Application of IT Governance and Ethical Codes in Westfield: A Case Study Report

This report explores the application of IT governance and ethical codes in the case of Westfield retail organization. It discusses the benefits of implementing corporate governance and suggests how IT governance can empower business operations and address ethical concerns. The report also provides recommendations for the implementation of IT governance and ethical practices.

Westfield Searchable Mall Case
study Report
Executive Summary
This report encapsulated the application of IT governance and ethical codes to the case of Westfield
retail organization with an aim to achieve organizational effectiveness. The report explores the
reasons why the organisation should implement corporate governance in the company and the
benefits it would bring to Westfield. It suggests how IT governance can empower business
operations, align business processes, and help in efficient use of IT resources. With the governance
procedures implemented, the company can expect to achieve better efficiencies and productivity.
The report explores theories, principles, practices and issues related to ethics and IT governance and
further makes recommendations for implementation of IT governance and addressing of ethical
issues. Recommendations have also been made for establishing ethical practices and ensuring that
ICT systems are maintained well without causing ethical conflicts. The exploration of the ICT
practices is done using STS theory that recommends use of social and technological integration to
establish business results.
Contents
Executive Summary...............................................................................................................................1
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................1
Frameworks for analysis........................................................................................................................2
Ethical consequences............................................................................................................................2
IT Governance.......................................................................................................................................3
Recommendations.................................................................................................................................5
Conclusions............................................................................................................................................6
References.............................................................................................................................................7
Introduction
Westfield is an Australian mall which is searchable in the digital space. It has 100,000 products listed
online. The company has a long history of being a preferred shopping destination for Australian
customers but with the digital disruption coming in, the company could see the changes in their
shopping behaviour and in response to which the company decided to transform its business model
and leverage on social media, mobile marketing and other digital marketing opportunities to
diversify. They have decided to adopt some new technologies in their stores to make the shoppers
experience more digital. These include digital storefronts, digital in-centre signage, click and collect
hubs, Wi-Fi networks, frictionless car parking payment services, mobile food service apps and the
searchable mall web platform. While these initiatives will give a competitive edge to the company, it
also raises some ethical and regulatory concerns. This report would analyse the ethical and
governance concerns of the company moving towards digital and would come up with

recommendations for adoption of ethical and inclusive practices for the company without affecting
their competitive advantage.
Frameworks for analysis
A big challenge with ethical issue is that it is only observed after a technology is already in use which
is why to predict the possible ethical consequences of implementation of the digital technologies in
the retail organization, the first step would be to understand how the technologies caused ethical
problems in earlier implementations. However, since the company may be adopting some new
technologies that are not really widespread enough to gather information about their ethical
impacts as well as would be developing some new artefacts for technology adoption, it may not be
completely possible to derive from earlier experiences. In this case, ethical theories can play a role in
understanding the concerns. However, the problems identified using this approach cannot be
assured to occur in the future.
This report would explore the possibility of applying ethical principles and theories to identify
possible scenarios where ICT could create ethical problems. Based on the insights obtained from this
application, the report would have some recommendations for Westfield company so that ethical
issues can be identified and addressed in advance. A number of categories of ethical issues that
usually occur in ICT technologies used in retail would be identified to form the base for analysis
(Beheshtifar & Zare, 2013).
STS theory helps in holistic analysis of organizational systems that include technical systems, social
systems and organizational environment. Technical systems include infrastructures, applications,
services, and technology tools. Social systems include customers, industry, and markets.
Environment consists of society, policies, and regulations. The theory aims to mingle human
ideologies with the concept of system engineering to bring cooperation between them to attain
positive outcomes in business. When social systems cooperate with technical systems, positive
outcomes are achieved through knowledge sharing. Trainings are provided to the people so that
they can understand the IT systems and innovations.
STS can be used for any organization that has IT systems implemented. This theory can thus be used
to make predictions of possible IT governance structures and issues that may arise when the digital
systems are implemented by Westfield. The retail organization would have complex interactions
happening between people and the IT systems post implementation when IT systems are developed
and new technologies are implemented. To deliver higher operational efficiencies and productivities,
it is important to understand these interrelationships and use methods to make them effective. The
relationships can be maintained with negotiations that can assist the business system reciprocally.
The theory sees both social and technical environments as equal partners in development such that
collaboration between them can bring value to the business systems through good governance
(ROGERSON, 2004).
Ethical consequences
Ethics is a seen as a reflection of moral principles as per the studied social norms. IT ethics can be
descriptive, normative or meta ethics. Different investigative approaches may be taken when
exploring different types of ethical issues. Descriptive ethics are studied with technical and social
understanding. Normative and meta ethical issues can be understood based on the principles of
philosophy. Behavioural guidance is usually followed as defined in ethical codes of conduct when

addressing normative issues. Specific guidelines, codes or policies are defined by various bodies such
as Association for Computer Machinery and British Computer Society that define possible ethical
issues and ways to address them. These codes identify ICT solutions, applications and artefacts that
can cause ethical issues. Artefacts include the hardware, software and other systems used in an ICT
setup. Different artefacts may have different ways of applications. It is important to understand the
distinction between ICT applications and ICT artefacts as they can have different ethical implications
(Aston, 2017).
With technology artefacts, the challenges can be technological such that they are not concerned
with any social context. Having a trustworthy and pervasive infrastructure can be a technological
problem and if the technology fails to deliver this then as per ethical codes, the old technology must
be replaced by a new one. Another technological issue could be cognitive and related to how easy it
is for a user to use the technological artefact. Electronic components can also pose certain
technological challenges as they could get outdated before next generation technologies. Innovation
in ICT products and service is thus the goal of ethical ICT development. With better technological
advances, competitiveness and wellbeing of users can be improved (Stahl & Rogerson, 2009).
Socio-economic challenges are mostly concerned with ICT applications and it deals with issues
related to digital content, personalisation, and human interaction. When studying ethical issues from
this perspective in ICT technologies, most common problems that appear are intellectual property,
privacy, digital divide, access, and data quality. Specific industries may also have specific challenges
to face such as retail in which there could be ethical concerns of governance and inclusion. With
applications, it may be easier to identify the ethical issues unlike with artefacts (Weill & Ross, 2004).
When applying the ethical framework for investigation of applications and artefacts to understand
potential issues in ICT, emerging technologies that are put to use in the retail organization may have
to be explored. These could be the machines involving high speed data processing, human computer
interaction, and more. For exploring ethical impacts of applications technologies that have a
widespread usage may be elaborated. These types of issues are mostly covered in procedural
guidance such as taking consent from those affects by the technology and taking care of the
legislative compliances. These are the ways ethical issues can be dealt with during a research on ICT
system. Informed consent is used often when a data is collected from a customer or user and there
is a possibility of the organization taking the details to use it further. An informed consent would
reveal the possible uses of the information and if the users are comfortable then only, the action can
be taken. Professional ethics are often predicted in the governance structures (Tiwana & Konsynski,
2010).
IT Governance
IT department is one of the key departments in any modern retail organization. IT departments have
gained significant importance since the stories of organizations failing IT resulting into huge losses
have prevailed. The organizations that were unable to cope were the ones with risky and volatile
environment of its technological infrastructure. To provide support to such organizations, IT
governance procedures are implemented. It provides assistance to enable IT activities and solve
related problems. IT security is a major issue across world which is why it is a major component of
corporate governance. It suggests organizational processes, responsibilities, communication
methods, decision making, and structures to be maintained in such a way that business goals are
achieved and value is delivered to businesses. Some IT governance also enables organizations to plan
for their processes and policies related to operations such that their results could be evaluated.
Thus, IT governance can help companies establish control over their management systems and also

work on the strategic development to be able to achieve organizational objectives. IT systems and IT
departments can both be aligned to the business goals through roper application of corporate
governance (Saetang & Haider, 2013).
The most important part of governance is review of project from the point of view of ethics so as to
evaluate projects on their consideration of ethical principles. A project that does not follow ethical
standards may be evaluated and recommended steps are given often by professional panel of ethical
reviewers. Guidance has been provided for the external analysis of projects but not much guidance
is available for the internal governance. An organization can have an advisory board outside of the
company to bring up recommendations for managing ethical concerns related to society, politics,
and legal perspectives (Rustagi, et al., 2008).
Key components of IT governance include accountability of management, business governance,
directions, and IT infrastructures. These components have to collaborate to establish IT governance.
The effectiveness of IT governance can be determined by assessing if proper financial support is
provided and if sufficient IT resources are allocated. Businesses today can be complicated and, in this
situation, it is important that companies plan their strategies carefully if they have to achieve higher
productivity and effective results. Companies should save businesses from uncertainties and risks
with a proper planning which is done considering all the stages of implementation of ICT (Webb, et
al., 2006).
Governance encourages scrutinization of integration between different ICT entities. The changes
that emerge after implementation of ICT should be shared when governance is implemented. A
number of ICT theories can be used to understand how ICT governance works such as socio-
technical systems theory which talks about collaboration of organization components. The theory
explains the role of people, environment, and organizational tasks in ICT governance. Humanistic
principles are important in maintaining ICT systems as people have specific skills and ideas that can
contribute to organizational development. Their contribution can help improve work performance,
create value for the organization and enhance its productivity.
The IT services, internal partners, external partners, and IT activities are specifically defined in IT
governance on how they should be managed. The project activities can be prioritized based on
governance procedures that also guide decisions on investments and technical approvals. It is
believed that success of an ICT system is not just on the potential of technologies but also how it is
governed. The strategic alignment of ICT systems should be focused on the business objectives of
the company and the level of maturity in this alignment would be achieved through integration of
systems. IT governance mechanism involves monitoring and planning that assist in decision making
for which certain control mechanisms, processes, policies, and procedures are defined. These would
allow the retail organization to monitor ICT systems and evaluate them based on factors like
benchmarks and use of best practices (Sesay & Ramirez, 1-10).
If ICT governance can be adopted before the ICT is implemented in Westfield, it can bring many
benefits to the organization as it would help company be prepared to deal with the complex
challenges that intervention of people and technology can bring in future. A number of benefits that
IT governance can bring include progressive culture, better communication, wiser spending, better
relationships, fast processes, better deliveries, more sustainability, fewer risks, more reliability, more
robust systems, saving of efforts, saving of costs through control, more flexibility, faster
implementation, and more.

Recommendations
Based on the issues identified in the governance structure, certain recommendations can be made
for the retail organization to help it establish a governance mechanism for its ICT implementations.
This mechanism would involve procedures and policies defined for decision making, business
alignment, and communication management. For assisting organizations in making decisions,
following procedures can be followed by Westfield:
 The rights to taking decisions about vendors of different IT solutions can be centralized in
the organisation through formal relationship structures established.
 The scope of implementation of ICT and the knowledge needed by people can be defined
clearly to be followed post implementation to establish governance in the company.
 Company can establish systems for gathering and analysing data that form a base for the
decision making about the company as it would deliver insights
 The company would have multiple systems implemented for managing business operations
and each of these systems would have different situations generated to assist in decision
making. Thus, the company should have only the efficient and trained people in managing
ICT systems so that appropriate decisions can be taken
For helping organizations align its people and ICT technologies with the business goals, following
measures could be taken:
 The projects that are outsourced to vendors for implementation should be monitored and
controlled by Westfield so that they can be sure of the performance
 Formal contracts can be made between the vendors of each of the ICT systems including
digital storefronts, digital in-centre signage, click and collect hubs, Wi-Fi networks,
frictionless car parking payment services, mobile food service apps and the searchable mall
web platform. These contracts would ensure that proper knowledge transfer happens
between the two organizations and the scope of development is clear.
 Contracts established must be aligned to transactional attributes so that budget overruns
are less likely to occur. Certain provisions can encourage vendors and service providers to
perform and thus, can be introduced in contracts. These can be provisions for extending
services and bargaining for better pricing.
Establishing formal communication procedures for internal as well as external management of ICT
project can help organisation in improving its service quality. For this, Westfield can take following
steps:
 An information exchange should happen between parties in the supply chain such that any
problems arising in implementation or operation of ICT are mutually solved
 Information sharing and storage capabilities can be developed by the company so that
better coordination can be achieved
 The roles and responsibilities of the people working in the organization for managing ICT
systems must be clearly defined so that people know their responsibilities and how and
when they should communicate
 Communication systems that integrate different ICT applications can be used to ensure that
there is a smooth information sharing happening between different people which would
enhance coordination

 Employees can be provided training on the use of ICT systems and how they should have
coordination and communication established
For ensuring that company uses ethical practices in ICT management, following recommendations
can be made:
 Obtaining the copyright protection to ensure that there is no misuse of digital assets
implemented
 The concerns of privacy and confidentiality that are ethical concerns in any organization that
would be implementing ICT can be addressed through following privacy laws to protect
individuals
 In the retail organization, the systems that would be implemented would be used for
collecting data about the mall visitors which can pose issues of privacy and security. Thus,
data protection laws must be followed.
 The ethical codes of conduct can be established and documented centrally to be shared with
all the employees of Westfield so that it serves as a guide for them to assist in taking
decisions about ICT
 Westfield should have codes of conduct defined by the company documenting vision,
mission, principles and values that the retail organization would follow. The codes can help
company maintain compliance and mitigate ethical risks (Rogerson, 2004).
 The company should promote social responsibility in ICT systems with development of a
work culture that nurtures socially acceptable behaviour
 An ICT charter can be prepared to document social care so that reciprocity can be restored
and potential social costs are limited. The focus of such a practice can be on the benefits of
the employees of the organization
 The contracts developed between different entities and people in the organization and
outside must have clearly defined responsibilities and documentation of ethical codes and
practice of good conduct (Webb, et al., 2006).
Conclusions
The aim of this research report was to understand the potential ethical and governance issues that
can affect an organization implementing or using ICT systems. The research explored the need for
the practice of governance. IT governance can bring several benefits to the organization such as
better communication, better relationships, fast processes, better deliveries, fewer risks, more
reliability, and more. IT governance deals with three areas including decision making, business
alignment, and communication management such that practices to improve each of these areas can
help in improving ICT systems performance. Based on the exploration of various issues related to
ethics and governance structures, some recommendations were made for Westfield mall. These
included establishment of contracts that can assist information sharing, creation of formal structures
for communication, and information sharing. Use of IT governance and ethical codes of conduct
would help company align its ICT system with organizational goals and improve performance of the
retail company. The company can take note of these recommendations as the possible issues related
to ethics and governance can be documented and measures can be taken to prevent or resolve
issues.
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