Ethics and Governance Case Study: IT Department Moral Dilemma Analysis

This case study delves into an ethical dilemma faced by Sally, the IT Manager, within a state government context. The core issue revolves around a web developer, Hans, who has breached confidentiality by linking suppressed court case information on a state government website. The analysis applies Thomas White's ethical principles, emphasizing the importance of evaluating the consequences of actions and aligning them with moral principles of fairness, honesty, and equality. The case references the ACA Code of Ethics and explores the conflicting rights of Hans (publication) and the privacy rights of individuals involved in court cases. The study highlights the relationships between the involved parties (Sally, Hans, and the State Government), the values at stake (confidentiality, professional conduct), and the benefits and burdens associated with their actions. Ultimately, the recommendation is to reprimand and penalize Hans to prevent future breaches, upholding the state's integrity and the citizens' rights. The case study underscores the importance of ethical decision-making and the responsibility of public servants to uphold confidentiality and professional standards. The case study also references several academic sources to support the arguments and ethical principles discussed.

Running head: ETHICS AND GOVERNANCE
Ethics and Governance
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Thomas White talks about ethical dilemma and gives out solutions on how to weigh the
actions and the consequences to reach a pragmatic solution. The answer is to check the
consequences of the actions and the other way is to check the actions themselves. Thomas White
says that first thing to do is to analyze the consequences and check the repercussions of the
actions (White 2008). The second step is to analyze the actions and check them in the light of
moral principles of equality, fairness and honesty. The aim is to see if the actions cross a moral
line and pose severe ethical problems. The ACA Code of ethics tries to apply reason and
morality to solve a dilemma and the goal is to reach a solution which does not hurt anyone’s
moral rights (Green and Workman 2015).
Issue: Does the Code of Ethics apply and how will Sally deal with the moral dilemma
Analysis: In the present case, Han is a public servant running a website within the state
government who has added some confidential information of court cases as links to news
channels thereby causing huge embarrassment to the state government. Sally is in charge and is
in a moral dilemma as a court has given a publication suppression order recently.
Recommendations: By applying the ethical principles of Thomas White it is important for Sally
to check the repercussions of the acts of Hans. To reach a cogent conclusion, Sally has to check
the consequences of the act and therefore, it can be said that the actions of Han have lead to
breach of confidentiality and has caused embarrassment to the State Government.
Actions: Following the ACS Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, Hans has breached the
principles of moral conduct and therefore to prevent recurrence of this kind of problem, Han
needs to reprimanded and penalized.

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Chris MacDonald
A. Recognizing the Moral Dimension
There is a moral dilemma between Hans’ right to publication and the right to privacy of
the people whose cases are going on in the Court.
B. Interested Parties and their relationships
Sally is the IT Manager and Hans works with the state government and he is working
under the supervision of Sally. Sally was in charge of the website but she did not check
the content of the channel till it went live. Hans provides content on court matters which
are under suppression. Parties involved in the case are- Sally (IT Manager), Hans (web
developer) and the State Government. Sally and Hans are both working for the state
government and are related to each other by virtue of working under the State
Government.
C. Values involved: in coming to a fair conclusion, Sally has to consider that the matters
under suppression in Court are confidential and therefore bringing those news in the
public forum is a breach of privacy of the people whose matters are pending
(MacDonald, MacDonald and Norman 2002). Working under Sally and being a public
servant, Hans owed a duty to the State Government to perform his duty with utmost care
and compassion. In this case, Hans has exercised personal autonomy and without any
regard to professional ethics has published information on suppressed court cases. By the
activities of Hans, the reputation of the State is at stake and the privacy of citizens are
harmed if the news is published. The State has all the authority to keep the matters
private till an order is published and therefore a level of trust was leveled on Hans to
uphold the integrity of the State.

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D. Benefits and Burdens-
Benefits: being the web developer for the State, Hans is helping the state in promoting
tourism and therefore the State is earning revenues from the tourism thereby enhancing
their economy. Hans is beneficial to the State Government.
Burdens- the action of Hans has caused embarrassment to the State Government and has
also caused emotional hardship to the parties of the ongoing cases whose orders are
suppressed. By publishing news of the courtroom matters, Hans has threatened the safety
of the parties and has also diminished the powers of the supremacy and integrity of the
Court.
E. There have been similar cases where the person infringing the privacy of the parties and
hurting the sentiments of the Court have been held guilty.
F. To come to a conclusion, Sally has to discuss with the people who have a stake in the
matter and by doing so, it is fair to conclude that upholding the confidentiality of parties
is paramount and Hans has failed in that regard.
G. Courts are guided by principles of Ethics and they are the guardians of the rights of the
people. The State is responsible for ensuring that the citizens are safe and their rights are
guarded. Being a public servant, it is the responsibility of Hans to make sure that the
citizens do not feel threatened or their privacy is hampered. It is ethically important and
essential to pay attention to the interests of the state and uphold the integrity (Rendtorff
2016).
H. Sally ahs to go with her gut feeling and also convince others into believing that she acted
morally and did what was right for the interests of the state. Sally ahs to be sure that the
decision she took was moral and she has not committed any wrong in fixing the liability.

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Reference
Green, S. and Workman, K., 2015. Code of conduct. Policy Statement.
MacDonald, C., McDonald, M. and Norman, W., 2002. Charitable conflicts of interest. Journal
of Business Ethics, 39(1-2), pp.67-74.
Rendtorff, J.D., 2016. A Business Ethics Approach to Balance. In The Balanced Company (pp.
49-74). Routledge.
White, T.I., 2008. Resolving an ethical dilemma. T. White. Ethics. Business ethics: A.