Computer Experts - Business Ethics

Computing Experts and professionals are the one’s with certain level of expertise and knowledge, they are responsible and accountable for the recommendations they make, consequences of their decisions and to identify the risks if any. Computing professionals are identified and considered professionals by certain levels of trainings, experience and certifications they hold, these measures differentiate them from other individuals and defines their area of proficiency.

Johnson described in 2008 the areas computing professionals work for by either as an employee in an organization or as a consultant for a client, and on both cases this computing professional’s work affects the environment he works for as non computing professionals seek their expertise in the desired area. And the relationship should be maintained in a professional manner, for example a professional who works for an organization should not blindly flow the organizations law if it conflicts with professional ethics, they should stand against any unethical behavior or law, their work affects not only the organization they work or provide consultancy for, but for the entire society they belong to and who trusted them based on their knowledge. Not because they are paid to do this job they have to obey and ignore the values and ethics of computing professionalism. 

In addition to computer experts responsibilities for the society and their employers, they have responsibility for their colleagues and other members who share their expertise, for example someone should not copy others work without his permission and should respect others opinions. Making ethical decisions is not an easy process, Barger, 2008 defined an eight-step process to measure ethical decision-making process and help in making it by a set of questions that help defining parties engaged an will be affected by the decision, along with defining ethical issues in any case and other major questions.

Each profession whether its computer related or not has certain values, laws and ethics, but a couple of factors differentiate other professions from computing professions, one of which is that information technology and computer systems are evolving and keep growing by time, which brings a challenge in making those ethics valid and protects us. Computers are everywhere, computer systems are used in most professions if not all, and because of its availability it affects the way we live, work and our spare time. People using computers who are not professionals are sometimes victims for big companies and computer experts; software should be secure enough to protect end users from piracy, and viruses that harm their data. On the other hand, are organizations allowed to monitor someone’s activities when they use office computers? Is it ethical? For my personal opinion I believe yes, although it might be considered as the organization is invading the employee’s privacy, but as long as the employee is using the organizations computing devices they should use it in a good manner and to serve the companies goals, not for personal use.

As a conclusion, professionals who work in this field and should be part of creating the policies should develop computer ethics.

References:

Barger, R., ‘Computer ethics: a case-based approach illustrated edition’ [Online], Available from: http://www.dawsonera.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/depp/reader/protected/external/EBookView/S9780511574245/S77 (Accessed 5 March 2011)

Johnson, DG 2008, 'Computing Ethics Computer Experts: Guns-for-Hire or Professionals?', Communications of the ACM, 51, 10, pp. 24-26, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost,[Online] Available from: http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?hid=105&sid=902d3ac5-4055-4f22-9fd5-3569d3f2930a%40sessionmgr111&vid=3

Doi: 10.1145/1400181.1400190 (Accessed 5 March 2011).

Marson, S. and Senior Editor, Stephen M.(2009) 'A Review of: “Computer Ethics: A Case-Based Approach By R. N. Barger.”', Journal of Technology in Human Services, 27: 2, 150 — 151, DOI: 10.1080/15228830902751100, [Online] Available from: http://pdfserve.informaworld.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/449794_915529901_910471528.pdf (Accessed 5 March 2011).

Weckert, J (2001). `Computer ethics: Future directions'. Ethics and Information Technology 3(2):93-9, [Online] Available from: http://www.springerlink.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/content/k7544k4897608j28/fulltext.pdf (Accessed 5 March 2011)