BN201 - Professional Issues of IT: Case Studies and Ethical Analysis

This assignment presents two case studies addressing ethical dilemmas in the IT and manufacturing sectors. The first case involves a website development team grappling with informed consent for internal and external usability test participants, analyzed through the lens of the ACS Code of Conduct. The second case explores the ethical challenges faced by an environmental compliance manager in a plastic manufacturing company, balancing environmental responsibility with corporate profitability, also guided by the ACS Code of Conduct. The document emphasizes the importance of professional conduct, honesty, and prioritizing public interest in resolving these dilemmas. Desklib provides access to this and other solved assignments to aid students in their studies.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL ISSUES OF IT
Professional Issues of IT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

1PROFESSIONAL ISSUES OF IT
Case Study I
1.1 Ethical dilemma in the case
A website developer team wants to run a usability test for their website. It has been decided to engage both internal as well as external
participants in equal proportions. Now an issue arises. It has not been decided whether the consent form designed for the internals must be same
with the external ones or not. Confusion arises as the usability team is arguing that the internal participants should only fill up the consent form.
Other are arguing that the sole purpose of the consent form is to assure that the participants understand the purpose, they must have a knowledge
what will happen, what data will be collected and how those data will be utilised. In this scenario there are two ethical dilemmas, the first one is
whether both the internal and the external participants should participate or not [3]. Secondly, if the consent form is designed then it must be
analysed the consent form which is designed will be same for both the internal and the eternal participants or not. There is also a confusion,
whether they are free to cease participating or not.
1.2 The website development company following ACS Code of Conduct
A participant is free to make decisions and he can make his own choice to leave the usability test. However, if any one wants to
participate then he must follow the ACS code if he wants to participate. Both the internal and the external participants will have to follow the
code of ethics. According to ACS Code of Ethics, the participants must conduct project operations ethically and efficiently. The participants of
the website development team must place the interests above those of personal, businesses as well as sectional interest. He or she must strive to
embellish the quality of life [2]. The participants must shows honesty in representing the skills, knowledge, products and services. Again, he

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must work competently and diligently for the stakeholders. He must show professionalism. Thus according to the ACS Code of Conduct, the
contact must be same for all the participants. All the components of both the internal and external participants must be taken into consideration.
The internal participants must show competency and must accept the external reviews as challenge [5]. The best review must be accepted. In this
case, the internal participants must show professionalism and must accept the positive reviews or the positive feedback from the external
participants and must accept it. They must act professionally and must not be selfish, they must accept the reviews of the external participants.
They are free and they can make choice to leave the usability test, however, if they participate and fil up the consent form they will have to
follow the ACS Code of Conduct, this reduce the chance of conflicts and tensions.
Case Study II
2.1 Ethical dilemma in the case
Michelle H works in plastic manufacturing company and she is the environmental compliance manager of the company. The chemicals
that the factory emits are within the legal limits. Though the emission level of the chemicals is within limit still they can harm the aquatic life.
The fishes will not be safe for consumption. Being an environmental compliance manager it is her responsibility to ensure safety of the aquatic
life, it is her responsibility to maintain sustainability in the environment [4]. However, in this case she will have to spend a lot of money to adopt
a new technology to reduce the level of waste that flows from factory to the nearby lake. The plastic may refuse to spend so much money for the
environment sustainability. She may force the management staff to adopt the new technology however in that case, she may lose her job. If the

3PROFESSIONAL ISSUES OF IT
company spends the money, then their profit will reduce significantly, thus both the case will affect them negatively. Thus she is in ethical
dilemma.
2.2 The plastic manufacturing company following ACS Code of Conduct
According to ACS Code of Conduct, she must act professionally. Being an environmental compliance manager of the company, it is her
responsibility to reduce the level of chemical flowing to the lake and she should carry out his duty. She should ask the manager of the company
to spend extra money to take necessary actions to maintain sustainability of the aquatic life [6]. She must be honest and must stick to her
decisions. The management may terminate her still she should stick to her decision as honesty will pay her long term benefits. She must place
the interest of the public above those of personal, sectional as well as personal interests. She should make the company understand that if they
adopt the new technology they can conduct business over a longer period of time. The citizens staying nearby will not create any issues that can
threaten the existence of the company. She must focus on the professional development [1]. She must take actions that will embellish her
professional development and along with that it will enhance the development of the other staff members. She must act on enhancement of
quality of life. She can strive to enhance the quality of life of the citizens staying nearby. They can live peacefully and can lead a better life. Thus
following d ACS Code of conduct she can maintain peace and sustainability.

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References
[1] Dzombak, David A. "Crossing researcher-public boundaries." Environmental science & technology 51, no. 3 (2017): 1057-1057.
Boland, Maeve A., and David W. Mogk. "The American Geosciences Institute guidelines for ethical professional conduct." Scientific integrity
and ethics in the geosciences (2018).
[2] Leicester, N. (2016). Ethics in the IT Profession: Does a Code of Ethics have an Effect on Professional Behaviour?.
Waldstreicher, Joanne, and Michael E. Johns. "Managing conflicts of interest in industry-sponsored clinical research: more physician
engagement is required." Jama 317, no. 17 (2017): 1751-1752.
[3] Yeh, James S., Jessica M. Franklin, Jerry Avorn, Joan Landon, and Aaron S. Kesselheim. "Association of industry payments to physicians
with the prescribing of brand-name statins in Massachusetts." JAMA internal medicine 176, no. 6 (2016): 763-768.
[4] Guimarães, Patricia O., Arun Krishnamoorthy, Lisa A. Kaltenbach, Kevin J. Anstrom, Mark B. Effron, Daniel B. Mark, Patrick L.
McCollam, Linda Davidson-Ray, Eric D. Peterson, and Tracy Y. Wang. "Accuracy of medical claims for identifying cardiovascular and
bleeding events after myocardial infarction: a secondary analysis of the TRANSLATE-ACS study." JAMA cardiology 2, no. 7 (2017): 750-757.
[5] Babayemi, Joshua O., Mary B. Ogundiran, Roland Weber, and Oladele Osibanjo. "Initial Inventory of Plastics Imports in Nigeria as a Basis
for More Sustainable Management Policies." Journal of Health and Pollution 8, no. 18 (2018): 1-15.

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[6] Feeley, Savanna R., Bas Wijnen, and Joshua M. Pearce. "Evaluation of potential fair trade standards for an ethical 3-D printing
filament." Journal of Sustainable Development 7, no. 5 (2014): 1.