Ethics Course: Report on Ethical Dilemma Analysis, University

This report analyzes an ethical dilemma faced by Maureen, who misplaced a USB drive containing sensitive client data from a government-run drug and alcohol abuse treatment program. The report applies Chris MacDonald's methodology for moral decision-making, addressing the moral dimension, identifying interested parties (government, clients), and analyzing the values involved, including the ACS Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. It examines benefits and burdens, draws parallels to analogous cases (One.Tel Limited), and emphasizes the importance of consulting stakeholders. The analysis considers legal and organizational rules, concluding that while no laws were broken, ethical and professional codes were breached. The report highlights concerns about data security, privacy, and the primacy of public interest, offering a comprehensive ethical evaluation of the situation.

Running head: ETHICS
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Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

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Chris MacDonald’s methodology for analyzing ethical dilemma
For analyzing and resolving the dilemma for Maureen’s action Chris MacDonald’s
methodology for moral decision making has been followed in this report (MacDonald 2010). The
guide follows a eight question process to identify the ethical or moral dilemmas and for a
thorough analysis of the dilemmas. The process is as follows:
A. Recognizing the Moral Dimension
The moral dimension in this case is if the USB is lost all of the client data about their
treatment programs for the past five years would be lost. Maureen needs to retrieve the USB as
soon as she can.
B. Who are the Interested Parties? What are their Relationships?
The interested parties in this are the Government state department that deals with drug
and alcohol abuse and its clients. The clients are the individuals who had been admitted to the
drug and alcohol abuse treatment program conducted by the state department in the last five
years.
C. What Values are Involved?
The values in this case are involving ACS code of Ethics and ACS Code of Professional
Conducts.
The values of the ACS Code of Ethics involved in this case are:

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1. The primacy of public interest- the interest of the public should be placed over personal,
business or sectional interests.
2. Competence- Working competently and diligently for the stakeholders.
3. Professionalism- Enhancing the integrity of the Society and the respect of its members for
each other.
The values in relation to the ACS Code of Professional Conduct that can be seen to be involved
are:
1. Identifying the people who would potentially be impacted by the work and considering their
interest
2. Advising the stakeholders of any conflict interests as soon as can be possible
3. Preserving the integrity, security, continuity and utility of Information and Communications
Technology
4. Respecting the Intellectual Property of others
5. Preserving the confidentiality and privacy of the information shared by other people.
D. The Benefits and the Burdens
The benefits are that many individuals who had been fighting with drug and alcohol
problem had been given a way out of their problems. The agency can be seen to be maintaining a
database of information on the clients using these services. By way of these Data a five year long
report can be made of all the clients in each of the program and all their details like length of
each client’s treatment, number of clients who return after completion of a program and the

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criminal histories of the clients. The burden is that because of pressure to be finishing the report
before deadline Maureen copies all the data to a USB and leaves the USB at home. If the data
falls on the hand of wrong people they would take advantage of the data in a unlawful way.
E. Analogous Cases
Similar ethical dilemmas were seen in the case of the Australian telecommunication
company One.Tel Limited. As can be seen by the case the company became insolvent because of
being deviant towards following the codes of ethics that had been laid down by the Australian
Computer Society.
F. Discuss with Relevant Others
As per the values of the ACS Code of Professional Conduct Maureen needs to consult the
stakeholders about the dilemma as soon as possible. The stakeholders in this case are the agency
and the clients admitted into various programs for treatment in the last five years whose data
were in the USB that Maureen forgot.
G. Does this Decision Accord with Legal and Organizational Rules?
Maureen forgetting the USB at her home does not breach any legal rules however she can
be seen to be breaking the ethical and professional codes laid down by the ACS. She can be seen
to be unprofessional and not giving importance to the primacy of public interest.
H. Is the Decision Comfortable?
Forgetting the USB at home is not a decision that can be considered comfortable for
Maureen.

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Reference
Acs.org.au (2019). ACS Code of Ethics. [online] Acs.org.au. Available at:
https://www.acs.org.au/content/dam/acs/acs-documents/Code-of-Ethics.pdf [Accessed 26 Jul.
2019].
Acs.org.au (2019). ACS Code Of Professional Conduct. [online] Acs.org.au. Available at:
https://www.acs.org.au/content/dam/acs/rules-and-regulations/Code-of-Professional-
Conduct_v2.1.pdf [Accessed 26 Jul. 2019].
MacDONALD, C., 2010. A Guide to Moral Decision Making [online]. 15. March, 2002. cit,
pp.4-12.
The Australian Computer Society