IT Professional ethics – using the SLEP analytical tool

Industrial Expertise 2014

Terry Keefe

Dr Lynn Cinderey

Something about teaching professional ethics

Growth area

Publications

HE course content (IT)

Commercial training requirements

Features

Generic principles and themes

Application customised to specific professions

Tendency to focus on extremes – big issues, big decisions

Challenges

Inherently interesting and boring

Getting students to understand

Importance and scale of the issues

The philosophical basis

The relevance o their career futures

The SLEP framework

SLEP – the 4 modalities

Based on the British Computer Society model

Derived from expert literature (Quinn, Johnson et al)

Analysis organised around four 4 related aspects of a situation or issue

Social

Legal

Ethical

Professional

Phase 1 - Stakeholders

Stakeholder Concern Issue

General Public

Misuse of personal data Low public trust in IT

IT Student Not a meaningful status No professional recognition

IT Practitioner

Competing with unqualified jobseekers

Career opportunities and progression

IT User Reliant on unreliable IT No controls over IT industry

Phase 2 SLEP Based Analysis of Issues

  Issue

Social Low public trust in IT, Society reliant on uncontrolled IT providers

Legal Data Protection and other IT laws unclear and often flouted.

Ethical Abuse of trust and specialist knowledgeCustomer users not always respected

Professional No formal recognition of IT statusLow motivation to embrace professional standards

The topic / question

Clear, unambiguous statement of the situation highlighting points to be analysed and discussed.

  IssuesEnter against the closest category. Don't worry about overlaps. Description Impact, positive and

negative.

Stakeholder 1, 2 etcImpact on themTheir viewpoint

Expert (Literature Review)academicprofessionalviewpointrecommendations

Student / Researcher(Your Conclusions)ViewpointReasoningRecommendation

SocialDefined as:

    

   

LegalDefined as:

    

   

EthicalDefined as:

    

   

ProfessionalDefined as:

    

   

Phase 3 SLEP Based Critical Evaluation

References

Adams, A. A., 2008. Pandora's Box. s.l.:Wiley.

Addis, M., 2013. Philosophy in the Workplace. Philosophy Now, March.

Cinderey L, Keefe TN, 2013, Developing the next generation of IT Professionals, Ethicomp 2013

Fisher, C. & Lovell, A., 2009. Business Ethics and Values. 3rd ed. s.l.:Prentice Hall.

Hanks C (Ed), 2010, Technology and Values, Wiley-Blackwell

Hudson, A., 2011. BBC News - Why do people play music in public through a phone. [Online], http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13749313

Johnson, D. G., 2009. Computer Ethics. 4th ed. s.l.:Pearson.

Keefe, T. N., 2012. Professional Ethics Analytical Framework. Sheffield: s.n.

Lochrie, J. S., 1989. Perry revisited—A fresh look at Forms of intellectual and ethical development in the college years.. Studies in higher education, 14(3), pp. 347-350.

Quinn, M. J., 2011. Ethics for the Information Age. 4th ed. s.l.:Pearson.

Tavani, H. T., 2011. Ethics and Technology. 3rd ed. s.l.:Wiley.

Watz, A & Mason, M. Your Brain at Work, Harvard Business Review, August 2013