Professional Environments - IT/Computer Science Assessment Answer

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• Subject Name : IT Computer Science

Ethics, Professionalism and Governance Assessment Answer

Declaration:

I declare that the assignment is based on my own work and that all material previously written or published in any source by any other person has been duly acknowledged in the assignment. I have not submitted this work, or a significant part thereof, previously as part of any academic program. In submitting this assignment I give ACS permission to copy for assessment purposes only.

CASE STUDY 3

Case scenario

James has interviewed employees for assessing their current knowledge to help the company in developing training courses. The purpose was to provide overall weaknesses found in the employees while keeping the individual employee data undisclosed. The issue will be analysed on the basis of Chris Macdonald framework for decision making.

Recognizing the moral dimension

Protecting the privacy of the information or disclosure of the information to the company is the major ethical issue in this scenario.

Interested parties

• Senior vice president of the company,
• Training manager,
• Employer
• Interviewed employees.

Values and principles

•  Public interest,
• competence
•  Professionalism.

Plausible course of action

James can provide the information of the employees to the vice president considering the fact that he is their employer and the information might help him in assessing the knowledge of the staff to effectively develop training programs for their growth and development. However, the confidentiality of the information will be breached in this case which shall affect the credibility of the profession. This shall have adverse social implications due to breach of trust.

The other option is to protect the confidentiality of the information collected from the employees. This shall involve disclosing the results only to the concerned party respecting the privacy of the information gathered in the professional environment. In this way, James shall uphold the integrity of the profession and ensure that the privacy of the employees is protected.

Accordance with ACS Codes

A professional working in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) has to abide by the ACS Standards of Professional Conduct (Al-Saggaf 2017). As per the constitution of Australian Computer Society (ACS), the professional must uphold the integrity of the professional by adhering to the prescribed values i.e. public interest, quality of life, honesty, competence, professional development and professionalism (Australian Computer Society 2011).

The values and ACS codes applicable to the given case are outlined in the below Table:

1.2.1 The primacy of Public interest - 

a) to identify and protect the interest of those who shall be impacted by the professional work;

g) to safeguard the confidentiality and privacy of the information of others

1.2.4 Competence

c) to be well-verse with the updated professional codes and abide by them;

The ACS and values indicate that the issue in this scenario is privacy, confidentiality and disclosure or information acquired while conducting professional work. It is evident from the clauses of ACS codes that disclosure of information of individual employees will be considered as a breach of the professional standards. They further clarifies that interest of the key stakeholders is of high priority than the interest of an individual party. The profession shall be conducted in a manner that it does not hamper the professional integrity while maintaining the interest of the key stakeholders.

Australian Legislation

The Privacy Act 1988 is applicable in the given scenario as it involves privacy of the information of employees gathered during the course of professional conduct. The object of the act is to protect the privacy of individuals without hindering the interest and functioning of the entities (Australian Government 2014).

Discussion with other parties

ACS standards of professional conduct states that a professional should consult with fellow colleagues to seek professional advice in case of ethical dilemma (Australian Computer Society 2014). The ethical dilemma shall be discussed with the human resource management and professional colleagues to ascertain if they have come across such scenario and what would be the best possible course of action for the professional.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that ACS codes of professional standards shall be abided by James and hence the information of individual employees must be kept private and not disclosed to the senior vice president. The decision is ethically and morally viable. In the light of above discussion, James is recommended not to disclose the information to the vice president of the company and act according to the ACS codes of professional conduct.

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.
Australian Computer Society.2011. ACS National Regulations. Australian Computer Society. https//www.acs.org.au/content/dam/acs/rules-and-regulations/ACS-National-Regulations.pdfAustralian Computer Society. 2014. ACS Code of Professional Conduct. Australian Computer Society. https//www.acs.org.au/content/dam/acs/rules-and-regulations/Code-of-Professional-Conduct_v2.1.pdfAustralian Government. 2014. Privacy Act 1988. Federal Register of Legislation. https//www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2014C00076g) to seek advice from fellow professionals, when necessary.