Telstra: Professional and Practice and Ethics

This report analyzes Telstra's move from conservative engineering base to a fast-paced digital technology and the ethical implications of the change. It also discusses the use of ethics techniques and ACS code of ethics. The report provides recommendations for the company to face any incidence.

RUNNING HEAD: Professional and practice and ethics 0
Telstra
Professional and practice and ethics

Professional and practice and ethics 1
Executive summary
Telstra is a leading telecommunication company of Australia. This report includes the details
of company from moving conservative engineering base to the fast paced digital one. It is
more about the ethical implications of the change. The company commits excellence in
corporate authority, transparency and accountability which is vital for the long term
performance and sustainability of the company. It is the accountability of Telstra to protect
interest of shareholders. The report addresses the analysis of using ethics techniques in the
situation of business. The situation is also analysed by using ACS code of ethics. Further the
recommendations are also given so that company can face any incidence.

Professional and practice and ethics 2
Contents
Executive summary...............................................................................................................................1
List of abbreviations..............................................................................................................................3
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................4
Background of company........................................................................................................................4
Analysis of situations using ethics techniques.......................................................................................5
Analysis of situations using ACS code of ethics....................................................................................7
Conclusion and recommendations.......................................................................................................10
References...........................................................................................................................................11

Professional and practice and ethics 3
List of abbreviations
ASX- Australian Stock Exchange
ACMA- Australian Communications and Media Authority
OAIC- Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
ACCC- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
NBN- New Broadband access Network
DSS- Department of Social Services
AGM- Annual General Meeting
CEO- Chief Executive Officer

Professional and practice and ethics 4
Introduction
Telstra is a leading telecommunication and technology company of Australia. The company
offers a full range of communication services. Telstra builds telecommunication networks
and provides product and services like mobile, pay television, internet access and more. The
company strives to serve customers better than anyone else by not only offering digital
connection but digital content as well. The company was established in 1975. The company
take a biggest step and form Telstra Digital in 2010, as it knew that it had to extend it’s
origins as a conventional engineering culture to the fast paced digital one. Currently it is one
of the biggest digital companies in the country and sources some of the best digital talent in
the market. It was a challenging decision of company to move from integrated approach to
information architecture.
The vision of company is to connect more and more people and provide opportunities. The
company has form simple and easy technologies and content solutions which makes Telstra
best and largest network of Australia. This report aims at moves taken by Telstra to move
from conservative engineering base to a fast paced digital technology. It addresses the ethical
implications of the change adopted by the company.
Background of company
Telstra strongly believe in connecting people which helps company to create more
opportunities. So, it has initiated updated and advanced technology which is easy to use as
well. The company was previously associated with Australia post as a government
department, now it is fully denationalized. Andy Penn, CEO of Telstra is aiming to make
company more customers focused by initiating a change program. In 2011, the company
declared to develop it’ customer services to social media having 24/7 coverage. Now the
company enjoys increase in live chats and the usage of this service has also improved to a
great extent (Campbell, 2016).
Telstra is listed on Australia Stock Exchange (ASX) and traded as ASX. In 2016, Telstra
engaged 360 retail stores and 300 stores equipped with low energy booth beacons (Campbell,
Suessspeck & Hinton, 2018). The shares prices of company have even increased to $6 per
share after the privatisation in 2014. The company is further looking to extend it’s market
share in the international markets.

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Analysis of situations using ethics techniques
The digital business has created conflicts of interest and disruption which is causing company
to think more about ethical concerns. The company has changed the way of it’s working by
introducing digital applications. The company enable employees to attain high standard
business and ethics in the daily conduct of business. The ethical behaviour framework of
Telstra offers guidance on the ethical and responsible decision making. The ethical
framework is based on the company’s integrity policies like, anti-bribery and anti-corruption,
fraud and criminal conduct, conflict of interest and outside activities. The ethical behaviour
risk assessment is on agenda with other two business units undertaking risk assessments. The
aim of program is to develop an ethical behaviour risk profile for the company (Cohen,
2016).
Telstra persuades all employees to attain a higher standard of business and personal ethics.
The company sets out objectives and monitors performance through the facts available in the
company. It is essential for the employees and contractors to complete compulsory training
refresher course. The company enables employees with face to face ethical behaviour training
across 12 countries. Telstra conducts climate change risk valuation to identify risks in a better
way and take actions to promote flexibility within the business (Gaynor, et. al. 2015). It has
launched standards for the employees to imply value into the behaviour so that employees
become more responsible towards the routine work. The company also conducts training and
awareness sessions across the company to promote ethical behaviour.
There are many online services of company which relies on SMS to deliver confidential
information such as links for setting passwords, pin number, OTP, banking and email
services (García-Avilés, 2014). The company faced issue of messages in 2013 after breaking
out fire at exchange. It also caused damage of equipment of company. The personal messages
were sent to the random recipients which caused leakage of private data of almost 16000
customers. The privacy act of company was breached by exposing information of customers
comprising contact numbers, name and address. The office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC) investigated that Telstra failed to handle personal information of
customers and revealed the information which was required which was required to use for
official purpose only (Tran & Pedler, 2017).
The company offers communication service to 17.4 million mobile users and 3.5 million
retail fixed broad band service. The number of customers reached to 16000 who were

Professional and practice and ethics 6
affected by the incidence. The personal information of customers were leaked from the
misdirected messages. It also affected to 1257 silent line customers. The personal information
of these customers such as name, address and contact numbers could be searched easily
through the Google search. The employees, shareholders and stakeholders of company were
also equally affected as the company closed down the software platforms after the incidence
occurred (Sauser Jr & Sims, 2015). The other customers also faced problem as they were not
able to access the information available on the website in the while time.
The company reveal data online and exposed personal information of customers after fire at
exchange. Not only the misdirected messages the company was also threatened by the ACCC
for misleading NBN speeds. ACCC also took stand for the vague consumers about NBN
broadband speeds. The company has been making use of terms like fast and superfast to
recognise it’s services but the speed is out-of-the-way and stops within. The ACCC is
initiating to take action if the practices are not going to improve till the end of the year. The
employees of organisation are affected in every way. The main problem recognised behind
speed is lack of transparency and rigid process. Federal privacy commissioner investigated
Telstra and charge fine for breaching privacy so that it does not occur again (Osagie,
Wesselink, Blok, Lans & Mulder, 2016).
The decision support system is kind of computer application. The system investigates
business data and represents in such a way that day to day decisions can be made easily by
users effortlessly. The business analytics is used to organise and improve business processes.
The decision support system puts positive implication on the business (Wilson & Pender,
2017). It can be evaluated by comparing sales figures of one to another week or particular
time periods. It describes the significances of different decision alternatives and the previous
experiences. It is helpful in improving the decision making process in the terms of superiority
and relevance (Moorhead, 2016). It organises the inventory data into the interactive data
bases for the sake of time to time analysis. The system is helpful in directing data mining and
sharing information with large number of audience. They are beneficial in the smart decision
making process into the culture of company (Nicholls, 2017). The disadvantage of using
decision support system and business analytics can be assumed from usage of higher cost of
the company to use decision support system and business analytics. It is because the system
entails statistics, data analysis and information system. So it is must for the company to make
huge investment in the information system. It should also noticed that consideration of all
aspects of problem is not required in various situations. An effective DSS undertakes all

Professional and practice and ethics 7
aspects all the time (Lustgarten, 2015). There is availability of business analytics for every
company but it is not developed as per the industry. It is required to invest in various business
intelligent segments to avail advance data.
Analysis of situations using ACS code of ethics
The company was ordered to get it’s system audited by June 2013 so that the incidence does
not occur again. Telstra took various actions containing closing down of software platforms
due to which incidence occurred (National Society of Genetic Counsellors, 2018). The clear
policies are created for the central software management. The company reviewed contacts
with third parties associated to the personal information handling. The company was charged
fine of $10,200 for the violation of ACMA’s codes. There is no set and forget rule of
information security and privacy in the digital environment (Lock & Seele, 2015). The
company can evaluate and mend security systems on the regular intervals to avoid data
breaches. The investigations such as ACMA and OAIC can be utilised to enforce power to
fine up to $1.7 million for breaching data of customers.
The data analysis tools finds out various business benefits like new opportunities for the
business, effective marketing, better operational efficiency and enhanced customer service.
These tools are helpful in gaining competitive advantage. It provides a means of assessing
data sets and illustrating conclusions which helps company to take business decisions. It
comprises both internal and external sources. The data analysis tools can be tableau, rapid
miner, Google fusion tables, search operators and more. The data analysis is an appropriate
way to reduce costs and improve productivity. The data analysis tools have capability to
transform the company (De Ridder & Eckermann, 2017). It enables an organisation with fast
and convenient access to improve business performance and decision making. Telstra can
effectively use data analysis tools to gain competitive advantage. The options provided by
Telstra are:
Data and IP: It is an exclusive option which makes a company competitive with the flexible
data and IP solutions. It can be assisted by the range of assurance options. Telstra is regularly
investing to provide best solutions and to match demand of customers. The IP specialists
contributes with the company to provide unique solutions as per the requirement (Lewis &
Westlund, 2015).

Professional and practice and ethics 8
Broadband and voice: The company offers broadband and voice solutions which is
appropriate for the customers. A customer is free to choose among nbn and copper network.
Telstra is potential in technologies and innovations to cope up with customers. The
broadband service can be easily availed by the customers by taking place order online.
Mobility: The company invents services as per the latest technologies. The company keep on
updating itself to offer great mobile experience due to the constant changes in the mobile
market. The company offers the best mobile service (Rallapalli, Nwachuku & Valle, 2015).
Application and services: It is expected by customers to accessibility to services which is
simpler and hustle free. The customers use digital era service which is the reason company
provides advanced network application services (Weeks, 2016). It is helpful in adding value
to the customers and generating business opportunities.
It is experienced that from the options explained above, application and services is the best.
The 24X7 app offers more control and helps to manage bills. The customers get the bill
notification after getting bill ready. The instant account status assists to view account balance
and check the estimated usage. The bill history can also be checked by viewing summary of
last 8 months. It also empowers to view mobile data usage, manage data allowance and data
pack can also be added by the app. The international roaming and day pass can be
accomplished by monitoring data usage at the time of using handset overseas. It is the best
possible option to buy as customers can manage by themselves (Johnston, 2017).
The utilitarianism is a kind of ethical theory which states that something is right from wrong.
It emphases on outcomes and when something is produced for the large number of group of
people. This theory attentions on the humans and performs the actions only which are good
for them. It believes that something is alleged to be good in it. This theory is used mainly in
the company in a way to account for cost and reimbursements. It explains whether the actions
taken by company is good or bad and moral or immoral (Grishin, 2014). The theory also
ensures that least harm is reached to the involved employees. It is applied to the certain
actions which are known as act utilitarianism. It brings out the cause of happiness and
implements it into the rules. The utilitarianism is a kind of consequentialism. Telstra makes
use of utilitarianism at the time of issue faced by fire exchange. The misdirection resulted in
sharing confidential information of customers with other persons. The information comprised
name, contact number, address, passwords and banking services. It damaged equipment of
company. It caused Telstra to close down it’s software platforms. In such a scenario,

Professional and practice and ethics 9
utilitarianism could be used to bring out the good from by emphasising on the outcomes. It
could responsible for compensations. It is going to ensure that the action taken for shutting
down software is good or bad (Ikonen, Luoma-aho & Bowen, 2017). The theory is also
helpful to harm least to the involve customers. It could be possible by tracking number of
customers on which the misdirected messages were delivered and actions can be taken
against the persons who misused the information.
The employees need to be managed at the time of such issues. It has been noticed that
employees are shaken at such issues and prefer to leave the company. The employees can be
managed by focussing on right things of company and by concentrating on the outcome. It is
tries to harm less to company due to such issues. It assists in analysing ethical aspects of
company. It advices business sectors to take actions and advices on the benefits which are
greater for the employees (Gregory, 2015).
The performance of company evidences that it is committed to IT governance, standards and
frameworks. It is vital for the company to protect interest of shareholders for the long term
performance of the organisation. The governance frameworks have an important role in
delivering strategy of business. It offers the structure to achieve performance. The
governance at Telstra includes shareholders, board committee, accountability frameworks,
healthy system of risk management and code of conduct.
The company maintains clear communication with the shareholders. Telstra believes in two
way communication to provide relevant and efficient information to shareholders. The
company take a lot of initiatives to promote communication with the shareholders. It helps in
boosting permission in the meetings. It includes retail shareholder information sessions,
electronic communications, investor seminars and webcast company events (Gerrand, 2017).
The board of directors are responsible to manage business and are accountable to the
shareholders for the actions. The responsibilities of board of directors are to approve digital
innovative plans, monitor application of strategies and performance against the plan of
company. The directors are accountable for the appointment and valuation of the
performance of CEO. They decide the remuneration and approval of appointments. The super
managers are also appointed by them. It is the responsibility of board of directors to manage
financial position and approve decisions related to the capital management (Gregory, 2017).
It includes buy back of shares and dividends. They also regulate overall remuneration
framework.

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10
Conclusion and recommendations
It can be concluded from the report that Telstra is one of the leading telecommunication
company of Australia. The company has transformed it’s functioning by undertaking major
decisions to transform from engineering culture to the digital. It was one of the critical
decision taken by the company. The company is successfully conducting it’s operations. The
24X7 app delivers the best customer control. Telstra took immediate steps to stop SMS
counter service due to the fire occurred at exchange to avoid misdirection of messages.
The digital communication is not a onetime process, it should be updated time on time.
Whenever the issue or emergencies occurs, the company should be stopped for the short
period so that problem could be solved in the meanwhile. The misdirection caused at Telstra
was result of power outage and caused fire at exchange. The company is required to follow
the data privacy to secure the personal data or information of customers. The company is
suggested to stop SMS service and held the messages till the surety of the reliability of
messages. The members of external organisations such as transparency international
Australia addresses the ethical behaviour issues of company. The company is not required to
pay fees to the political parties for the events organized on the major policy issues. The
company is required to take all the necessary measures to avoid such incidences. The
defiance and ethical behaviour training can be provided by the company to recognise risks
which can further result in the big incidence. Telstra is recommended to conduct awareness
sessions face to face ethical behaviour training for the employees to enhance flexibility of
operations.

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11
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