Ethical Considerations in IT Service Management and Robotic Surgery

This discussion board post delves into the ethical considerations surrounding IT service management, using robotic surgery as a focal point. The author examines the application of various ethical theories, including deontology, utilitarianism, character-based ethics, and social contract theory, to the responsibilities of IT professionals in ensuring the accuracy and reliability of robotic surgical systems. The post also analyzes the ACS code of ethics, highlighting principles like public interest, quality of life, honesty, and competence, and their relevance to the field. The author emphasizes the critical role IT professionals play in maintaining the integrity and safety of robotic surgery, underscoring the importance of ethical decision-making in this rapidly evolving technological landscape. The post concludes by reinforcing the significant ethical responsibilities of IT professionals in ensuring the accuracy of robotic surgery.

Running head: IT SERVICE MANAGEMENT AND PROFESSIONAL CULTURE
IT Service Management and Professional Culture
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Post 1:
Presently, the human like robots which are capable of performing the tasks of humans
is being adopted in each and every sector. This type of robots is largely used in the
manufacturing sector due to their efficiency and accuracy. Robots are not only used in the
manufacturing sector, but it is also used in various of other sector also, which includes the
healthcare sector also (Jain et al., 2017). These robots are used in the healthcare sector for
mainly performing the surgical operations as it provides a high accuracy to the surgeons for
performing the surgery. This is actually beneficial for both the doctors and patients as it has
been observed that through the robotic operations the patients achieve a faster recovery. For
this reason, the medical sector is very much focused towards this robotic surgical technique
for performing the surgical operations. Though, implementation of the robots for performing
the surgical operation is one of the effective solutions. There are various of issues also related
in this case regarding using of robotic surgeon for performing the operations. The main issue
is the reliability of the robotic surgeon (Suntharasivam et al., 2019). The robotic surgeon is
very much effective for performing the surgical operations but reliability of this type of
system is not 100%. It means the system can fail any moment of time. Due to this type of
failure, a life threating condition can occur for the patient and for this reason many
professionals in the medical field are against of using the robotic surgery procedure for
performing the surgical operations. Mainly, this type of failure points creates disturbances in
the operating of the robot surgeons which is the main threating issue regarding this type of
mechanical systems.
Whether the robotic surgery procedure will produce any type of issues or point of
failure or not, is largely dependent on the IT professionals, who are responsible for designing
and creating this type of systems (Ghezzi & Corleta, 2016). The more perfectly the robotic

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surgery kit will be produced, the less issues and point of failure will occur while poorly
produced robotic surgery kit will create more point of failure, means more risk with the
health of the patient. Thus, from this point of view the IT professionals are also responsible
for the surgery accuracy of the robots that are programmed by them.
There are mainly four important theories that are associated with the ethics. These
theories are the deontology, utilitarianism, character-based ethics and social contract theory.
In the following section these theories are discussed.
Deontology:
In the aspect of moral philosophy, the deontology is considered as the normative
theory which defines that morality of a specific type of action should be dependent on
whether the action itself wrong or right under some specific type of rules, rather than
depending on the consequences of the action (Rawal, 2019). From this moral point of view, it
has been assessed that the person who it taking the action needs to evaluate whether action
taken by him/her is ethically correct or not under some specific set of rules. Also, this
assessment must be based on the actions itself, not the consequences of the action. Applying
this theory for the current ethical theory it defines that when the IT professionals should take
the moral decision of assuring the surgery accuracy it should be taken on their own actions,
not the consequences of the action (Jackson & Smith, 2016). It means the IT professionals
should take the decision that how they are going design the kit for the robotic surgery and
while they are designing it, they must not consider any type of consequences that will occur
due to the design. From their moral perspective they need to choose the procedure for
designing the robotic surgery kit which will provide the IT professionals a higher degree of
freedom so that they will be able develop the kit ultimate quality. As the accuracy of the
robotic surgery is based on the own decision of the IT professionals, they are very much
responsible for accuracy.

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Utilitarianism:
The utilitarianism is another important moral theory that can be considered in this
case. The utilitarianism defines that specific actions must be taken which promote the overall
happiness and the pleasure among the individuals and specific actions must be rejected that
can cause harm or unhappiness (Mill, 2016). In this aspect, the maxim of utilitarianism
defines that it is a greatest amount of goods for the greatest number of peoples. While
implementing the theory of utilitarianism in the current ethical dilemma it defines that
specific actions must be taken by the IT professionals which will ensure the accuracy of the
robot programs as it will be beneficial for the society and will promote overall happiness (de
Lazari-Radek & Singer, 2017). Similarly, any type of actions must be avoided by the IT
professionals which can created failure points while using the robot surgery as this type of
failure can lead to both unhappiness or harm. Therefore, this theory again demonstrates that
the IT professionals are responsible enough for the surgery accuracy of the robots that is
programmed by them.
Character-Based Ethics:
The character-based ethics which is also known as the virtue ethics is mainly based on
the persons rather than the actions. The character-based ethics is focused on the moral
character of the persons who are performing a specific type of task, rather than any rules or
ethical duties or the consequences of particular actions (Tavani, 2016). This is one normative
ethical theory which emphasize the virtue of mind and the sense of honesty of the individuals.
In the current ethical dilemma, it defines that the character of the IT professional plays an
important role for ensuring the surgery accuracy of the robots that they produce (Barrett &
Duns, 2019). It means, if the moral character of the IT professional is good then they will
always try to ensure the surgery accuracy of the robots that they programs. It defines that how

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much important role the IT professionals plays in regards of ensuring the surgery accuracy of
the robots programmed by them.
Social Contract Theory:
In the aspect of political and moral philosophy, the social contract is a specific type of
theory which defines that peoples live together within a society with having an agreement
that creates political and the moral rules of behaviour (Moehler, 2018). It is believed that if
the peoples live according to the social contract then they will be able to achieve the social
morality. In this case for the current ethical dilemma it defines that the IT professionals who
are ready for taking the responsibility of programming the robots for the robotic surgery
should obey the rules and the guidelines for the programming the robots (Jahn & Brühl,
2018). One of the important aspects in this case is ensuring surgery accuracy of the robots
they programme. Therefore, the IT professionals must comply themselves with these rules,
before they perform any type of programming for the surgical robots. Therefore, this theory
defines that the IT professionals are highly responsible for the surgery accuracy of the robots
that they programs.
Post 2:
ACS Code of Ethics:
The ACS code of ethics is actually a part of the ACS constitutions. Within the ACS
code of ethics there are total six principles which are mainly used for the analysis of the
ethical values. The first principle of the ACS code of ethics defines the primacy of the public
interest. It defines that the public interest should always get the highest priority above all the
business and personal interests (Kovac, 2018). Here, maintaining the accuracy of the robot
surgeons is the main public interest and it should always be given the highest priority.
Therefore, the first priority of the IT professionals is to ensure the accuracy of the robots. The

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second principle is the enhancement of the quality of life. In this context it defines that the
peoples who are affected by the work of the IT professionals must observe an enhancement in
the life quality which can be done be ensuring the accuracy of the robots (Burmeister, 2017).
Honesty is the third principle. In this current ethical dilemma, the honesty defines that the IT
professionals must be honest regarding their knowledge, products and services. This is the
key for the IT professionals to ensure the surgery accuracy of the robots. Competence is the
next principle in this context and this defines that IT professional’s work must be diligently
and competently for the stakeholders. It means their task of robot programming must be done
with higher with higher degree of accuracy. Professional development is another important
principle of the ACS code of ethics (Warren & Burmeister, 2017). As per this principle the IT
professionals must be working for their own professional development and for their staffs and
colleagues also. The last principle of the ACS code of ethics is the professionalism.
According to this, the IT professionals needs to enhance the integrity of the society and the
respect of its members for each other. Considering the current ethical dilemma, it is possible
by ensuring the surgery accuracy of the robots that they programs. Therefore, the overall
discussion defines that the IT professional plays an extremely vital role to ensure the surgery
accuracy of the robots that they program.

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References:
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