ITC506 - The Un-Tested System Ethical Issue
Added on 2020-03-04
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Running head: THE UN-TESTED SYSTEM ETHICAL ISSUE 1The Un-Tested System Ethical Issue NameInstitutional Affiliation(Word Count 1045)
THE UN-TESTED SYSTEM ETHICAL ISSUE 2The Un-Tested System Ethical Issue Ethical Issue IdentificationIn most cases, firms dealing with product design and development should determine a product’s readiness for release. This step takes place after spending resources such as money, time, and labor to identify a problem, create a solution, and test the system. In this video, a manager is pressurizing an employee to launch a system without undertaking tests on it to meet aclient’s deadline (Al-Saggaf, 2016). Sometimes, product launch does not depend on a new application being ready. However, it involves informing the world that the product has been released and ready for use. Clients start loading information into the software database since theybelieve it is secure and bug-free. Edwards and Steinke (2008) notes that software errors and bugs are a normal part of an IT application. As such, many program vendors provide no expectation of correctness or guarantee of reliability when releasing a software. Additionally, companies find it easier to launch a product, spend more resources on marketing, and then fix bugs after complaints from users. Edwards and Steinke (2008) argues that the ICT vendor has the ethical responsibility for testing and correcting a product. Implications of the Ethical ProblemThe manager believes that the team should release the product without testing to impress the client and avoid losing business. However, the employee responsible for the launch believes that the piece of software should be tested first to ascertain that it works properly and meets user requirements. On the contrary, it can damage the reputation of the product vendor for launching an untested product. For instance, the software can suddenly crush or spit out the wrong output that may lead to loss of trust due to the presence of bugs on the code. Moreover, client may lose
THE UN-TESTED SYSTEM ETHICAL ISSUE 3critical data through a program that has defects. As a result, a bug-plagued software can become costly for both the client and service provider. Previous studies have shown that this unethical move in ICT has been prevalent and detrimental and has led to an annual loss of $59.5 billion in America (Waychal and Capretz, 2016). The costs are borne by the developer and users. In some cases, if the program is installed in a medical equipment, it can be dangerous or cause death. A software product is prone to errors due to its overwhelming sophistication. In includes millions of lines of codes that are prone to defects. As such, developers should be given enough time to identify and correct bugs to prevent future loss or damage on firm’s reputation. According to Richardson and Gwaltney (2005), improved testing enables earlier identification and correction of software bugs and can eliminate a third of defect-related loss. Unfortunately, most software developers are driven by greed to release products early without proper testing. Al-Saggaf, Burmeister, and Weckert (2015) reasonably argued that human weakness could push them to exploit product vulnerabilities to obtain a capital gain. Their study found that greed factor triggered unethical conduct in the field of ICT. Ineffective corporate and IT policies can lead to abuse of workers and company assets by those in power for personal gains. As a result, more than half of software errors are discovered after formal product launch. An example of the impact of this ethical issue involves the 2013 Healthcare.gov massive system failure caused by lack of rigorous evaluation before implementation (Roy, 2013). The healthcare exchange product was rolled out to support Affordable Care Act. However, the government stifled effective agile development and appropriate testing caused the development cost to swell three times from the budgeted amount. In contrast, if the defect was identified earlier, fixing it would have been cheaper. Solution to the Ethical Problem
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