ITECH7402 Professional IT Culture For the Technology Implementation

Answer:

Introduction

Technological advancement has come up with many challenges in all its areas of application as well as development (Ertmer, & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2010). In this case, it is very clear there are ethical concerns that were not put into practice by the relevant stakeholders. Important to note is that, technology has ethical implications that must be enforced in order to enjoy its successful implementation into the business. Though these guidelines have been developed by professional bodies and governments, they are rarely used by either developers or system users. Implementation of professional procedures can be used to avert losses as well as determine who failed to perform assigned responsibilities while on duty. Ethical dilemma observable from both McDonald and McBright caused huge losses to operating system users. To solve ethical dilemmas’ faced by various stakeholders, organizations should understand, implement and practice professionalism in technology field as advocated by various professional bodies (Lang et al., 1018).  

Stakeholders’ ethical decision application

The losses incurred by various parties were as a result of failing to adhere to required IT professional practices. Some of the key stakeholders are Mr. McBright, an employee in charge of testing operating system before it is release to the customers. McBright was a dedicated employee who performed assigned duties responsibly. By identifying operating system bug and reporting it to Mrs. McDonald, McBright actually acted professionally and as required by ACS code of conduct. However, Mr. McBright and Mrs. McDonald collusion to release buggy software to customers shows reluctant in enforcing professional code of conduct in IT field without considering social implication to the organization. Moreover, NewAge Pty Ltd management acted professionally by making sure all required parties are available in order to develop quality software. However, NewAge Pty Ltd management and McDonald failed to apply required professional practices by not sponsoring its employees to get up to date skills and practices in IT field. These two stakeholders were the key parties which should embrace professional development by encouraging employees or providing sponsorship to advance employees knowledge.  To develop quality and secure software, developers are required to demonstrate competency and have relevant software development skills. Customers such as XYZ Pty Ltd, TastyBurgers Pty Ltd and Badluck bank failed to apply ethical code of conduct by failing to testing the software.   

Stakeholders’ ethical dilemma 

Some of the stakeholders faced with ethical dilemma are McDonald unwillingness to employ software developers with relevant experts. Similarly, McDonald being reluctant in using other experts from other branches. Next, McBright inability to stand firm on releasing a buggy operating system. Additionally, McBright and McDonald being honest after realization of the bug to request for extra time.

Ethical response to stakeholders’ dilemma

To avoid releasing buggy operating system, McBright and McDonald should have sought more time from the client by providing the right justification of time frame extension (Venkatesh, Thong & Xu, 2012). Similarly, if XYZ Pty Ltd was fixed in its decision on meeting set timeframe, McBright and McDonald should have sent the operating system to the development team for advancement immediately. In shortest time possible before customers could fully implement the software, a new release should have been given to the customer by providing justification of new security features (Burmeister, 2013). Similarly, McDonald should have sought assistance from other branches with relevant experts. Team work and collaboration among workers is a key to organizational success because it brings together various people with different ideas. McDonald should have understood that integration of workers results to capacity building, resulting to improved production. In the cases of XYZ Pty Ltd, TastyBurgers Pty Ltd and Badluck bank, all software should have been tested for any bug or functionality before taking them to live production. All these parties should have contracted software testers and give enough time to them to have a clear proof of new operating system security.  

Conclusion

Technology implementation should be guided by ethical practices as outlined by professional bodies such as ACS in order to realize technology benefits. McDonald and McBright are the responsible employees who failed to act accordingly to safe NewAge Pty Ltd from releasing buggy operating system. It is observable that failing to correct the bug early resulted to losses by customers. The matter has also turned to be a court case which might result to loss of property due to compensations. Therefore, it is important to understand all IT ethical practices, implement and practice be enforced by rules. Several checks should be put in place to make sure all ethical practices are followed during software development and implementation into production environment.       

References

Burmeister, O. K. (2013). Achieving the goal of a global computing code of ethics through an international-localisation hybrid. Ethical Space, 10(4), 25-32.

Ertmer, P. A., & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, A. T. (2010). Teacher technology change: How knowledge, confidence, beliefs, and culture intersect. Journal of research on Technology in Education, 42(3), 255-284.

Lang, C., Macfadyen, L. P., Slade, S., Prinsloo, P., & Sclater, N. (2018). The complexities of developing a personal code of ethics for learning analytics practitioners: implications for institutions and the field. In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge (pp. 436-440). ACM.

Venkatesh, V., Thong, J. Y., & Xu, X. (2012). Consumer acceptance and use of information technology: extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology. MIS quarterly, 157-178.