Professional IT Practice and Ethics: Theories, Codes, and Analysis

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of professional IT practice and ethics, exploring key concepts such as rights, virtues, relativism, objectivism, consequentiality, and deontology. The study examines how these ethical frameworks influence decision-making, professional conduct, and the development of IT codes of ethics. It compares and contrasts different ethical theories, analyzes their applications in the IT industry, and assesses the connections between ethics and professional codes. The essay also discusses the significance of ethical considerations in addressing challenges related to data privacy, security, and intellectual property within the rapidly evolving technological landscape. Through detailed analysis and comparison, the essay aims to provide a strong understanding of ethical principles and their application in the IT field, emphasizing the importance of integrity, trust, and responsible technology use.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL IT PRACTICE AND ETHICS
Professional IT Practice And Ethics
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author Note

PROFESSIONAL IT PRACTICE AND ETHICS 1
Understanding Professional IT Practice and Ethics:
1. Introduction:
Information technology has been affecting various challenges in business. It has included
various copyright protections, accountability security privacy and intellectual platform. The different
considerations about the information ethics have been influencing the public policies, professional
practices and personal decision makings.
The present topic is chosen to understand how it has been creating the culture of
responsibility, trust excellence and integrity for using the resources. Further, the study is also useful
to analyze how ethics can promote privacy, unauthorized access to computers and confidentiality of
data for various networks of the computer. This is useful to evaluate the dishonesty and conflict.
In this study the rights and virtues, relativist and objectivist, consequentiality and deontology
approaches are demonstrated. Here each theory is described. Then they are compared and contrasted.
Moreover, various professional code of ethics and the different connection between the ethics and
codes are assessed.
2. Understanding rights and virtues:
2.1. Defining rights and virtue:
The rights include the conscious avoidance of harmful activities. This is done by embodying
various higher ethical standards. This includes the clearance of articulating and broadly disseminating
of the guidelines and policies of the organizations. It has been guaranteeing the equitable type of
services for every constituency. This has been including commensuration of the various IT principles
and standards (Burk 2016). Moreover, it is involved in solving addressing issues and differences. This

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has also been including the nurture of sustainable relationships. These are including transcending and
respecting transactions.
On the other hand, virtue ethics has been suited ideally for controlling the complicated,
unpredictable and novel landscapes. This type of landscape of the emerging technologies that are
present (Kakabadse and Kakabadse 2017). However, an exclusive Western approach for virtue that is
insufficient and provincial. Further, the present technologies in global issues need corrective actions
around the political and cultural lines.
2.2. Comparing and contrasting rights and virtue:
However, unlike the rights, virtue has been describing various aspects that are distinct from
the moral challenges. It has been revolving across the controls, access of information and production.
As an IT business comprises of the privilege of the exclusive access, production and controlling of
some natural resources. The virtue, through necessary prohibits has been providing from various
usage of resources. This is in spite of any consent of the exclusive owners (Rothlin and McCann
2016). However, this has not been with the rights of digital information. The digital transformation
has been nonexclusory. This indicates that the IT business is theoretically comprising of similar
digital data. This is excluding the use from the others. The reason is that the copy of the digital
information coming from one origin o other in virtue has never been eradicating the rights. Unlike the
rights, the IT business can comprise of a similar digital object as it is copied indefinitely with less of
fidelity (Mason 2017).
2.3. Professional code of ethics:
The agent-based approaches have been deriving the philosophical foundations. It has been
coming from the theory of virtue ethics. The theory has been attracting the rise of interest from
different IT business ethicists. Further, the virtue in virtue ethics has been defined as the intended trait

PROFESSIONAL IT PRACTICE AND ETHICS 3
of characters. In this way, the virtuous agents have been including the constant quest for finding the
balance towards decision making. However, there has been an attempt to undertake decisions that
have been constant with the pursuit of a specific type of excellence. This has been entailing the
exercising of effective, ethical arguments. This is guided by virtues in terms of consistency, integrity,
fairness temperance, wisdom and courage (Leicester 2016).
Instead of stepping outside the professional codes, the rights and virtue ethics must comprise
of ethically charge decisions from within the role. The ethics have tuned into contextual and is
connected to the provided specific situation. This must be instead of distinct and separate to the
individuals and place. It has been a distinct idea to ethics as the adherence of the set of various types
of abstract rules. This has been common in various contemporary conducts o professional codes
(Burk 2016).
2.4. Connection between code and ethics:
There has been a high strength of ethics as it has been overcoming various kinds of moral
schizophrenia. Moreover, it has been no longer the list of constraints over the behaviors. Thus this
can be seen as the holistic focus of motivation. It has been transcending the contextual particularity.
This is of a greater contribution to the theory of virtue ethics. The virtue and rights theory has been
providing alternative value. This is on the basis of what is to be created morally sensitive to the
theory of economic finances (Rowe 2016). Moreover, at the initial blush, the approach of a virtue
ethics approach has appeared to be much esoteric to get applied to IT business. There is a rise in a
debate about how any financial manager can pursue morel excellence with the help of virtue. Further,
it is also seen that that on closer scrutiny, the focus on virtue ethics over the initial motivations of the
agents has been dovetailing instead of issuing the focus. This has been among the focus over virtue

PROFESSIONAL IT PRACTICE AND ETHICS 4
ethics over primary motivations of the agent. They have been really dovetailing instead of raising the
focus of economists over the motivations of IT business agents.
3. Understanding relativist versus objectivist theories:
3.1. Defining the two ethics:
The relativism has been the view that has been right in terms of morality. It has been relying
on what anyone can think. For which one has been claiming the opinions has been varying of
substantially regarding wrong or right has also been included. It has come with a couple of flavours.
The first one is subjectivism. It is helpful to determine what has been right or wrong morally (Haataja
2018). This right and wrong have been relative for individual ones. It is also seen that moral facts
have been altering from people to people. Next, there is conventionalism. Here, the moral wrong and
right thing have been depending on the society that the people have been dealing with. Here, morality
has been relying on society’s conventions that people are considering (Fabris 2018).
The objectivism is the perspective of what is wrong and right and never been relying on what
any person has been thinking to be wrong and right. It is the view that the physical facts and moral
facts have been depending on what any person can think. This has been coming with various sorts.
The first one is a duty based theory. This claims what finds whether the act has been right or wrong in
terms of acts and the type of act in that (Al Hosban 2015). Next, it includes the teleological theory. It
has been claiming to determine what is wrong and right in the results. This reveals that in any case,
the proper thing is to perform whatever can be produced likely with the overall happiness. Moreover,
it includes the wrong thing to perform any aspect.

PROFESSIONAL IT PRACTICE AND ETHICS 5
3.2. Comparing and contrast:
Under sharp contrast, the relativist approach, unlike objectivism has been found to be denying
the validity of different objectives and moral standards and principles. This is applied universally. For
instance, it has been holding the judgments regarding the wrongness and rightness for the act to get
legitimately varying in terms of many aspects. It has been varying between cultures and persons on
the basis of individual feelings (Parker 2017). Here, the perspective has been assuming what morality
has been depending on the dual considerations of various human conditions and natures. This is with
particular cultural and social situations that have been significant to determine the moral practices and
beliefs.
3.3. Professional code of ethics:
The acts for objectivism have been happening as per the maxim where anyone can move at a
similar time. It is the same law despite any contradiction. Again, the flip side of the moral coin the
moral relativism lies. It reveals that there is no actual objective of moral realities. It has been
happening under moral propositions to be judged false or true (Rogerson et al. 2019). Hence, it states
that there has been no standard present against what people can make moral judgments. However,
there has been no standard holding the precedence on the other ones.
3.4. Connection between code and ethics:
Further, the secularists have been adhering to various kinds of moral relativism. However,
many of them have not been willing to grant. This indicates that every aspect is morally acceptable.
Further, the inability to find out the values of truth has been eradicated out through moral objectivists
as a smart and not fatal issue regarding moral relativism (Markham, Tiidenberg and Herman 2018).
Moreover, the moral relativists have been retorting the incapability of the moral objectivists for a

PROFESSIONAL IT PRACTICE AND ETHICS 6
different type of moral objectivists. This is to supply the ethical standards for the uncontroversial
manner to be problematic equally.
4. Discussion on consequentiality and deontology:
4.1. Defining the two ethics:
The consequentialism has been focusing on the results of actions. It is argued that this is
flawed since it never permits anyone to follow specific moral rules. It has been focusing much on the
ends instead of just the means (Chusavitina and Zerkina 2015). Apart from this, the deontological
ethics has been focusing on how the actions have been following particular rules. Hence, the action is
judged instead of the outcomes of the activities. Here Kant is regarded as the greatest proponent of
the deontological ethics. According to him, the moral rules are to be adhered to universalize the
reverse making that to be an impossible scenario.
4.2. Comparing and contrasting rights and virtue:
It is seen that both theories can always be regarded as the most important theory of ethics.
Besides, the consequentialist has been focusing on judging the moral worth of various outcomes of
actions. Thus it has been focusing on judging on the actions.
4.3. Professional code of ethics:
The code of deontological ethics is seen as the set of various ethical theories. This is opposed
to the consequentialism. Here, this complex of theories has been sharing the vision for what the
normative theories have been relying on the outcomes. The ethical consequentialist theories have
been defining the moral correctness of the actions as the indications of outcomes of actions and
anything that are related to that (Luke et al. 2017). Since professionals codes of consequentialism
have been determining various qualities of actions from that purposes. The ethics have been stating

PROFESSIONAL IT PRACTICE AND ETHICS 7
the means and ends that are nearly reliable on others. This indicates the end is the result of utilizing
the proper means.
4.4. Connection between code and ethics:
The sort of utilitarian structure has been shared by different formats of the utilitarianism. The
structures have been consisting of a couple of codes. The first one is consequentialism, where there is
rightness of activities. This is the statement of causes and rules depending on the goodness of states
of affairs that are subsequent to that (Haataja 2018). Apart from this, there have been additional
elements. This is the outcome of so-called utilitarianism of the outcomes identifying the goodness of
states. Further the overall sum of different individual utilities that are related to that. Thus the process
to evaluate the states of various affairs can take place.
5. Conclusion:
The above study shows how professional conduct has been outlining the ethical principles. It
has been governing the behaviors and decisions for any business. It has provided the overall outlines
of how the staffs of IT business must behave along with particular guides to control the problems
such as conflicts of interests, safety and harassments. Here, various set of common values and
guidelines are revealed. This has been more particular and providing guides to react to specific
situations. Next, there is a new code of conducts for the staffs of IT business. This includes the total
creation to that. Moreover, the periodic code of conduct training has been helpful to keep that fresh
for the employees.

PROFESSIONAL IT PRACTICE AND ETHICS 8
6. References:
Al Hosban, A.A., 2015. The role of regulations and ethics auditing to cope with information
technology governance from point view internal auditors. International Journal of Economics and
Finance, 7(1), pp.167-176.
Brinkman, B., Gotterbarn, D., Miller, K.W. and Wolf, M.J., 2016. All hands on deck for ACM ethics:
Updating the code, revising enforcement, promoting integrity. ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society,
46(3), pp.5-8.
Burk, D., 2016. Information Ethics and the Law of Data Representations.
Burmeister, O.K., 2017. Professional ethics in the information age. Journal of Information,
Communication and Ethics in Society, 15(4), pp.348-356.
Chusavitina, G.N. and Zerkina, N.N., 2015. Informational ethics teaching for future information
technology specialist. In SGEM 2015 INTERNATIONAL MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENTIFIC
CONFERENCE ON SOCIAL SCIENCES AND ARTS (pp. 515-521).
Fabris, A., 2018. Ethics of Information and Communication Technologies. Springer.
Haataja, S., 2018. Cyber Attacks and International Law on the Use of Force: The Turn to Information
Ethics. Routledge.
Kakabadse, N.K. and Kakabadse, A.K., 2017. ‘Profession’and Professional Ethics: An IT
Perspective. In Creating Futures: Leading Change Through Information Systems (pp. 237-252).
Routledge.

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Leicester, N., 2016. Ethics in the IT Profession: Does a Code of Ethics have an Effect on Professional
Behaviour?.
Luke, A., Sefton-Green, J., Graham, P., Kellner, D. and Ladwig, J., 2017. Digital ethics, political
economy and the curriculum: This changes everything. Handbook of Writing, Literacies and
Education in Digital Culture, Routledge, New York, NY, pp.251-262.
Markham, A.N., Tiidenberg, K. and Herman, A., 2018. Ethics as Methods: Doing Ethics in the Era of
Big Data Research—Introduction. Social Media+ Society, 4(3), p.2056305118784502.
Mason, R.O., 2017. Four ethical issues of the information age. In Computer Ethics (pp. 41-48).
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Parker, D.B., 2017. Rules of ethics in information processing. In Computer Ethics (pp. 17-20).
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Rothlin, S. and McCann, D., 2016. The Social Environment: Ethics and Information Technology. In
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Rowe, B., 2016. The Ethics of Information. The Review of Metaphysics, 69(3), pp.626-628.