Human and Ethical Issues

Human and Ethical Issues

Technology and People Positive and Negative Impacts on People at

Work Dependence on People for Information

System Success Systems and Ethics Balancing Positive and Negative Impacts

Introductory Case: A national directory of new hires Is this a good thing?

– Why or why not? What information is stored in this database

– SSN, address, wages, employer– How could this be abused?

Does the greater good (of improving child support payments) outweigh the potential for loss of privacy?

Technology and People

Human-Centered Design versus Machine Centered Design

User Friendliness

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 7.7

Table 7.2Human Versus Machine Strengths and Weaknesses

ENDURANCEPeople: •Become tired and bored•Need variety•Need to stop to rest and eat

CONSISTENCYPeople:•Often somewhat inconsistent even when doing highly structured tasks

SPEEDPeople:•Comparatively slow in storing, retrieving, and manipulating data

MEMORYPeople:•Often forget things•Time required for remembering is unpredictable•Able to retrieve information based on associations not programmed in advance

Machines:•Never become tired or bored•Don’t need variety•Need to stop for servicing

Machines:•Operate totally consistent with their programmed instructions

Machines

•Enormously fast in storing, retrieving, and manipulating data

Machines:•Storage and retrieval times are predictable•In most cases can retrieve data based only on associations programmed in advance

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 7.8

Table 7.2Human Versus Machine Strengths and weaknesses

ABILITY TO PERFORM PROGRAMMED TASKSPeople: •Can perform highly structured work, but may find it boring and unsatisfying

UNDERSTANDINGPeople:•Capable of understanding the meaning of work•Want to understand the meaning of work

IMAGINATIONPeople:•Can invert new ideas and associations•Can draw conclusions from data without using formulas

ABILITY TO SEE THE WHOLEPeople:•Can recognize things as wholes in addition to recognizing details

Machines:•Can only perform totally structured tasks (which may be parts of larger tasks that are not totally structured)

Machines:•Incapable of understanding the meaning of work•Only capable of following unambiguous instructions

•Machines•Basically unable to invent ideas•In a few limited areas, can draw conclusions by combining specific facts in preprogrammed ways

Machines:•Recognize details and combine them into recognizable wholes only through appropriate programming

Positive and Negative Impacts on People at Work Health and Safety Autonomy and Power Use of Valued Skills Meaningfulness of Work Social Relationships

We’ve seen a list of impacts of information technology on people in the workplace…

Let’s see if we can draw on our own experiences and think of some specific examples– Health and Safety– Autonomy and Power– Use of Valued Skills– Meaningfulness of Work– Social Relationships

Dependence on People for Information System Success Skills and Knowledge Involvement and Commitment Resistance to Change Unanticipated Innovations

©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 7.3

Table 7.4 Alternative Levels of User Involvement in System Development

NONINVOLVEMENTUsers are unwilling to participate, unable to contribute, or are not invited to participate.

INVOLVEMENT BY ADVICEUser advice is solicited through interviews or questionnaires, but others make decisions about which features are included in the system.

INVOLVEMENT BY SIGN-OFFUsers approve the results produced by the project team, but are not actively involved in analyzing or designing the system.

INVOLVEMENT BY DESIGN TEAM MEMBERSHIPUsers participate actively in design activities, such as interviews of other users and creation of functional specifications and external specifications.

INVOLVEMENT BY PROJECT TEAM MEMBERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND PROJECT OWNERSHIPUsers participate throughout the entire project, including initiation, development, implementation, and operation; a user representative manages the project; the user organization owns the project.

Systems and Ethics

Ethical versus Legal Issues Privacy Accuracy Property Access