACS Code of ethics, it is important to advance the principles of honour and dignity and also remain professional in the conduct (Wang and Calvano 2015). The 3 important principles that come under the Code of Ethics are:

1. Primacy of Public Interest
2. Professional Development
3. Professionalism

As per these three principles, it is important to keep the interest of the public ahead of personal goals or business and also help in the professional development of oneself and their colleague. Maintaining professionalism in a business set up is essential which also mandates that the integrity of the society should be upheld and also members of the society should be respected (Acs.org.au. (2018). ACS).

Applying the above mentioned Code and methodology, Ilnaz has to resolve her dilemma by making sure that she is professional in her conduct and also respects everyone in the society and weight the harm and benefit of her actions.

Bibliography:

Acs.org.au. (2018). ACS - The Professional Association for Australia's ICT sector. [online] Available at: https://www.acs.org.au/ [Accessed 28 Aug. 2018].

Leicester, N., 2016. Ethics in the IT Profession: Does a Code of Ethics have an Effect on Professional Behaviour?.

van den Hoven, J., Miller, S. and Pogge, T. eds., 2017. Designing in ethics. Cambridge University Press.

Wang, L.C. and Calvano, L., 2015. Is business ethics education effective? An analysis of gender, personal ethical perspectives, and moral judgment. Journal of Business Ethics, 126(4), pp.591-602.