Discussion

This essay aims to discuss the topic ethical issues in a company. The company that has been observed as doing unethical practises is that several files were sent to an organisation without encryption of the files as the pressure of the management made them do it. This topic is briefly discussed in this essay with following the Australian Computer Society Code of Professional Conduct.

An unethical practise is done by an individual when there is a pressure from the organisation or the intent of the individual of doing unethical practise. In the selected Youtube video, the individuals were asked by the organisation to send some files without encrypting them as it was an emergency. The method of encryption is a process of altering the information in such a method that it makes the file unreadable for the unauthorised users (Shapiro, Whittemore & Tsen, 2014).

The methods of encryption are commonly utilised for sending confidential data over the internet or the physical layer. This helps in securing the information and also keep the integrity of the data. The ACS professional code of conduct presents protocols are regulations that states that the organisations should maintain this law for maintaining the professionalism and keep the dignity, honour, and effectiveness (Sanchez, 2014). This laws claims that the individuals should identify the people who are potentially affected by the work and explicitly consider the interests. Any potential claims should be raised with the stakeholders among the professional activity and the unaccepted or illegal requirements of the public. This law claims that the individuals should place the interest of public above everything else and work towards this intent of serving the common people (Burmeister, 2017). This rule also states that the individuals should endeavour towards the preservation of integrity, continuity, utility and security of the ICT. In this video, the issue that is claimed is that the files need to be delivered the files a month early, and the IT individual claims that the unencrypted files are not the correct method of sending the files as this method of sending files without encryption possesses a threat of getting hacked or it gets stolen during transmission. Hence, the IT individual is not violating any code of conduct as the individual is reluctant to send the files without encryption. The second rule that is claimed by the ACS professional code of conduct is that the individuals should work towards enhancing the quality of life of the individuals who are affected by the work (Watson Jr et al., 2015). This rule also states that in the work of any individual, the role of ICT that is played should be identified for enhancing the quality of life of the people and specifically the disabilities and the disadvantaged. Individuals should work towards protecting and promoting the safety and health of the people who are affected by the work. This rule also claims that the individuals should attempt towards increasing the feelings of personal competence, satisfaction and the control of the people who are affected by the work. In this video, the people who are working under the management can get affected in the case of data loss or data theft. This can lead to the damage of reputation of the company and the employees can get affected severely. This rule of ACS code of conduct is violated by the IT individual as he agreed to send the files without encryption.

Conclusion

The third rule that is presented by the ACS code of conduct is that the individuals should present honesty in representation of the skills, services, knowledge and the products (Contakes, 2015). This rule means that any practise of inducement or bribery should be rejected when it is offered and it should also be not presented. The individuals should be able to distinguish between the opinions that are personal and professional. It states that estimates that are realistic should be provided for the projects that are in control of the individual. This rule is violated by the organisation as they agreed to send files without encryption to a partner gaining an opportunity of expanding the business and make profit. The professionalism is not maintained in this video as it should have been done by sending files without encryption to the partners ensuring the safe transmission of files over the internet. Another rule that is presented by the ACS code of conduct is that competence is expected from the individuals who are working in an organisation (McDermid, 2015). This rule states that the individuals should work diligently and competently for the stakeholders. This rule is violated by the organisation as the correct method of transmission of files is maintained and this could affect the stakeholders extensively. In the situations of data theft or cybercrime, the data can get lost and the process of data retrieval could cost the stakeholders a significant amount of money and time. Even if the data is retrieved, the integrity of the data is lost and this could mean severe harm to the reputation of the organisation and harm to the business of the organisation. The fifth rule that is presented by the ACS code of conduct is that the individuals should work towards the development of their own professionally and the development of the staff (Santin & Kaups, 2015). By practising any unethical activities in the organisation, it could lead to the incorrect development of the individuals who are working in the organisation. The process of sending unencrypted files over the internet to some other individual could create a situation of other individuals practising this method and in the long future it could somehow lead to data loss and data theft of the organisation. The method of encryption secures the data of any organisation and it can provide a suitable method that can be followed by the other members of the organisation for maintaining the integrity of the data and provide security to the data. The sixth rule of the ACS code of conduct states that the organisations and the individuals who are the member of ACS should enhance the ACS integrity and enhance the respect of the members for securing integrity of the organisation (Venables, Tan & Pradhan, 2014). This rule is not maintained by the organisation as the integrity of the methods of transmission of data is not followed by the organisation.

Therefore, it is recommended that the IT individual should not engage in the unethical practises of work and even if the organisation loses a potential client, the organisation should follow the rule of ACS code of conduct and maintain the laws. The method of encrypting is slow and it takes significant amount of time for securing the data but it is important while sending any confidential information over the internet.

Conclusion

Therefore, the ACS code of conduct helps in maintaining the integrity of a workplace and provides rules for strong business processes. An unethical practise is done by an individual when there is a pressure from the organisation or the intent of the individual of doing unethical practise. The methods of encryption are commonly utilised for sending confidential data over the internet or the physical layer. This helps in securing the information and also keep the integrity of the data. The ACS professional code of conduct presents protocols are regulations that states that the organisations should maintain this law for maintaining the professionalism and keep the dignity, honour, and effectiveness.

References

Burmeister, O. K. (2017). Professional ethics in the information age. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 15(4), 348-356.

Contakes, S. M. (2015). Misconduct at the lab? A performance task case study for teaching data analysis and critical thinking. Journal of Chemical Education, 93(2), 314-317.

McDermid, D. (2015). Ethics in ICT: an Australian perspective. Pearson Higher Education AU.

Sanchez, L. T. (2014). Disruptive behaviors among physicians. Jama, 312(21), 2209-2210.

Santin, B., & Kaups, K. (2015). The disruptive physician: addressing the issues. Bull Am Coll Surg, 100, 20-24.

Shapiro, J., Whittemore, A., & Tsen, L. C. (2014). Instituting a culture of professionalism: the establishment of a center for professionalism and peer support. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, 40(4), 168-AP1.

Venables, A., Tan, G., & Pradhan, S. (2014). A collaborative framework for a cross-institutional assessment to shape future IT professionals. Issues in Informing Science & Information Technology, 11, 215-224.

Watson Jr, D. C., Robicsek, F., Sade, R. M., & Rainer, W. G. (2015). Are thoracic surgeons ethically obligated to serve as expert witnesses for the plaintiff?. The Ethics of Surgery: Conflicts and Controversies, 94.