BIT241 Professional IT Practice and Ethics Assignment Help

Case study 1:

Joe works as a ICT technician. The organization has a large number of staff that are members of their Union. Currently negotiations on pay and conditions are being held between Management and the Union. The negotiations have stalled and senior management has asked that the emails of the staff negotiating group be secretly monitored and reported to them. They intend to use the information in these emails to assist them in finalizing the negotiations. Joe suggests to management that these staff may not be happy if they find out their emails are being monitored and that it is an invasion of their privacy. Management responds that all emails sent on the business's accounts are property of the business and that the business has the right to the content of these emails. Joe's supervisor has directed him to access and read the negotiating members emails and to advise the management team of any emails that may impact negotiations. If any of the staff team are engaged in any activities that are against company policy, you are to advise senior management, so that action can be taken. What should Joe do?

1) Identify a real or imagined Case Study that presents one or more significant ethical issues to an ICT professional. This Case Study is to be used to complete your assignment. (Note: that the Case Study is not counted towards the word count. Only your analysis will count.)

2) Prepare a report analyzing the ethical issues raised in a case study, with recommendations for professional behavior in both organisational and/or consultancy settings. In the report, describe the relevant case, identify the most pressing ethical issue(s), the stakeholders, possible breaches in standards or behavior and the consequences. Discuss what you think is the most appropriate action(s). You must apply the process steps suggested in the text or notes (Lecture 1) to identify the necessary information for the report.

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Professional Practice and Ethics Case Study

Introduction

This report is made to analyze the ethical issues. The ethical issues discussed in this report are related to an ICT professional. What ethical issues they face being an ICT professional? And how they tackle the situation? Who are the stakeholders? And how the stakeholders are affected by any breach in the behavior and standards. What are the consequences of the breach? In this report, a case study is analyzed which is related to ICT professional. The ethical issues of an ICT professional are highlighted.

The stakeholders are identified and for each stakeholder, a consequences analysis is done to see that which stakeholder is more harmed and how? And which stakeholder is more benefitted and how? An obligation analysis is done to see the breaches of behavior and standards. And how these breaches are related to ethical issues? In the end, solutions are proposed to solve the problems of the stakeholders.

Case Study Description

The case study is about an ICT technician Joe, who works in an organization. Joe is directed by his supervisor to access the emails of the employees who are involved in the negotiating process. The company has a large number of staff and recently, a group of employees started negotiation with the management on the pay of the employees and about some conditions they are facing. These employees are also a part of union. So, the senior management has given order to gather data about these employees by getting access to their emails. And if any data found which is against the standards and policies of the company, then serious action will be taken.

Joe resisted that this step is against the privacy of the employees. But the management said that all the emails sent by using a business account are the part of the business property and they have the right to see it. They can see if any data can help them to negotiate. What should Joe do now?

Identification of Stakeholders

Stakeholders are those who have a stake in company and that the decisions of the company affect the stakeholders in different ways. There are direct and indirect stakeholders (Freeman, 2016). In this case, the direct stakeholders are all the employees, specially the ICT professionals, shareholders, management and the union of organization. And the indirect stakeholders are the families of the employees, families of an ICT professionals and customers of that company. Any action taken by the company which is considered an ethical issue can affect the employee and then his family.

In this case, Joe is assigned to access emails of the employees which can be confidential and if the employee gets to know than he can sue the employer and the one who got access to the email. But in most cases, the employer has the right to access business emails. However, they have no right to access personal email. The companies should mention this in their policy statement that business emails are not private (Fair Work Ombudsman, 2019).

Identification of Ethical Issue

The ethical issue found in this case is related to the privacy of the employees. The ICT technician is directed to access the emails of the employees and the emails can have private data. The employers have the right to access and monitor business emails but in this case they have to mention it in the policy statement of the company that they can monitor the emails (Hcamag.com, 2019). The act of accessing email is unethical in the case where employees are not aware whether the company is monitoring their emails or not. Otherwise this issue is not unethical (Worktime.com, 2019).

Many employers are sued by the employees for accessing their emails. And the court's decision is in the favor of employers (Privacyrights.org, 2019). However, in this case the senior management said that the emails are monitored secretly, so this is unethical.

Breaches in Standards/Behaviors

The ethical issue takes place when there is breach of standards and behaviors. The employer or the employee has done something which results in the breach of standards and behaviors.

Ideals which played part in decision

The decision of monitoring the emails of the employees was taken by the senior management. And they said that the emails should be secretly monitored by the ICT technician Joe and then he should give them report if there is any information seen which is against the company policies.

Criteria to Emphasize

The management should include in their policy statement about the privacy issues and this can saves the employer to breach any standard and do unethical things.

Obligation Analysis

Management of the company is responsible to state the privacy of the employee in the policy statement of the company. And the employee is responsible to read all the policy statements. Because many times changes are made in the policy statements. Joe is responsible to not access emails if this is not mention in the policy statement of the company.
Stakeholders' Consequences Analysis

Common solution for all stakeholders

The common solution for all the stakeholders is that the employers should take care of the privacy of the employees. They have to inform the employees while hiring them that they will be monitored by the company.

Should any stakeholder get greater consideration and why?

The greater consideration is given to the employees. Because they are the one whose privacy is invaded by the management. Even Joe is worried that this can be a privacy issue if access of their emails is done.

Proposed Solution

One solution which is the best solution for all the issues arising due to accessing the email of the employees.

Best Solution

The best solution is to mention the all the privacy of employees in the company policy statements. And the employees should be informed if any changes are made to the policy statement of the company. If the company mentions that the business emails are not private and it can be monitored by the company than there is no unethical conduct to access the emails. But if it is not mentioned in the policy statement of the company, then it is unethical to access emails of the emails and Joe should not access the email. Because the employees can sue them for privacy invasion made by them.

How it is balanced for all stakeholders

The solution is balanced for all the stakeholders as it is the only solution for both the employees and employers. If the monitoring of business emails is stated in the policy statements then the employees will be aware of what to send and how to use business email. Unions are made for the benefit of the employees and to solve the problems of the employees. The negotiations between union employees and management should be productive and management should not do privacy invasions to see if they found any data that have an impact on negotiations.

Conclusion

This case study is about the ethical issues related to the privacy of the employees. An ICT technician is directed to access the emails of the employees. And the senior management said that the emails are secretly monitored. This conduct is not ethical and it can have bad impact on the privacy of the employees. The impact is on all the stakeholders. Stakeholders are identified and then analysis is done to see the short, long and major consequences on the stakeholders. What does they want and how the action is giving harm or benefit to the stakeholders.

A best solution is proposed which is that all the companies should clearly mention in their policy statements that whether the employees are monitored by the company or not. And the ways of monitoring the employees should also be the part of policy statements.

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