Importance of Ethical Principles in Digital Business Transformation

This discussion paper delves into the crucial ethical principles that businesses must uphold during digital transformation. It emphasizes the importance of maintaining robust digital security and ensuring the privacy and integrity of customer data through practices like informed consent. The paper also highlights the need for businesses to cultivate an ethical culture that promotes innovation, team spirit, and fairness. By adhering to these principles, organizations can navigate the rapid changes of the digital world while safeguarding their reputation and fostering trust with their customers and employees. The paper references key sources to support its arguments, underscoring the importance of ethical considerations in the evolving digital landscape and its impact on modern business practices. The paper suggests that ethical considerations are vital for businesses to maintain trust and navigate the digital world successfully.

Running head: DISCUSSION PAPER
Importance of Ethical Principles for Digital Transformation in Business
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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DISCUSSION PAPER
The business world is constantly revolutionising to keep pace with the fast changing
consumer needs and behaviour. The digital transformation of business particularly hints on
better and faster response to consumer needs, encouraging product diversification and
experimentation and sufficient increase in number of cross-border business ownerships.
However in this digital transformation one cannot compromise on the ethical concerns which
are very crucial for any organisation and its customers. These ethics basically act as a guiding
force determining what is wrong and what is right, what is just or unjust (Lyon, 2017).
Hence the two most crucial ethical considerations which must be addressed by every
business organization in the age of digital transformation include:
1. Proper maintenance of digital security, privacy and customer integrity- While
the digital world comes with endless possibilities it also brings along certain risks.
The organisations must maintain utmost transparency in digital transactions along
with proper security and privacy of personal data of their clients. The concept of
“informed consent” (Khitskov, et al. 2017) must be applied where the customers
and clients must be made fully aware of the data that the organisation is exposed
to and what could be the possible outcomes of the same.
2. Conscious efforts for promoting ethical culture- these digitally transforming
organisations must be actively involved in promoting innovation and team spirit
within their organisations in order to deliver excellent digital experience to its
customers (Kaivo-Oja and Westerlund, 2017). The world of digital business is
very rapid in its growth and transformation hence the organisations must hold
strong to their roots and promote fairness, honesty and safeguard their own
employees from taking unreasonable risks which might cause damage to the
reputation of the organisation.

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DISCUSSION PAPER
Reference:
Lyon, D., 2017. Digital citizenship and surveillance| surveillance culture: Engagement,
exposure, and ethics in digital modernity. International Journal of Communication, 11, p.19.
Khitskov, E.A., Veretekhina, S.V., Medvedeva, A.V., Mnatsakanyan, O.L., Shmakova, E.G.
and Kotenev, A., 2017. Digital transformation of society: problems entering in the digital
economy. Eurasian Journal of Analytical Chemistry, 12(5b), pp.855-873.
Kaivo-Oja, J., Roth, S. and Westerlund, L., 2017. Futures of robotics. Human work in digital
transformation. International Journal of Technology Management, 73(4), pp.176-205.