Ethical Implications of Digital Transformation: A Telstra Case Study

This report examines Telstra Corporation Ltd.'s transition from a traditional engineering-based company to a fast-paced digital entity, focusing on the ethical considerations that arise during this transformation. It highlights Telstra's commitment to corporate authority, transparency, and responsibility as essential for long-term performance and sustainability. The report uses an ethical framework to analyze the facts, issues, affected parties, and potential implications of this shift, including an assessment of ethical consequences and recommendations for addressing challenges related to digital technology. Key issues discussed involve data privacy breaches, misleading NBN speeds, and the need for robust IT governance and risk management strategies. The analysis concludes by emphasizing the importance of ongoing evaluation and adaptation of security systems to mitigate risks and ensure ethical conduct in the digital environment, aligning with Telstra's commitment to stakeholder interests and sustainable growth. Desklib provides a platform for students to access this and similar solved assignments.

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Telstra
Professional, practice and ethics

Professional, practice and ethics 1
Executive summary
Telstra Corporation Ltd. is a telecommunication company in Australia. This report is all
about the move of company from a conservative engineering based company to a fast-
paced digital one. It addresses the ethical implications of this change. Telstra commits
excellence in corporate authority, transparency and responsibility which is essential for
the long term performance and sustainability of company. It is the responsibility of
company to protect and enhance the interest of shareholders and other stakeholders. The
report addresses the framework of doing ethics. In the framework, facts, issues, affected
persons, ethical issues, implications and best buy options are discussed. Further
assessments of ethical consequences are explained. Further the report indicates IT
governance, standard and frameworks needed for these innovations. The report also
explains the recommendations to face issues related to digital technology. At the end,
conclusion is given which justifies the ethical analysis of company.

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Contents
Executive summary...............................................................................................................................1
List of Abbreviations and assumptions made........................................................................................3
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................4
Background...........................................................................................................................................4
Framework for analysis “Doing the ethic”............................................................................................5
Assessment of ethical consequences......................................................................................................9
Recommendations...............................................................................................................................11
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................12
References...........................................................................................................................................13

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List of Abbreviations and assumptions made
ASX- Australian Stock Exchange
ACMA- Australian Communications and Media Authority
OAIC- Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
ACCC- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
NBN- New Broadband access Network
DSS- Department of Social Services
AGM- Annual General Meeting
CEO- Chief Executive Officer

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Introduction
Telstra digital was formed in 2010, as it knew that the company had to extend it’s origins
from conventional engineering culture to a fast paced digital one. It sources some of the best
digital talent in the market and now it is one of the biggest and best digital company in the
country. It’s move from one platform and integrated approach to information architecture was
a challenging decision (Thomas, Barraket, Ewing, MacDonald, Mundell & Tucker, 2016).
Telstra Corporation Limited is a prominent telecommunications and technology company
operating in Australia. The company builds telecommunication networks and offer product
and services like mobile, internet access, pay television and many others. It provides 17.4
million mobile services, 6.8 million fixed voice services and 3.5 million retail fixed
broadband services.
The mission and vision of the company is to connect more and more people and provide more
opportunities. For this, the company form simple and easy to use technology and content
solutions, which makes it best and largest mobile network of Australia (Nicholls, 2017). The
purpose of this report is to address the ethical implication of changes occurred in company
from the journey of conventional engineering culture to a fast paced digital one.
Background
Telstra believes that more connection with people can help to create more opportunities. So,
the company initiates the technology which is easy to use. Telstra was previously created
with the Australia Post as a government department but now it is fully denationalized. The
CEO of Telstra is now aiming to make the company more consumers focused by undertaking
a change program. In August 2011, Telstra announces to develop its customer services to
social media having 24/7 coverage. By the end of November 2012, the company enjoys the
increase in its live chats and the growth rate of this service has also improved to a great extent
(Gregory, 2015).
As of 2016, the company retains about 360 retail stores and more than 300 stores are
equipped with low energy Bluetooth beacons. After the privatization, the shares of Telstra
have risen to $5 per share in December 2013 to $6 per share in December 2014. The

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company is listed on Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) and traded as ASX: TLS. The
company is looking forward to extend its growth in the international markets under the new
CEO Andy Penn (Feeney & Freeman, 2015).
Framework for analysis “Doing the ethic”
I. What’s going on
Telstra has changed the way it was working by the introduction of digital. The company
requires employees to attain high standard of business and particular ethics in the conduct
of duties. The framework of ethical behaviour of the company provides guidance on the
ethical and responsible decision making (Schaufeli, Maslach & Marek, 2017). It is based
on the company’s integrity policies:
 Anti-bribery and anti-corruption
 Conflicts of interest and outside activities
 Fraud and criminal conduct
 Gifts, prizes and hospitality
The ethical behaviour risk assessment is on schedule with other two business units
undergoing risk assessments. The goal of the program is to develop an ethical behaviour
risk profile for the company. 90% of company’s executives, employees and executive
support group complete face to face training for identifying and addressing ethical
behaviour issues (Sharp, et. al. 2015). The company also develops a toolkit to enable risk
leaders in every business unit to conduct ethical behaviour training.
II. What are the facts?
The company obliges all employees to attain high standard of business and personal
ethics. Telstra provides facts through which objectives are set out and performance is
monitored.
 The employees and contractors are required to complete compulsory compliance
training refresher course.
 Telstra provides face to face ethical behaviour training to employees across 12
countries (FitzPatrick, 2015).

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 It has also conducted climate change risk valuation to better identify risks and
actions to build flexibility within business.
 It launches standards to help team members to turn value of organisation into
behaviour so that they can be responsible for their day to day work.
 The company carries training and awareness sessions across the organisation to
progress ethical behaviour (Pullen & Rhodes, 2015).
III. What are the issues
There are many online services which rely on SMS for delivering confidential
information such as pin number, links for setting passwords, banking and email services.
In May 2013 Telstra faced issues of messages after breaking out fire at exchange. It also
damaged equipment of company. It sent personal messages to random recipients. It
leaked private data of almost 16000 customers. The company breached the privacy act by
exposing information of customers including telephone number, name and address (Tran
& Pedler, 2017). The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) found
that the company failed to keep personal information of customers and revealed the
personal information.
.
IV. Who is affected
In Australia Telstra provides communication service to 17.4 million mobile users, 6.8
million fixed voice services and 3.5 million retail fixed broad band service. There were
almost 16000 customers who were affected by the incidence. Their personal information
was leaked from the misdirected messages. It affected equally to 1257 silent line
customers. They were affected as their personal information such as name, address and
phone numbers could be searched through the simple Google search. The employees,
shareholders and stake holders of the company were also affected as the company closed
down the software platforms after the incidence occurred. The other customers were also
not able to access the information available on the site in the while time (Welsh, 2017).
V. What are the ethical issues and implications
Telstra exposed data online and revealed personal information of customers after fire at
exchange. Along with the misdirected messages the company have been threatened by

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ACCC for misleading NBN speeds. ACCC took tough stand about the ambiguous
consumers about NBN broadband speeds. The company has been using terms like fast
and superfast to identify it’s service but the speed is inaccessible and stops within. The
ACCC is going to take action if the practices do not improve till the end of year. It
affected employees of the organisation in every way. The problem behind the NBN
speeds is lack of transparency (Gregory, 2015). Telstra was investigated by federal
privacy commissioner and fined for breaching privacy so that it does not repeat in future.
The decision support system is a computer based application. It analyses business data and
presents it in such a way that business decisions can be made by users easily. Business
analytics is used to systematise and improve business processes (Haney, 2017). The positive
implications of the use of decision support system and business analytics can be:
 It compares sales figures between one and next week or selected time periods.
 It defines the consequences of different decision alternatives and the past experiences.
 It improves the decision making process in the terms of quality and relevance.
 It organizes inventory data into relational databases for time to time analysis.
 It is helpful in conducting data mining and sharing information with wider audience.
 They are useful in smart decision making into the culture of company (Power, Sharda
& Burstein, 2015).
The negative implication of using decision support system and business analytics are:
 It is high cost for the company to use decision support system and business analytics
as it requires statistics, data analysis and information system. So the company requires
heavy investment in information system (Hartman, DesJardins & MacDonald, 2014).
 Sometimes considering all the aspects of problem is not required in many situations.
The effective DSS considers all aspects all the time.
 The business analytics is available for every company but as per industry it is not
developed.
 To get advanced data it is required to invest in various business intelligent
applications.

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VI. What can be done about it
Telstra was ordered to audit systems by June 2013 so that such incident does not happen
again. The company took a number of actions comprising closing down of software platforms
on which the incidence was happened. It created a clear policy for central software
management. The company revised contacts with third parties linked to the personal
information handling. The company was fined $10,200 for the infringement of ACMA’s
codes. In the digital environment there is no set and forget rule for the information security
and privacy. The organisation can review and mend security systems regularly to avoid data
breaches. ACMA and OAIC investigation can be used to enforce powers to fine up to $1.7
million for beaching customer data.
The data analysis tools can point out various business benefits such as new business
opportunities, effective marketing, better operational efficiency and improved customer
service. It results in gaining competitive advantage. The data analysing tools provide a means
of evaluating data sets and drawing conclusions which helps an organisation to make
business decisions (Gale & Aarons, 2017). It includes data from both internal and external
sources. The tools of data analysis can be Tableau, Rapid miner, Google fusion tables,
Google search operators and more. Data analysis is an efficient way to reduce costs and
improve efficiency. The data analysis tools can transform an organisation. It gives fast and
convenient access as a result the organisations can improve decision making and improve
business performance. Telstra can achieve competitive advantage by using data analysis tools
effectively (Witten, Frank, Hall & Pal, 2016).
VII. What are the options
The options provided by Telstra are:
Data and IP: It is a unique option that makes a business competitive with simple, flexible data
and IP solutions. It can be backed up by the range of assurance options. The company is
constantly investing in it’s business to provide best solutions and to meet need of customers.
The IP experts work with the companies to create unique solutions as per their requirement
(Clegg, Kornberger & Pitsis, 2015).

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Broadband and voice: Telstra creates broadband and voice solutions which is right for
customers. A customer can choose nbn network or copper network. The company is potential
in technologies and innovation to meet need of customers. The customers can easily avail the
broadband service by ordering online.
Mobility: Telstra creates new services as per the latest technologies used in mobiles. The
mobile market keeps on changing constantly so the company updates itself to provide great
mobile experience (Medcraft, 2016). It offers the best mobile service.
Application and services: The customers expect fast and hustle free access to services. The
customers believe in using digital era service so the company provides innovative network
application services. It helps in adding value to the customer and generates more business
opportunities.
VIII. Which option is best and buy
From the above explained options, application and services is the best. The 24X7 app gives
more control than ever. It helps to manage bills. The customer can get bill notification when
the bill is ready, instant account status enables to view account balance instantly and
estimated usage can also be checked and can view bill history by checking summary of last
eight months. Along with these options it also enables to view mobile data usage by group
and individual services, manage data allowance and can also add a data pack by 24X7 app
and international roaming and day pass can also be managed by monitoring data usage at the
time of using handset overseas. It is the best buy as a customer can manage by himself
(McCosker, 2017).
Assessment of ethical consequences
Utilitarianism is a type of ethical theory, states that something is right from wrong by
focusing on outcomes or when something is produced for the greatest number of people. It
focuses on humans and performs actions which are good for them. The theory believes that
something is held to be good in it. It is the most common theory of method used in
organisation the way in which it accounts for cost and reimbursements. It asks whether the
action taken by firm is good or bad, moral or immoral. It also insures that the least harm is
done to the customers who are involved. It can be applied for the particular actions, which is

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called act utilitarianism. It can be applied directly in a situation of choice causing the greatest
amount of happiness. The principle of utility applying for general rules is called rule
utilitarianism. It figure outs the cause of happiness and turns it into rules. Utilitarianism is a
kind of consequentialism. Utilitarianism could be used by Telstra at the time of issue faced by
fire exchange (Hartman, DesJardins & MacDonald, 2014). The confidential information of
customers was shared with other customers as a result of misdirection. The information was
all about name, telephone number, address, pin numbers, banking and email services. It
damaged equipment of company. It led company to closing down of software platforms. At
this time utilitarianism could be useful in bringing out the good from wrong by focusing on
the outcome. It could account for reimbursements. It is going to ensure that the action taken
by form of shutting down software is good or bad. The theory is going to ensure that the least
harm is done to the involved customers. It could be done by tracking number of customers on
which the misdirected message was sent and action could be taken against them if they
misused the information.
The employees could be managed by company at the time of such issues as the employees
shaken at the time of issues and more likely to leave company. They can be managed by
concentrating on the right things of organisation from wrong by focusing on the outcome.
They are tried to be less harmed by such issues. It helps in analysing ethical aspects of
organisation. It gives advice to business sector to take actions which benefits are greater than
actions for employees (Congress, 2017).
An awareness of IT governance and IT standards and frameworks
Telstra is committed to excellence in IT governance and standards and frameworks. It is
essential to protect and enhance interest of shareholders for the long term performance of
company. The governance framework plays an important role in delivering strategy of
business. It provides the structure through which performance can be achieved (Barns,
Cosgrave, Acuto & Mcneill, 2017). The governance of Telstra includes shareholders, board
committee and accountability frameworks, robust system of risk management and assurance
and code of conduct.
Engaging with shareholders: Telstra maintains a clear an open communication with it’s
shareholders. The company believes in two way communication with shareholders as it can
provide relevant and efficient information. Telstra take a number of initiatives to promote

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efficient communication with it’s shareholders. It helps in encouraging their participation in
meetings. It includes:
 Retail shareholder information sessions
 Encouraging questions ahead of AGM
 Electronic communications
 Investor seminars
 Webcast company events
Board of directors: The board of directors are responsible for managing business of company
and are answerable to shareholders for their actions. Their responsibilities are:
 Approving, digital innovative plans and monitoring application of strategies and
performance against the company plan (Long & Inbar, 2016).
 Appointment and the valuation of the performance of CEO. It decides remuneration
and approval of appointments. It also remunerates senior managers and supervises
their performance.
 Managing financial position and approving decisions related to capital management.
It also includes share buy backs and dividends.
 Regulating overall remuneration framework.
Recommendations
Digital communication is not a one time process. It should be keeping check on time and
should be updated shortly. Whenever the issue occurs related to corruption of messages, the
SMS platform should be stopped for a short period meanwhile the problem could be solved.
The incidence of misdirect happened in Telstra was a result of power outage which caused
fire at exchange. The company should follow Australia’s data privacy to protect personal
information of customers.
The company can stop SMS platform in such incidences and can held the messages until the
surety of the reliability of messages (Tran & Pedler, 2017).
The approach to ethical behaviour issue of the company can be guided by the members of
external organisations such as Transparency International Australia. The company does not