class 17
TRANSCRIPT
Ethical Issues in
Information Technology
Structure of IT- ITES industry
• IT Services
• IT Enabled Services
IT services
• IT Services is the dominant sector of the industry in terms of revenues as well as size. This particular sector can be understood in terms of the value chain of services it offers to its customers.
• IT Services Tier I: Consultancy and Product Development
• IT Services Tier II: Infrastructure Management and Systems Integration
• IT Services Tier III: Application Development and Maintenance
IT enabled services
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is the practice of
contracting a third party, by an organization, to carry out
a specific activity or process of its business. Broadly,
BPO operations can be of two types:
• Outsourcing front office
• Back office processes.
Front office operations include customer service,
marketing etc. Examples of back office operations are
logistics, supply chain management etc.
Unique characteristics of IT-
ITES industry• Technology and the Medium of Operation
• IT Industry’s workforce
• IT Industry’s output process: Information
and tools
Ethical perspective of IT-ITES
industry
• Information security: Lack of information
security processes; disclosure of
confidential information about customers
to unauthorized people; forcing of
customers to part with confidential
information; hacking; cookies; conspiracy
among IT employees/organizations to help
clients perform unethical transactions
Ethical perspective of IT-ITES
industry
• Intellectual property rights: software
piracy; violation of EULA (End-user license
agreement); illegal use of intellectual
properties; reverse engineering of
programs to gain access to the business
logic and intellectual property of the
vendor company.
Ethical perspective of IT-ITES
industry
• Work culture and environment: leakage of
recruitment test question papers; wastage of
company time and resources; breach of
employment agreements; fraudulent bills;
poaching of employees from competitors;
unethical means of retaining the employees;
unrealistic estimations and plans; breach of
privacy of the employee; non-ergonomic working
conditions
Computer ethics
“Computer ethics” is the analysis of the
nature and social impact of computer
technology and the corresponding
formulation and justification of policies for
the ethical use of such technology.
IT Ethics Can Span a Broad
Range of Concerns• Information Security
– “Ethical hacking”?
• Assumptions of Information Privacy
– Regulatory compliance
• Ethics as Information Security
– When do you say “No” to a customer?
• Admin Rights as Ethical Quandary
– “Just because you can do a thing…”
Ethics in Information
Technology
• Public concern about the ethical use of
information technology includes:
– E-mail and Internet access monitoring
– Peer-to-peer networks violation of copyright
– Unsolicited e-mail
– Hackers and identify theft
– Plagiarism
– Cookies and spyware
Ethics in Information
Technology
• The general public has not realized the critical importance of
ethics as applied to IT
• Important technical decisions are often left to technical experts
• General business managers must assume greater responsibility
for these decisions
• They must be able to make broad-minded, objective, ethical
decisions based on technical savvy, business know-how, and a
sense of ethics
• They must also try to create a working environment in which
ethical dilemmas can be discussed openly, objectively, and
constructively
Corporate ethics officer
– Is a senior-level manager
– Provides vision and direction in the area of
business conduct
– Tries to establish an environment that
encourages ethical decision making
Corporate ethics officer
• Responsibilities include:
– Complete oversight of the ethics function
– Collecting and analyzing data
– Developing and interpreting ethics policy
– Developing and administering ethics
education and training
– Overseeing ethics investigations
Conducting Social Audits
• Social audit
– Identifies ethical lapses committed in the past
– Sets directives for avoiding similar missteps in
the future
Requiring Employees to Take
Ethics Training• Comprehensive ethics education program
encourages employees to act responsibly
and ethically
– Often presented in small workshop formats
• Principle-based decision making is based
on principles in corporate code of ethics
When Good Ethics Result in
Short-Term Losses• Operating ethically does not always guarantee
business success
• Organizations that operate outside the United
States
– Deal with a “business as usual” climate
– Are placed at a significant competitive disadvantage
• Good ethics will prove to be good business in
the long term
How Management Can Affect
Employees’ Ethical Behaviour
How Management Can Affect
Employees’ Ethical Behaviour
Manager’s Checklist
Ethical Issues in Human
Resource Management
Definition of HRM
HRM is a management function involving
the recruitment of suitable human
resources, training, developing and
sustaining their competencies, motivating
them, offering them rewards on a rational
and equitable basis, and ensuring their
continued commitment to the organization
for achieving its overall objectives.
Growth of Human Resource
Management• 1890–1910 – Fredrick W. Taylor formulated
scientific management, which included a careful selection of employees; finding out the best method of doing the job; systematic training of workers; provision of suitable implements; and giving adequate rewards for good performance.
• 1910–1930 – Greater importance to welfare of workers, emergence of industrial psychology and improvements in the mode of recruitment procedures
Growth of Human Resource
Management• 1930–1945 – Principle of Hawthorne studies
gains momentum in personnel management in
an industrial organization. Greater emphasis
given to motivating factors affecting worker
productivity.
• 1945–1965 – More emphasis on collective
bargaining and labour relations. Compensation
and benefits gained importance as unions
negotiated for and obtained paid vacations,
paid holidays and insurance coverage.
Growth of Human Resource
Management• 1965–1985 – Equal employment
opportunity and affirmative action became
crucial human resource management
responsibilities
• 1985–2005 – Increased diversity of the
labour force, in terms of age, gender, race
and ethnicity; globalization of business and
the accompanying technological revolution;
focus on HRM as a “strategic function”
Big Scope of HRM
• Determining human resource needs;
• Attracting potential employees;
• Choosing employees;
• Teaching/preparing;
• Rewarding;
• Evaluating performance; and
• Creating a positive work environment
Different aspects of HRM
• Recruitment
• Training and development
• Learning organizations
• Performance management
• Pay
• Team work
• Motivation
HR related ethical issues
• Discrimination issues
• Suppression of democratization in the workplace
• Privacy issues
Recruitment and selection
Performance tracking
Privacy issues of computerized employee records
Electronic surveillance
• Safety and health
• Performance appraisals
Emerging challenges of HRM
a.Globalization of markets and
intensification of competition has made
employers and employees conscious of
their changing and strategic roles in
organizations;
b.Corporate restructuring has become an
absolute necessity for organizations;
c.Need for reconciling to multiple work ethos
as a result of mergers and acquisitions;
Emerging challenges of HRM
e. Emphasis on total quality
management;
f. Changing job profiles and the need
for and ability to get adjusted to them;
g. Adoption to changing workforce
profile consequent on structural
changes;
Emerging challenges of HRM
h. Increasing role of women employees in
organizations;
i. Increasing use of Information Technology
that is altering the very nature of work
delivery in organizations; and
j. Increasing emphasis on knowledge
management and the need for acquisition
and use of knowledge to keep pace with
the fast changing world.
Role of HRM in creating an ethical
organization
• The top management should be committed to
ethical behaviour
• They should be the role models to their
employees
• The organization should evolve codes of ethics
for its employees and enforce them.
• Ethics committees should be formed with top
executives as members to advice on ethical
issues.
Role of HRM in creating an ethical
organization
• Company journals to publish articles on ethical issues
and pose hypothetical ethical dilemmas and
discussions on how to resolve these
• An ethics office with ethics officers to oversee the
process and help communicate policy to employees.
• Organize employee ethics training which can play an
integral role in ensuring compliance with the ethics
code.
• A disciplinary system to deal with ethical violations
promptly and decisively.
Categories
• Employers
• Employees
• Government Agency
• Manpower Consultancy
• Outside Sources
Discrimination Origin
• Age
• Sex
• Handicapped
• Religion or Caste
• Country of Origin
• Whimsical – No Fixed Reason