Ethics and information technology professionals and users

¶ … Ethical Decision

The role of individual employees

The role of the top management

The issues of workplace ethics in the context of computer technology have been pointed out to be filled with several instances of ethical dilemma (Parker, 1981). Pierce and Henry (1996) pointed out that the issues that are related to the making of ethical decisions in computer technology are influenced by three main factors; the personal code of an individual, the informal codes that guide ethical behavior in the workplace as well as the exposure the codes of these ethics in the formal context. In this paper, we analyze the work of Pierce and Henry (2000) and use it in the evaluation of the different roles of different individuals in the workplace. We evaluate how their roles and experiences lead to the ethical use of information technology in the workplace.The work of Pierce and Henry (2000) indicates that there exists a conflict between personal norms, organizational norms as well as co-worker norms in the process of ethical decision making by employees (Sims and Keon, 1999). Cassell et al. (1997) provided a conceptual model to show the relationship between these important factors. It is very difficult for individuals to make decisions on the needed course of action if their co-workers expects another form of action, and organizational management expect then to make decisions that are different from their own judgment. This was pointed out by Waters and Bird (1987) to cause "moral stress." This incongruence has been noted to have an effect at two different levels; organizational level as well as organizational level.

The process of making an ethical decision

One of the best models for analyzing ethical decision making has four stages. These are; the recognition of the specific moral issue, the making of a concrete moral judgment, the establishment of a moral intent and the engagement in a moral behavior. The work of Peslak (2007) dealt with the two main stages of ethical decision making; the moral judgment as well as the establishment of the moral intent.

The role of individual employees

Pierce and Henry (2000) points out that individual employee have a role to play upholding an acceptable level of corporate ethics when it comes to the use of Computer Technology (CT) resources. Their role has however been shown to be heavily reliant on their personal judgments which maybe different from the ones of their co-workers and the ones dictated by the organizational code of ethics.

The role of individual employees

Employees have been shown to play an important role in corporate ethics in regard to the use of information technology resources. Their role is however influenced by both the formal and informal codes of ethics that exists in the firm. In regard to the informal codes, Witkin and Goodenough (1977) pointed out that there is an ambiguity that exists coupled with the roles of referents (such as peers and the formal codes of ethics).

There is therefore the need for the ambiguity to be clarified. The referents are to be used for guiding the behavior of the employees. The work of Wahn (1993) on business ethics indicated that pressures from both peer and subordinates within a given organization can result in unethical behavior in a given organization.

The role of the top management

It is the role of the top management to come up with a formal company policy or code to be used. The formal organizational code of ethics has been shown to have great impact on computer ethics. The company policy is pointed out to be one method of communicating ethics ( Stevens, 1999).It is important for organizations to formulate the necessary codes of ethics to be used in addressing the various CT situations. Barnes (1990) pointed out that this is not an easy task. It however can be accomplished (Kaptein and Wempe, 1998). It has been suggested that the CT ethics codes should seamlessly be integrated into the normative structure of a given organization. This can be accomplished by the distribution of the codes of ethics, discussing the codes with both the employee and management in the course of their day-to-day activities.

It has been indicated that certain unethical behaviors by employees come about as a result of their uncertainty or rather the misunderstanding of what should be considered appropriate. This observation was expressed by Paradice (1990) when he pointed out that acceptable behavior is a concept that is ambiguous in the field of information systems. This, he attributed to the fact that the field is relatively young but experiencing a tremendous rate of growth (p. 143). The fact that codes of ethics are either lacking in totality or are completely misunderstood for the purpose of being translated to direct behavior is of great concern.

Molander (1987) pointed out that a well formulated and articulated code of conduct effectively conveys the commitment of an organization to ethical conducts. A formal code is therefore important in clearly communicating ideals as well as expectations. Various authors have observed that the key to effectively manage the risks associated with unethical use of computer technology resources lies in the creation, reinforcement and maintenance of an ethical environment that enjoys the support of the top management (Paradice, 1990). It is therefore important that a comprehensive company code of ethics be formulated. The difference in the judgment of the employees and that of their coworkers when it comes to actions affecting various CT ethical situations can be unified via a formal code of conduct. The observed lack of true congruence in the judgments of workers, co-workers and norms and organizational norms has been indicated as a major drawback to the fight against unethical CT practices in organizations. The work of Quinn (1997) made emphasis on two main stages of ethics; judgment as well as action. He suggested the existence of "moderating influences." The code of ethics is one such moderating influence. Studies suggest a strong correlation between behavioral intentions and ethical behavior (Bass, Barnett and Brown,1999). A study by Lin and Ding (2003) indicated the existence of a very strong correlation between ethical behavioral intentions and ethical attitudes.