Case Study: Ethical Implications of Releasing Untested Systems

This case study examines the ethical dilemmas faced by a project test manager, Ken, who is informed of a senior management decision to release an untested system due to client demands and schedule changes. The case explores the negative consequences of this decision, including potential functional and non-functional defects, reduced system performance, and damage to the client's and project team's reputation. It analyzes the ethical issues through the lens of consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics, concluding that the decision to release the untested system is ethically wrong. The case study evaluates alternative actions, such as challenging the decision and presenting a detailed analysis of the risks to senior management, emphasizing the importance of thorough testing, transparency, and adherence to ethical business practices. The analysis also covers the impact on different stakeholders, including the client, end-users, and the project organization.

Doing Ethics Technique
Case Study
13th August 2017

Doing Ethics Technique
Table of Contents
Case Study...................................................................................................................................................3
Q1. What's going on?..............................................................................................................................3
Q2. What are the facts?............................................................................................................................3
Q3. What are the issues?..........................................................................................................................3
Q4. Who is affected?...............................................................................................................................3
Q5. What are the ethical issues and their implications?...........................................................................4
Q6. What could have been done about it?................................................................................................5
Q7. What are the options?.......................................................................................................................5
Q8. Which option is the best and why?...................................................................................................5
References...................................................................................................................................................7
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Doing Ethics Technique
Case Study
Q1. What's going on?
The case study covers the scenario of the decision to go-live for a project in its un-tested state.
Ken, the project test manager has been informed about this decision by the senior management as
per the client demands. Ken, on the other hand, provides his argument on the issues that may
appear due to the un-tested system (Youtube, 2017).
Q2. What are the facts?
The primary reason behind the incomplete execution of the testing activities is the change in the
project schedule. The client has requested to pre-pone the go-live date of the system. The un-
tested system will cause the rise of the functional and non-functional defects in the system. Such
occurrences will also bring down the system performance and quality of the features in the
system.
Q3. What are the issues?
There are certain phases in the projects that are mandatory to be executed and there are certain
processes that may be included as an option. Among the mandatory project phases, system
testing is one of the extremely significant phases. In the testing process, there are many testing
activities and procedures that are carried out by the testing team. Execution of such activities
leads to the pointing out of the defects which are then corrected by the development and design
teams (Bostrom, 2013).
The system is going to be delivered in an un-tested form in this case which may lead to several
technical and non-technical issues such as deviations, breakdown etc.
Q4. Who is affected?
 Client: The delivered system will have certain flaws and errors which will not all allow
the client to make efficient use of the system.
 End Users: The primary motive of the system is to bring satisfaction to the end users
which will not be provided due to system flaws.
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Doing Ethics Technique
 Project Organization and team: The reputation and customer trust will come down by a
huge margin because of the poor performance and quality of the system.
Q5. What are the ethical issues and their implications?
There are various projects that are executed by the business entities in a professional
environment and it is necessary to stick by certain rules and regulations. The branch of ethics
includes some of the extremely significant rules (Schultz, 2010).
Most of the business projects that are brought in-action, there are planning, analysis, execution,
testing and closure phases that are commonly involved. Testing activities are executed to validate
and verify the project outputs in comparison with the system specifications.
The case study scenario misses out on the testing phase and it is agreed upon by the project
management team that an un-tested system is delivered to the client.
There is an evaluation of the decision that has been done on the basis of the ethical theories.
Consequentialism theory of ethics belongs to the class of normative ethical theories that includes
the principle as the category of the outcomes as positive or negative. If a majority of the
consequences come under positive set of consequences, then the act is termed as justified and
correct on the ethical terms (Dorsey, 2012). However, it is exactly the opposite in case of the
negative results. The decision to deliver an un-tested system will include the negative set of
consequences such as troubles to the end system users, adverse impact on the customer trust,
poor organization reputation and likewise. All these consequences do not cause any benefit to the
associated parties, and therefore, the act is ethically wrong (Slote, 2008).
Another theory in the category of normative ethics is the theory of Deontology Ethics. It is a rule
based theory in which the morality of a particular action or an activity is evaluated on the basis
of the rules defined for it. There is a non-adherence and non-compliance to the rules of business
ethics and processes that has been observed. One of the most significant phases of the business
activities is being missed by the project team and there is no maintenance of the transparency
with the client. Due to these facts and points, the act is ethically wrong (Gaus, 2001).
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Doing Ethics Technique
Individual’s character that is involved in a certain action is the base for the ethical evaluation as
per Virtue Ethics. The character that is involved in the scenario covered in the case study
includes the traits such as dishonest, selfish interests, and incompetency. Therefore, the act
cannot be termed as correct on the ethical grounds (Carr, 2004).
Q6. What could have been done about it?
The possible alternative that is required to have been adopted in this case is the successful
completion of all of the testing activities and processes.
There should have been proper planning and analysis that should have been carried out in the
project to ensure that the estimates regarding the project were correctly done. The client should
also have been regularly contacted and kept up-to-date regarding the progress so as to maintain a
complete transparency (Peslak, 2007).
Q7. What are the options?
 Acceptance of the decision to go-live with non-tested system
 Resignation of the test manager from the organization
 Presentation of norms and argument in front of senior management to challenge their
decision
Q8. Which option is the best and why?
There are three different options that the testing manager could have taken to deal with the
situation. The last option is however the one that is best out of all the three. The last option says
that the testing manager should challenge the senior management and its decision to release the
non-tested system to the client.
The testing manager should have first arranged an internal meeting with the testing team to take
a clear picture on the effort that is required to be applied and is in a pending state. He should then
present the required effort and the applied effort to the senior management. Also, a complete
account of the issues that may emerge should also be explained with utmost clarity and detail.
The list of the issues shall include a complete background from the ethical and non-ethical
perspectives. Security is one of the primary issues that may result due to the go-live of the un-
tested system. Security issues along with the other technical and operational issues that may be
caused shall be listed and described. Also, the ethical issues along with the legal and regulatory
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Doing Ethics Technique
risks involved shall also be discussed. In such a way, the senior management will be able to
acquire the knowledge regarding the possible impacts that may be caused as a result of the
delivery of the non-tested system.
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Doing Ethics Technique
References
Bostrom, N. (2013). The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence . Retrieved from
https://intelligence.org/files/EthicsofAI.pdf
Carr, D. (2004). Virtue Ethics and Moral Education . http://ebook.umaha.ac.id/E-BOOK%20ON
%20EDUCATION/RELATIONSHIP%20BEETWEN%20EDUC%20_%20MORAL,
%20ETHIC,%20RELIGION,%20TRUTH,%20_%20PHILOSOPHY/VIRTUE
%20ETHICS%20_%20MORAL%20EDUC,%20David%20Carr.pdf.
Dorsey, D. (2012). Consequentialism, Cognitive Limitations, and Moral Theory. Retrieved from
http://people.ku.edu/~ddorsey/agency.pdf
Gaus, G. (2001). What is Deontology? Part 1: Orthodox View. Retrieved from
http://www.gaus.biz/deontology1.pdf
Peslak, A. (2007). Information Technology Intellectual Property Ethics: Issues and Analysis.
Retrieved from
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/70ab/477752c78990466179afd38446bcbce97601.pdf
Schultz, R. (2010). The Role of IT in the Ethics of Gloabalization. Retrieved from
http://iisit.org/Vol7/IISITv7p353-368Schultz729.pdf
Slote, M. (2008). Satisficing Consequentialism. Retrieved from
https://www.princeton.edu/~ppettit/papers/1984/Satisficing%20Consequentialism.pdf
Youtube. (2017). A Dilemma in IT. Select action end of video and see its consequences.
Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mugeCY3vbxo
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