Professional Practices in IT: Case Study on Ethics and Copyrights

This case study discusses the dilemma faced by a statistical database programmer in completing a coding task within the stipulated time. The discussion includes identification of the problem, utilization of Chris Macdonald’s methodology, and ACS Code of Ethics and ACS Code of Professional Conduct. The report concludes with recommendations based on the conclusions drawn from the discussion.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES IN IT
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES IN IT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

1PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES IN IT
Table of Contents
Case Study 1...............................................................................................................................2
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................2
2. Discussion..............................................................................................................................2
2.1 Identification of the Problem...........................................................................................2
2.2 Utilisation of Chris Macdonald’s Methodology..............................................................2
2.3 Utilisation of ACS Code of Ethics and ACS Code of Professional Conduct..................3
3. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................3
4. Recommendation....................................................................................................................4
5. References..............................................................................................................................5

2PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES IN IT
Case Study 1
1. Introduction
The situation discusses about the fact that John who is a statistical database
programmer has to write codes for the company and their algorithms would be published in
professional journals. In one such of a coding task, John had got stuck in various parts of his
program. The manager of the company had not understood the complexity of the program
and had thus asked John to complete the task within a few days (Gu 2014).
2. Discussion
2.1 Identification of the Problem
The problem that is faced by John is that he has to complete the functions of the code
within the mentioned time. The implementation of codes would certainly contain bugs, which
needs to be removed before the final submission of the work. In order to complete the work
within the stipulated time, it is very much necessary for him to copy some segments of code
from commercial software and the works of his previous co-workers (Ratajczyk et al. 2016).
The dilemma faced by John at this juncture is that he does not inform anyone of his
doings and also does not mention about the same within the documentation part. He is not
able to decide upon the later course of actions after informing about his doings to the
manager. He might have the thought that his manager might get furious over him or he might
get terminated for violating the copyrights over someone else copy of work.
2.2 Utilisation of Chris Macdonald’s Methodology
The Chris MacDonald’s methodology demonstrates the problem faced by John. Based
on the dilemma faced by John, it could be said that John should have hired some other co-
worker of his company who would be able to assist him in completing the rest part of the

3PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES IN IT
project within the stipulated time (Cohen and Siegel 2014). He could have explained the bits
of code to his co-worker who would have helped in detailing of the work and thus completing
the work within the assigned deadline. This would have saved the reputation of John as well
as of the company.
John could also have reached out for help from the Internet instead of copying codes
from other parts. The implemented code by John might contain errors and bugs, which might
bring a bad name to the organization and thus would have hurt the reputation of the company
and John.
2.3 Utilisation of ACS Code of Ethics and ACS Code of Professional Conduct
These two code of ethics would be able to clearly define the situation and thus
recommends better solutions for the future course of actions for the betterment of the
organization and individual reputation of John.
The first code of ethics, which should be followed by John is based on the primacy of
public interest. It should be kept in mind that the interest of the public should be kept above
personal interests. The interest of public should include matters related to the safety of the
environment of the organisation (Bowern and Burmeister 2013).
Honesty is another important aspect, which should be kept in mind during serving
within an organization. There would several circumstances during the working within an
organization where employees might take deceptive ways. Hence, it would be advisable for
everyone to follow the path of honesty within their purposes and thus they should be able to
distinguish between the personals opinions and professional advices (Board 2014).

4PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES IN IT
3. Conclusion
Based on the discussion, it could be concluded that breaching of the copyrights of the
works of others is a major crime, which should not be performed. This might incur a bad
reputation for the organization and might also lead to the termination of the employee.
4. Recommendation
Based on the conclusions drawn from the above report, it could be recommended that
John should follow the ACS Code of Ethics, which defines the principle of honesty. He
should clearly state his acts to the manager, which would be helpful for saving himself from
incurring a bad name for the company and for himself.

5PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES IN IT
5. References
Board, B.A.C., 2014. Professional and ethical compliance code for behavior analysts.
Bowern, M. and Burmeister, O.K., 2013. 14. Business benefits from keeping codes of ethics
up to date. Professionalism in the information and communication technology industry,
p.295.
Cohen, R. and Siegel, A.W. eds., 2014. Context and development. Psychology Press.
Gu, Y., 2014. To code or not to code: Dilemmas in analysing think-aloud protocols in
learning strategies research. System, 43, pp.74-81.
Ratajczyk, E., Brady, U., Baggio, J.A., Barnett, A.J., Perez-Ibarra, I., Rollins, N., Rubiños,
C., Shin, H.C., Yu, D.J., Aggarwal, R. and Anderies, J.M., 2016. Challenges and
opportunities in coding the commons: problems, procedures, and potential solutions in large-
N comparative case studies. International Journal of the Commons, 10(2), p.440.