IT Professionals

Who is a professional?

In ICT & Our Society 3rd Edition, by Yeh and Oh, the author mentioned that a professional is expected to

-Have received training in a recognised field & mastered a specialised body of knowledge
-Have a considerable level of autonomy in performing his work
-Is a member of a recognised professional association
-Have an important social function and committed to social good

Well, let's just take the author's 3rd point. A professional is a member of a recognised professional association.

In Singapore, the Lawyers are recognised and is part of the Singapore Law Society. They have a code of conduct to adhere to. Doctors have a code of conduct to adhere to and they are professionals and they are in the Singapore Medical Association.

What about IT Professionals?

IT Professionals can be part of Singapore Computer Society (SCS).

There are a few types of IT Professionals
- Programmers
- Software engineers
- Network administrators
- Chief Information Officer (CIO)

Unlike doctors and lawyers, IT Professionals do not have a licence. The reason being is that there is

- No universally accepted core body of knowledge.
- It is unclear who should manage the content and administration of licensing exams.
- No admin body to do accreditation of professional education programs.
- No admin body to assess and assure competence of individual professionals

However, IT Professionals are still involved in different types of professional relationships and SCS came up with a recommended code of conduct for IT Professionals. Besides that, there is a need for IT Professionals to have ethics and we will talk more about the ethical issues which challenges our IT Professionals.

7 Steps Ethical Decision Model

As mentioned in Ethics - Introduction. These are the 7-Steps.

1. Get the facts

There is a need to get the facts and not jump the gun when we are making decisions. We need to get the facts so as to not misunderstand or miss out anything important. It is vital and essential for us to not assume but to get the facts.

2. Identify the stakeholders and their positions.

You will need to identify those who are involved in the situation. The reason being is that your decision will definitely cause an impact on those who are involved. For instance, what can your stakeholders gain or lose.

You have to decide on the level of involvement these stakeholders have when you make your decision. This will guide you in making better decisions. Try not to lose sleep as you are making your decision, but at the same time, consider some questions like

- The obligations you have towards these stakeholders
- What is the stake of the stakeholder?
- Are there any stakeholders with greater stake?

3. Consider the consequences of your decision.

There is a need for you to consider the consequence of your decision. There might be a possibility of you benefiting others and causing inconvenience to yourself when you make a decision. You may not benefit from the decision at all. This is a time for you to consider whether you would want to stick to your beliefs or do you prefer to stick to your benefits?

i.e. You made a mistake and your friend took the blame, do you speak up and admit the mistake? Or do you conveniently push the blame to your friend? What are the consequences if you speak up? and, what are the consequences if you don't?

4. Weigh various guidelines and principles

The guidelines and approaches that you should consider before making your decision. What is your belief based on? Is it based on fairness? Is it based on common good? Is it based on virtue? or is it the utilitarian approach?

Another sub-question to ask is, would you violate any laws when you make the decision?

There are guidelines and principles which we need to take note of and weigh them.

5. Develop and evaluate options.

The fifth guide is for you to develop and evaluate options. Is there an alternative? Is yes, what is it? Are they ethically correct? Among all your options, which is the most ethical decision to make?

6. Review your decision.

Finally, it is time for you to review your decision. Think about it once more.

7. Evaluate the results of your decision

You have made your decision and it's time for you to evaluate? Are you happy? Are you guilty of your decision (if it is unethical)? or Are you proud that you have made the right decision?

How can you improve from here?

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With Reference:

ITLG Textbook - Ethics in Information Technology

Ethics - Introduction

What is ethics?

Ethics is a set of believes and moral principles which one or a group of people believes in. It helps them make decisions and it educates them on what is right or wrong.

It is a belief system. Some may agree to it while some may disagree. It is subjective. For instance, one may feel that it is alright to pick up a $50 from the streets because the owner dropped it due to his carelessness while some may feel that it is not right, the $50 note should be handed to the relevant authorities.

So, what is the key to help us decide what is right or wrong?

The key here is integrity. Integrity should be the cornerstone of our ethics. Perhaps, you should know what a cornerstone is. A corner stone is an essential foundation of a building. This is why we say that integrity should be the foundation of ethics.Ethics should not only help us choose right from wrong, it should also help us choose right from right.

A seven ethical steps decision making model was developed to help one make ethical decisions. Here are the seven steps, click on the link above to navigate to the page.

Four Approaches

Virtue Approach - Ethical choice based on virtue, on what is morally correct.

Utilitarian Approach - Among all the choices given, choose the choice that has the greatest benefit.

Fairness Approach - Ethical choice based on "All are equal". No one is special. Not bias.

Common Good Approach - A choice that is made for the common good. For the sake of the majority so to speak.

Three areas in ethics
Ethics can be classified into three areas.

- Meta Ethics

Meta Ethics does not indicate whether a decision is good or bad. It is more of "WHY?” Meta Ethics seeks to understand things like what is moral goodness etc.

- Normative Ethics

Normative Ethics deals with the believe of what is right and what is wrong. It is a set of rules which educates people in doing right or wrong.

The Utilitarian Approach is an example of a normative ethic.

- Applied Ethics

We mentioned the Utilitarian Approach earlier on, and that approach falls under applied ethics as well.

In a nutshell, applied ethics deals with the practices of professions. i.e. Medical Ethics, Ethics for Lawyers etc.It is necessary for one to adhere to the code of ethics.


With Reference from: Wikipedia, ITLG Lecture Notes