Charles Sturt University: Ethical Analysis of Programmer Case Study

This assignment analyzes a case study involving a computer programmer facing ethical dilemmas. The scenario presents a supervisor ordering a subordinate to install software without proper licensing to save costs, leading to copyright infringement and conflicts with the ICT code of ethics. The analysis identifies ethical issues such as violating the developer's copyright, the subordinate's moral conflict in following orders, and potential legal repercussions. The document explores the affected parties, including the developer, the company, and the client, detailing the implications of unethical actions. The assignment evaluates possible solutions, such as informing another supervisor or the client, and concludes that purchasing the software ethically is the best option to uphold ethical standards, comply with the law, and maintain the integrity of the project. The analysis emphasizes the importance of ethical decision-making and the impact of unethical behavior in the context of software development and project management.

SCHOOL OF COMPUTING AND MATHS, Charles Sturt University
Scenario 2: The Case of the Troubled
Computer Programmer
Assignment 1: Doing Ethics Technique
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Student Number
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Scenario 2: The Case of the Troubled Computer Programmer
Q1. What is going on?
In the following case scenario, it could be seen that the supervisor of a developer in an
organization calls him up to ask for information about particular software. The software is to
take a better note for the inventory of the clients. However, the developer informs the
supervisor about this particular software appropriate for the service with one drawback of
being too expensive. The supervisor advices the developer to take the software from the
company archive and install it anyway to the client’s computer. He even ordered the
developer to make the operation as discrete as possible. In addition, he warned the developer
to perform the task so task they do not have to lose the client as they happen to be one of the
most important for the organization.
Q2. What are the facts?
According to the case study analysis, it is clearly noticeable that the supervisor of the
company, who had ordered his subordinate to install the software to the client’s computer
only to save expenses, is the main responsible person behind the ethical issues. This decision
gives rise to the following ethical problems that puts the subordinate employee in a moral
dilemma and indirectly puts the client organization in a situation with ethical issues (Pullen &
Rhodes, 2015). Since the client organization does not know about the situation, they would
unintentionally be dragged into this unethical situation.
Q3. What are the issues (non-ethical)?
In this particular case study, it has been identified that there are in fact several ethical
problems. Direct experience or observation of the behaviour of different people can help in
identifying latest patterns. The first and foremost ethical problem is the dilemma of following
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Scenario 2: The Case of the Troubled Computer Programmer
the orders of a senior. Moreover, if the decision to be taken does not comply with the moral
of a human being, it is still mandatory to abide by a person’s stakeholder or employer.
Secondly, the decision taken would put the company under legal obligations of depriving of
the software developer from recognition (Chaudhary, 2016). Indirectly, the client of the
organization would also be harmed by this. Again, abiding by the supervisor would mean
violating the license agreement for the original software.
Q4. Who is affected?
There is a possibility that many people would be affected by this problem. Firstly, the
software is the brainchild of the developer. He gains entire copyright of the software
including the UI, the graphics and the designs included. That is why the software ethically
needs to be purchased first to stand by the license agreement (Ogola & Githaiga, 2017).
When the supervisor decides to install it directly to the client’s computer without purchasing
it to save expense, it violates the copyright claims of the developer. This also puts the client
into indirect trouble. The subordinate also faces trouble since his moral values do not agree to
the decision, but ethically he cannot disobey his superior.
Q5. What are the ethical issues and their implications?
In the contemporary era of information exchange, it is very difficult to identify the
ethical problems. Creating software is entirely the credit of the software developer and
anonymously using their works are classified as violation of intellectual rights (Bahry et al.,
2015). It involves the creator’s images, name, designs and many other attributes that belongs
solely to the developer. Using their ideas and not giving any credit to them is regarded as a
major ethical problem, especially in this case where the superior orders the subordinate to use
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Scenario 2: The Case of the Troubled Computer Programmer
the software without giving any credit to the developer and wants to refer it to one of the
clients. Again, agreeing to the supervisor’s decision would not comply with the subordinate’s
moral values since this is a violation of legal agreements of the supervisor.
Q6. What can be done about it?
Firstly, when the employee had provided his superior with the information that
installing the software would be over the estimated budget, the superior should have faced the
issue instead of finding a strategy to avoid it (Pullen & Rhodes, 2015). Facing a situation is
one of the primary factors of establishing a successful project management. Secondly, the
ICT code of ethics suggests that the cost planning should include all the expenses that include
in completion of the project maintaining the code of ethics and laws. Therefore, cost of the
software would also have been included in the project plan. If these issues were addressed at
the inception of the project, the ethical issues could have been avoided in managing the
project.
Q7. What are the options?
There could possibly be three alternatives to avoid the ethical issues in the following
case study. Firstly, the subordinate could inform another supervisor about the issue. Then, he
could suggest the supervisor to purchase the software to avoid the ethical issue as well the
lawsuit that could be imposed on the organization if the violation of license agreement is
caught (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2015). Lastly, if the supervisor still disagrees, the subordinate
employee could inform the client about the issue.
After analysing the three actions, it would be better to follow the second option as
going to another supervisor or informing the clients may alienate the existing supervisor,
which may put the employee’s job at stake.
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Scenario 2: The Case of the Troubled Computer Programmer
Q8. Which option is the best and why?
According to the ICT code of ethics and laws, it would be best and rational to
incorporate the software by purchasing it ethically and then installed in the client’s computers
(Myers & Venable, 2014). This would naturally affect the project timeline and cost but only
increase the quality of the work executed. It was only due to the over budget cost that made
the superior think of continuing the project in the unethical way.
The project stakeholders could include the subordinate employee, the ABC
organization and the X organization altogether. The best action would save the ABC
organization in being unethical users of the copyrighted software and on the other hand make
the subordinate employee morally true to self. Only for the X organization, the best action
would increase the project time and cost, which previously was not included in the project
planning (Moquin & Wakefield, 2016). However, it would rescue the company from falling
into any legal obligations for violating the license agreement of the software.
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Scenario 2: The Case of the Troubled Computer Programmer
Reference
Bahry, S., Diana, F., Masrom, M., & Anwar, N. (2015). Copyright Act and Determining
Relationship Between Software Piracy Related Factors with Ethical
Standards. Advanced Science Letters, 21(5), 1557-1560.
Chaudhary, S. (2016). Ethics in ERP Implementation: A Critical Review of Some
Factors. International Journal of Engineering and Management Research
(IJEMR), 6(4), 193-196.
Ferrell, O. C., & Fraedrich, J. (2015). Business ethics: Ethical decision making & cases.
Nelson Education.
Galliers, R. D., & Leidner, D. E. (Eds.). (2014). Strategic information management:
challenges and strategies in managing information systems. Routledge.
Moquin, R., & Wakefield, R. L. (2016). The roles of awareness, sanctions, and ethics in
software compliance. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 56(3), 261-270.
Myers, M. D., & Venable, J. R. (2014). A set of ethical principles for design science research
in information systems. Information & Management, 51(6), 801-809.
Ogola, L. B., & Githaiga, P. W. (2017). Potential of Ethics as a Control for Software
Piracy. International Journal, 7(4).
Pullen, A., & Rhodes, C. (2015). Ethics, embodiment and organizations. Organization, 22(2),
159-165.
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