Ethics, Professionalism and Governance: Case Study - John's Actions

This case study examines an ethical dilemma faced by John, a database programmer, who is pressured by his manager to complete a complex project on time, leading him to use unethical methods. The analysis applies the ACS Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, considering issues of honesty, competence, and professionalism. It also utilizes Thomas White's decision-making framework to evaluate the consequences of John's actions. The study explores Australian legislation, including the Fair Work Regulations Act and the Privacy Act, relevant to the ethical violations. The case concludes with recommendations for the organization to address such issues, emphasizing the importance of ethical conduct and professional development to prevent similar situations in the future, and the application of the ACS Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct to address the issues.

ETHICS, PROFESSIONALISM AND GOVERNANCE
Assignment Cover Sheet
Subject Name: Professional Environments
Assignment Name/Number: Assignment 1: Ethics, Professionalism and Governance (Case
Study)
Date of Submission:
Participant Name:
ACS Member Number:
Email:
Declaration:
I declare that the assignment is based on my own work and that all material previously
written or published in any source by any other person has been duly acknowledged in the
assignment. I have not submitted this work, or a significant part thereof, previously as part of
any academic program. In submitting this assignment, I give ACS permission to copy for
assessment purposes only.

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Table of Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................................ 2
Australian Legislation.............................................................................................................2
Methodology........................................................................................................................... 2
Analysis the consequences....................................................................................................2
Analysis of the action.............................................................................................................3
Make a decision..................................................................................................................... 3
Recommendation................................................................................................................... 3
Conclusion............................................................................................................................. 3
Reference............................................................................................................................... 5

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Case Study 1
Introduction:
Considering case study 1, John who works as a database programmer was made to
choose an unethical way to complete a project as his manager was forcing him to complete
the project on time. John did not receive any help from his manager as he was dealing with
the complexities of the project for a long time. John took help from one of his co-worker who
once provided him a commercial software which had the capability of generation the exact
codes which were needed by him in this complicated assignment. John unethically used that
software to complete the project before the time which was assigned to him by his manager.
The ethical issue considering John in his statistical firm will be analysed based on the ACS
code of Ethics and ACS Code of Professional Conduct. White’s decision making dilemma
will also be considered while evaluating this case study.
ACS Code of Ethics applied in this case study are:
 Honesty: John did not complete his project with honesty as he used unethical way to
complete it (Leicester 2016).
 Competence: John did not work competently and diligently for his organisation.
 Professionalism: The manager of this was not professional enough, he did not help
John to resolve the complexities associated with the project.
Five Clauses of ACS Code of Professional Conduct applied in this case study are:
 Honesty: (A) Honest representation of knowledge and skills for delivering desired
product and services.
 Professionalism: (A) Maintaining the integrity of ACS (B) Respect for the members
for each stakeholder of the associated organisation.
 Professional Development: (A) Professional development considering both
personal and organizational development. (B) Development of the staff is also
necessary for the growth of a business organisation.
 The primary of public interest: (A) The interest of the public should be given more
priority instead of personal and professional interests.
 Competence: (A) Workers must be working diligently and competently for this
organisation (Johnson 2014).
Australian Legislation
The unethical decision taken by John can be associated with the Fair Work
Regulations Act of 2009 as it stated that fair work regulations should be maintained in all
working organisations (Capuano 2016). The Privacy Act of 1988 states that no individual can
use other individuals works this can be used to judge this unethical situation.
(A) Fair Work Regulations 2009
(B) Privacy ACT 1988
Methodology
This case study will be evaluated with the help of the three steps of White’s decision
making dilemma. The three steps considering this case study are provided below:
Analysis the consequences
John was supposed to work in a complex project without any help with the deadline
assigned to him by his manager. John can understand his act in a better way with the help of
these following questions. He can analyse the consequences of his decision with the help of
the following questions such as:
o Who will be helped by his unethical activity?

3ETHICS, PROFESSIONALISM AND GOVERNANCE
o Who will be hurt by his unethical activity?
o What are the advantages and disadvantages of his unethical activity?
o Will his unethical activity help him or the organisation I a long run?
Analysis of the action
As mentioned in the ACS code of this honesty, competence and professional
development are very much required in every working organization so that the desired
growth and development of the organization can be achieved. The complexities associated
with the statistical programming project which was assigned to John should have been
identified by John during the design phase only so that the project can get completed on
time without any deadline or pressure from his manager (White 2018). The complex part of
the project should have been shared with the senior employees of this organisation who are
capable to resolve this issue. The use of Commercial software was also unethical in that
statistical organisation. The morals and ethical principles should have been considered by
John before his unethical activity. The following questions would have helped him to
understand the scenario before making any decision.
 Is he make his move considering the moral principles and the code of ethics?
 Should his action be a source of problem for his or the business organisation?
Make a decision
This complicated decision should have been resolved by John by identifying the
complexities associated with this project in the initial stages. The guidelines of ACS Code of
Ethics and ACS code of Professional development should have been followed by John so
that the moralities of the organization can be preserved. Thomas White’s Framework will
have help John to tackle similar situations in a better way in the future.
Recommendation
 The project should have been clearly understood by John before starting this project.
 ACS code of professional conduct would have been maintained if John have given
credentials to his co-worker for helping him out in his time of crisis.
 He could have asked for help from his manager instead of choosing this unethical
step.
 The organisation should have been assigning tasks based on the areas of expertise
of their employees.
 John should have been informing the authority about the software he used to
complete the task on time following the ACS code of ethics.
Conclusion
The Thomas I. White decision making dilemma is applied to analyse this case study
with the help of the mentioned ACS Code of Ethics and the ACS Code of Professional
Conduct. The three step analysis is mentioned according to the context of this case study.
The mentioned decision making at the end of the discussion will be very much helpful for
successfully resolving this ethical issue. This ethical issue in this organisation is a very
common issue, Brenda or the senior management can take the recommendation unit of this
paper in order to solve this issue. The professional, ethical and legal issues related with the
malfunctioning of the new accounting software has been mentioned in this document along
with a strong recommendation which will help the readers of this document to have an idea
about the scenario and also help Brenda to get rid of this critical situation. A huge amount of
interest is expected to get generated with the recommendation unit as well.

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Reference
Capuano, A., 2016. Giving Meaning to Social Origin in International Labour Organization
(ILO) Conventions, the Fair Work Act 2009 (CTH) and the Australian Human Rights
Commission Act 1986 (CTH): Class Discrimination and Its Relevance to the Australian
Context. UNSWLJ, 39, p.84.
Johnson, A. (2014). ACS Code of Professional Conduct. (V2.1).
Leicester, N., 2016. Ethics in the IT Profession: Does a Code of Ethics have an Effect on
Professional Behaviour?.
White, T. (2018). Resolving an Ethical Dilemma.