PE_Assignment1_Set 2 – May 2015 Program: Professional Year Program Course: Professional Environments Assignment: 1 Topic: Ethics, Professionalism and Governance Available: Week 3 open Due: Week 4 close (Saturday midnight AEST) Read the 3 Case Studies below and select ONE as the basis of your analysis and discussion. Please indicate clearly which Case Study you have chosen Case Study 5 – Use of Company Computers Harshel is a security administrator for a company with 500 employees, this is an ongoing job (not a short contract) and he wishes to stay at this company for a long time. His manager gives him the task of providing weekly reports showing which web pages have been accessed by individual employees and flagging any websites that are questionable (such as pornography). Harshel is aware that employees have not been asked to sign any agreement about which web page they visit while at work using work computers. He is also aware that employees may be penalised. Discuss briefly the ethical dilemma that this presents to Harshel outlining the potential outcomes if he provides the report. Show your utilisation of either Thomas White or Chris MacDonald’s methodology to demonstrate how Harshel might analyse and resolve the dilemma. Provide a recommendation of what actions Harshel should take and how he should communicate his choices. Include in your answer those clauses from the ACS Code of Ethics and ACS Code of Professional Conduct that are relevant and briefly explain why. Refer also to any relevant legislation again with an explanation of how it relates. Case Study 8 – Conflict of Interest Shane works for the IT section of a very large Federal government department. His role is mostly database management and coding associated with that. He is always looking for ways to get ahead so on his own initiative he gained accreditation as a SFIA consultant even though the Department has not yet adopted it. He receives a very interesting offer direct from Anne, the head of the IT Section. Anne wants him to submit a proposal to do a full SFIA analysis of the skills of all 10 staff in the IT Section’s Business Analysis Unit as a pilot project for bringing SFIA into the whole Section. This is great news for Shane because he has long been interested in moving into business analysis. The BA Unit has been PE_Assignment1_Set 2 – May 2015 considered a very successful unit for a long time, but for some reason it’s profile has dropped considerably recently. Shane’s proposal is accepted by the IT Head very quickly and with almost no consultation with other staff. When Shane meets John, the leader of the BA Unit, John immediately hands over a schedule of first interviews with most of the BA Unit staff. However he also passes across 2 documents which appear to be SFIA matrices already filled-out for John and Fred, one of the senior consultants. John explains that it won’t be necessary for Shane to interview either himself or Fred. He explains that he himself is too busy and that Fred has just come back from extended stress leave, so it’s not really appropriate for him to be interviewed. John is very welcoming and to Shane’s surprise he adds that if his report is well-received, he will make sure that Shane is short-listed for any upcoming positions in the Unit, should he be interested in applying for them. Shane is actually somewhat shocked by this because he did not know that John knew of his interest in joining the unit. He also now has a problem. How can he fulfil his responsibility to interview and document everyone in the Unit as agreed in the project brief? What should Shane Do? Case Study 3 – Copyright and Intellectual Property Considerations Isabelle is a young ambitious programmer working for a small company developing software for web-based services in the health area, with a focus on supporting remote aboriginal communities. To further her career Isabelle undertakes additional tertiary study, with support from her manager Phillip. This study includes topics covering computer ethics, and issues related to the impact of ICT on different communities. On her current project, Isabelle develops a new user interface, which has a strong focus on accessibility for remote communities, especially considering the type of technology likely to be used. She also pays special attention to the use of cultural images in the interface to avoid those which may be distressing or offensive to aboriginal users. The new system is a great success and Isabelle’s contribution is recognised by her company, through an Employee of the Month Award. The company also receives a national business award for its contribution to the positive use of ICT in aboriginal communities. Phillip takes all of the credit for this, and Isabelle receives no acknowledgement for her efforts. PE_Assignment1_Set 2 – May 2015 Assignment Task From what you have learned during Week s 3 and 4 of your Professional Environments Course, discuss ethical, professional and legal issues which you consider arise from this scenario. Make some recommendations of actions which could be taken to resolve the situation and/or to minimise the chance the scenario may recur. Support your answers with relevant references (as well as the Codes and Laws). Things to Consider in Your Assignment:  You should list at least 3 clauses from the ACS Code of Ethics and up to 5 clauses from the ACS Code of Professional Conduct, you think are specifically relevant in deciding how to resolve the situation. Make sure that you refer to the most up to date ACS Codes which are available on the ACS website – www.acs.org.au.  You should also list any relevant Australian legislation that you think applies to this scenario.  Your analysis, discussion and recommendations should use the framework you selected in Week 3 – Solving an Ethical Dilemma. Your assignment should be 400 -500 words in length (excluding your code lists, legislation list and references). You may need to undertake a small amount of research, however, most information you will need is available via the seminars and their references. Also, • use a cover page – as per the suggested template, • use in‐text referencing, • use complete Harvard Notation, submit in “Word” format or equivalent format that can be readily opened in MS Word, keep your formatting simple: Arial 11pt, 10pt after paragraph, single line spacing, headings in bold, maximum 2 indent levels/bullet levels. Do not use page borders, word art, page backgrounds or similar extraneous decoration • Your uploaded file name should identify you as part of its name – e.g. PE_Assignment1_William_Smith. Marking Guide Marks will be awarded using the following guidelines. • 15% meeting the procedural requirements, including, spelling, grammar, number of words, document formatting, • 30% how logically and thoroughly you identified and described professional ,ethical and legal issues arising in the scenario, • 30% how well you developed your recommendations and supported them with relevant, correct referencing, • 20% how well you convinced the reader that you understood the issues, • 5% did the material generate interest in the reader?

preview of the answer..

Harshel is confronted with a decision of moral judgment. If he flags the use of questionable websites then he knows that there is a very high likelihood of penalization of the culprits. The ethical dilemma that he faces should be easy to decide if Chris McDonald’s theory on morality is to be the methodology of reasoning. I recommend that Harshel goes on to fulfill the orders made by his manager. The reasons for going on to choosing this course of action are supported by both the Australian Computer Society Code of Ethics. The relevant provisions of these laws merely codify the percepts of Chris McDonald. They shall form the substance of this essay..

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