Ethical Dilemma Analysis Report for ITC506 Assessment 1

This report analyzes an ethical dilemma faced by a project manager pressured by upper management to launch a software project despite incomplete testing. Using the Doing Ethics Technique (DET), the report identifies the ethical issues at stake, including leadership failures, potential harm to the company and clients, and the violation of employee rights. The analysis examines the facts, stakeholders, and potential consequences of different options, such as launching the project as is, quitting the job, or fighting for more time for testing. The report concludes that the best option is to advocate for delaying the launch to ensure security and maintain the company's reputation, prioritizing ethical considerations over immediate deadlines. The report references relevant academic literature to support its arguments.

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THE UNTESTED SYSTEM
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Word Count: 900

The untested system
ITC506 Assessment Item 1- Marking Sheet
Total Obtained Marks /100 & /15
Criteria Standards
Marks
award
ed
Analysis
of the
ethical
dilemma
using the
Doing
Ethics
Technique
(DET)
(Value:
70%)
HD: Answers all DET questions, lists all the facts, identifies all the non-
ethical issues, lists all the stakeholders, identifies all the ethical issues,
evaluates all the options that seek to resolve them and selects the best
option from these and justifies why this option is the best using
supporting arguments based on the literature.
DI: Answers all DET questions, lists all the facts, identifies all the non-
ethical issues, lists all the stakeholders, lists all the ethical issues and
options that seek to resolve them and selects the best option from these
and explains why this option is the best.
CR: Answers all DET questions, lists most of the facts, identifies most of
the non-ethical issues, lists most of the stakeholders, lists most of the
ethical issues and options that seek to resolve them and selects the best
option from these and makes an attempt to explain why this option is the
best.
PS: Answers some of the DET questions, lists a few facts, identifies a few
non-ethical issues, lists a few stakeholders, lists a few ethical issues and
options that seek to resolve them and selects the best option from these
but without explaining why this option is the best.
FL: Answers a few DET questions but fails to list important facts, fails to
identify relevant non-ethical issues, fails to list important stakeholders,
fails to identify the ethical issues and evaluates the options that seek to
resolve them and does not select the best option or does not explain why
the option selected is the best.
Writing &
structure
(Value
HD: Language features and structures are used to convey meaning
effectively, concisely, unambiguously, and in a tone appropriate to the
audience and purpose with no spelling, grammatical, or punctuation
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20%) errors.
DI: Well developed skills in expression & presentation of ideas.
Fluent writing style appropriate to assessment task/document type.
Grammar & spelling accurate.
CR: Good skills in expression & clear presentation of ideas.
Mostly fluent writing style appropriate to assessment task/document
type. Grammar & spelling contains a few minor errors.
PS: The text contains frequent errors in spelling, grammar, word choice,
and structure, lacks clarity, and is not concise, but the meaning is
apparent to the reader with some effort.
FL: Rudimentary skills in expression & presentation of ideas.
Not all material is relevant &/or is presented in a disorganised manner.
Meaning apparent, but writing style not fluent or well organised.
Grammar & spelling contains many errors.
Referenci
ng
(Value
10%)
HD: Referencing is comprehensive, demonstrates academic integrity, and
conforms exactly to APA style conventions.
DI: Very good referencing, including reference list and citations.
High quality references.
CR: Good referencing, including reference list and citations. Good quality
references.
PS: Referencing is comprehensive, mostly accurate according to APA style
conventions, and demonstrates academic integrity. Some minor errors or
omissions in style and formatting choices (e.g. italics, punctuation, etc)
don’t impact on the transparency and traceability of the source, or
demonstration of academic integrity.
FL: Sub-standard (or no) referencing. Poor quality (or no) references.
Total
Marks
Q1. What's going on?
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The organization the head of the management gets a call from the CEO, the CEO
wants that the project must be live on Monday. The manager says the same to the project
manager ken, but ken says that the project cannot go live on Monday which was scheduled
because as the project testing is not completed yet ("A dilemma in IT: Select action end of
video and see its consequence", 2018). The manager asks that why the project is not
completed and gets irritated about the same (Crane & Matten ,2016). The project manager
says that the tester is not present in the situation and there is no alternate tester for the
task. The manager gets angry and orders the project manager that the project must be
delivered and go live on Monday, that’s the decision of the management. The ethical
dilemma in this situation is whether the project goes live the upcoming Monday or not.
Q2. What are the facts?
The CEO of the organization forces the management about the project going live on
Monday. The management forces the same to the project manager. The project not being
ready for launch has not been tested, and the project manager does not want to launch the
same on the given time. This is because the tester of the system is not present and alternate
of the tester is also not there.
Q3. What are the issues?
The project must be delivered by the upcoming Monday as forced by the
management and the CEO of the organization. According to the project manager ken it
cannot be done as the site has not being tested, and without testing it cannot be launched.
Also, the tester of the system is not present at the situation and no alternative is available in
the organization.
Q4. Who is affected?
Due to the delay in the launch of the project the company is getting affected, as this
is a serious blech in the agreement made by the clients (Hartman, Desjardins & MacDonald,
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2014). Even if the product is launched in time, but with no testing, the image of the
company will be in stake of there is any harm because of the software.
Q5. What are the ethical issues and their implications?
The leadership quality is one of the key aspect for success and a good leader makes a
team. In this case it can be seen that the managers are not understanding the issue of the
project manager, which is not a sign of a good leader (Zhu et al., 2016). As a leader the,
management shows poor decision-making quality. Fundamental rights, for any individual
the basic ethical issue is the right to make and decide anything. In this case it can be seen
that the management is not even bothered about the issue off the project managers aspect.
If the project is launched without any security, it may harm the organization as well as the
client. IF the privacy of the organization is leaked to the public may cause leakage of private
information of the employees. The management forces the project manager to do work
against the will of the employees, which is in turn a harassment. This demotivates the
employees and effects in the work that are to be done.
Q6. What could have been done about it?
The management team would have spoken to the client about the ongoing problem and
explain them why it is not possible for the team to deliver the project. This would have save
the team from delivering wrong project to the client and saved the image of the
organization (Lehnert, Park & Singh, 2015).
Q7. What are the options?
Option 1: The project manager approves the project. The project is gets live on the given
time that is the following Monday, but without testing because of the extreme pressure of
the management. Due to this , the site open vulnerabilities of the organization . The hack of
the system is the news m, and the management knowns the same from the news . Further,
the managments thinks that as the project was authorized by the project manager , will pay
for the same.
Option2: The project manager quits the job, before the launch of the project. As a
consequence, he gets notice of from his bank of nonpayment of the bills and seizure of
property. The project manager explains that, he has already left his job a month of this but
is searching for new ones. But form the upcoming month all the payments will be done in
time. Hence, the bank manager is convinced and says if all the payments are done in time,
there will be no further deporting notice form the bank.
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Option 3: The project manager fights back, about the project of getting launched by the
upcoming Monday. The project manager explains the management about the problems that
might be caused (Quinn, 2014). He explains the management is the project gets launched
without testing the image of both the company and the client might be in stake is there is
any problem after the launch. Also, the organization may face court charges if the data in
the site gets compromised. The project manager urges the management, to ask the client if
the deadline of the task if increased few days more the product will be provided with
security after the testing is complete.
Q8. Which option is the best and why?
The best option for the organization is to accept as said by the project manager. This
is because although the client will get the product delivered late, but the site will be fully
secured and steady (Pullen & Rhodes, 2015). This will help the organization to maintain the
image and earned reputation but will also satisfy the needs of the organization. This will also
help employees to learn new opportunists.
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References
A dilemma in IT: Select action end of video and see its consequence. (2018). YouTube.
Crane, A., & Matten, D. (2016). Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
Hartman, L. P., DesJardins, J. R., & MacDonald, C. (2014). Business ethics: Decision making
for personal integrity and social responsibility. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Lehnert, K., Park, Y. H., & Singh, N. (2015). Research note and review of the empirical ethical
decision-making literature: Boundary conditions and extensions. Journal of Business
Ethics, 129(1), 195-219.
Pullen, A., & Rhodes, C. (2015). Ethics, embodiment and organizations. Organization, 22(2),
159-165.
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Quinn, M. J. (2014). Ethics for the information age. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Warren, M., & Lucas, R. (2016). Ethics and ICT: Why all the fuss?. Journal of Information,
Communication and Ethics in Society, 14(2), 167-169.
Zhu, W., Zheng, X., Riggio, R. E., & Zhang, X. (2015). 7 measurements of ethics-related
leadership models, including ethical leadership, transformational leadership,
authentic leadership, servant leadership, spiritual leadership, and a virtues-based
approach to leadership ethics. The similarities and differences among these
theoretical models and measures to ethics-related. Developing Ethical Leaders: New
Directions for Student Leadership, Number 146, 81.
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