Ethical Decision Making Case Study

This assignment presents a detailed case study involving an ethical dilemma. Students are expected to thoroughly analyze the situation, identifying stakeholders, non-ethical issues, and the core ethical challenges. They must propose various options for resolving the ethical conflict and critically evaluate each solution based on its potential consequences and alignment with ethical principles. The chosen solution should be justified with supporting arguments from relevant literature.

Early Lunch
Assignment 1: Doing Ethics Technique
Your Name
Student Number

Title of your video/scenario
Q1. What's going on?
The company considered for the case study faces a lot of pressure from its customer, who
may have intentions of not renewing their contract. At the present moment, the Willis
Company (the customer) has contracted the company at hand to develop an IT project. This
project requires encryption to avoid intrusion as stated by the Project’s Director (Greg).
However, the CIO of the company requests the supervisor to direct the Project Director to
deliver the project a month earlier in order to increase the chances of the customer
renewing their contract. Moreover, the CIO faces a lot of pressure from the CEO who also
holds the same idea.
Q2. What are the facts?
First, according to Jason (the senior developer), encryption is vital to the project’s success as
it guarantees the security system i.e. it prevents hacking
Moreover, based on the existing conditions and requirements, the project’s initial delivery
date cannot be met. Therefore, even without considering the new timeline, the old one
cannot suffice, if the project is to meet the needs of the customer.
Finally, the only way to meet the request suggested by the CIO is to take some shortcuts
particularly by avoiding the encryption facility, which is a clear violation of their codes of
conduct ((ACS), 2014). Moreover, these shortcuts would expose the project to many
security issues as it would have extended vulnerabilities.
Q3. What are the issues (non-ethical)?
Several issues are evident in this case study, for one, the CIO suggests actions that are in
direct violation of the codes of conduct, this includes the interest of the public, professional
development and professionalism. In our scenario, the public is the client whose project
requires encryption among other facilities. However, based on the request of CIO, this
component will be eliminated from the project. Moreover, their integrity a key aspect of the
professional conduct will be compromised as the company hopes to attach the encryption
as a software update, thus deceiving the customer (ACS, 2014).
Furthermore, the Project developer is faced with the dilemma of either choosing the
common good or the growth of his career. By abiding with the CIO request his team will
succumb to an unethical conduct that is led by the misleading behaviour of a leader
(another unethical issue) (Hanson, 2014).
Your Name

Title of your video/scenario
Q4. Who is affected?
The client (Willis company) – the customer is heavily affected by the issue as he stands to
lose the most if the project is compromised at a later stage. Moreover, the client places
complete trust in the contracted company’s integrity.
Secondly, the company’s leadership – In an attempt to improve business outcomes, the CEO
subjects the entire company to the non-ethical issues at hand. This outcome trickles down
the line to the CIO and the supervisor who is seen to push the project developer to deliver
their request.
Developers – From the project developer to the senior developer and all other associated
members of the project team. They all must contend with the request at hand (unethical
request). Furthermore, if the system fails, they must also contend with the fact that they
knew the consequences of their actions.
Q5. What are the ethical issues and their implications?
Code of conduct: If the company chooses to undertake the actions suggested by the CIO
they violate their code of conduct. Their professionalism and professional development
outcomes are compromised through their deception of the client. Furthermore, they fail to
consider the overall interest of the users. Now, as a consequence, the client may lose trust if
the project fails and if they discover the actions taken (Hanson, 2014). Furthermore, the
company itself creates precedence for other members of staff to breach their codes of
conduct which will affect the working environment.
The misleading behaviour of the leaders: to influence the decision of the client, the
leadership proposes the actions highlighted above. These actions do not consider the
common good of the customers nor that of the employees. Again the implication of these
actions is the loss of trust and integrity between the company and the customers, as well as
with that of the employees (Seach, 2009).
Q6. What can be done about it?
 To start with, the project developer can emphasize the importance of encryption as
highlighted by the senior developer (Greg).In fact, he can organize a quick meeting
with the company’s leadership to outline the resounding consequences of the
proposed short cuts. Moreover, as a solution, he can make the suggestion of
increasing the developing team in order to meet the deadlines.
Your Name

Title of your video/scenario
 On the other hand, the leadership can facilitate the process by engaging the client,
where they can highlight their progress thus creating a sense of transparency.
Furthermore, they can also highlight the importance of encryption, which would help
alleviate any customer’s concerns.
 In all, the short cuts suggested by the CIO should be completely avoided and instead
substituted with innovative ideas to meet the client’s requirements.
Q7. What are the options?
 The company should engage the client prior to the deadline (its several months
away). Through this engagement, they can highlight the severity of the encryption
process. This action will eventually lead to a better working relationship with the
client, unlike the previously suggested actions.
 Another option is to seek assistance from another organization with the
development capabilities required by the project. This action would speed up the
process which could meet the newly suggested deadline.
 Finally, they could implement the encryption but at a low level, this action would
help meet the deadline at hand. However, this outcome also may affect the
operation of the developed system.
Q8. Which option is the best and why?
Based on the sentiments given by the CEO and CIO, the project at hand will determine the
future of the company. Therefore, the organization should undertake their role
professionally without compromising their integrity. This outcome can only be met by
engaging the client in order to improve the levels of trust between them, thus creating room
for timeline adjustments. Moreover, the company can as well employ more developers in
order to meet the fast approaching deadline. Nevertheless, engaging the client is the best
option as it influences the decisions of the client by creating a good working relationship
which also will help the company’s prospects.
Your Name

Title of your video/scenario
References
(ACS), A. C. (2014). ACS Code of Professional Conduct Professional Standards Board Australian
Computer Society. Inspiring success, Retrieved 10 August, 2017, from:
https://www.acs.org.au/content/dam/acs/acs-documents/ACS%20Code-of-Professional-
Conduct_v2.1.pdf.
ACS. (2014). Code of conduct. ACS, Retrieved 10 August, 2017, from:
https://www.asc.com.au/assets/downloads/Code_of_Conduct.pdf.
Hanson, K. (2014). The Six Ethical Dilemmas Every Professional Faces. Verizon Visiting Professorship
in Business Ethics, Retrieved 10 August, 2017, from:
http://www.bentley.edu/sites/www.bentley.edu.centers/files/2014/10/22/Hanson
%20VERIZON%20Monograph_2014-10%20Final%20%281%29.pdf.
Seach, G. (2009). An explanation of the Doing Ethics Technique. Retrieved 10 August, 2017, from:
https://www.homeworkmarket.com/sites/default/files/qx/15/03/03/09/
doing_ethics_technique_explanation_0.pdf.
Do not remove the following marking sheet.
Marking Sheet
Criteria Standards
Marks
awarde
d
Analysis of
the ethical
dilemma
using the
Doing
Ethics
Technique
(DET)
(Value
70%)
HD: Answers all DET questions, lists all the facts, identifies all the non-ethical
issues, lists all the stakeholders, identifies all the ethical issues, evaluates OTHER
options can resolve them and selects the best option from these and the already
given and justifies why this option is the best using supporting arguments based on
the literature. (59.5-70)
DI: Answers all DET questions, lists all the facts, identifies all the non-ethical issues,
lists all the stakeholders, lists all the ethical issues and the OTHER options can
resolve them and selects the best option from these and explains why this option is
the best. (52.5-58.8)
CR: Answers all DET questions, lists most of the facts, identifies most of the non-
ethical issues, lists most of the stakeholders, lists most of the ethical issues and
OTHER options can resolve them and selects the best option from these and
makes an attempt to explain why this option is the best. (45.5-51.8)
PS: Answers some of the DET questions, lists a few facts, identifies a few non-
ethical issues, lists a few stakeholders, lists a few ethical issues and OTHER
options can resolve them and selects the best option from these but without
explaining why this option is the best. (35-44.8)
FL: Answers a few DET questions but fails to list important facts, fails to identify
relevant non-ethical issues, fails to list important stakeholders, fails to identify the
ethical issues and evaluates the OTHER options can resolve them and does not
select the best option or does not explain why the option selected is the best. (0-
34.3)
Writing &
structure
(Value
20%)
HD: Language features and structures are used to convey meaning effectively,
concisely, unambiguously, and in a tone appropriate to the audience and purpose
with no spelling, grammatical, or punctuation errors. (17-20)
DI: Well developed skills in expression & presentation of ideas. Fluent writing style
Your Name

Title of your video/scenario
appropriate to assessment task/document type. Grammar & spelling accurate. (15-
16.8)
CR: Good skills in expression & clear presentation of ideas. Mostly fluent writing
style appropriate to assessment task/document type. Grammar & spelling contains
a few minor errors. (13-14.8)
PS: The text contains frequent errors in spelling, grammar, word choice, and
structure, lacks clarity, and is not concise, but the meaning is apparent to the reader
with some effort. (10-12.8)
FL: Rudimentary skills in expression & presentation of ideas. Not all material is
relevant &/or is presented in a disorganised manner. Meaning apparent, but writing
style not fluent or well organised. Grammar & spelling contains many errors. (0-9.8)
Referencin
g
(Value
10%)
HD: Referencing is comprehensive, demonstrates academic integrity, and conforms
exactly to APA style conventions. (8.5-10)
DI: Very good referencing, including reference list and citations. High quality
references. (7.5-8.4)
CR: Good referencing, including reference list and citations. Good quality
references. (6.5-7.4)
PS: Referencing is comprehensive, mostly accurate according to APA style
conventions, and demonstrates academic integrity. Some minor errors or omissions
in style and formatting choices (e.g. italics, punctuation, etc) don’t impact on the
transparency and traceability of the source, or demonstration of academic integrity.
(5-6.4)
FL: Sub-standard (or no) referencing. Poor quality (or no) references. (0-4.9)
Total
Marks
Your Name