Australian Academic & Research Libraries

ISSN: 0004-8623 (Print) 1839-471X (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uarl20

Ethical Principles and Information Professionals:

Theory, Practice and Education

Livia Iacovino

To cite this article: Livia Iacovino (2002) Ethical Principles and Information Professionals:
Theory, Practice and Education, Australian Academic & Research Libraries, 33:2, 57-74, DOI:
10.1080/00048623.2002.10755183

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00048623.2002.10755183

Published online: 28 Oct 2013.

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 23302

Citing articles: 6 View citing articles

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ualj21
Ethical Principles and Information
Professionals: Theory, Practice and Education
LIVIA IACOVINO

ABSTRACT This article focuses on ethical concepts and thinking processes, their
application to professional issues, and to the information professional in particular.
Information professionals, like other professionals, have developed codes of ethics
which as regulatory mechanisms may not in themselves nurture ethical attitudes. At
the same time traditional professional relationships are being altered by the
introduction of a business view of the client-professional relationship. Ethical
attitudes need to be inculcated into information professional practice via educational
programs by drawing from a number of ethical theories and practice models within a
notion of an ethical community of common interests which can also apply in a virtual
environment

iscussion on ethical practices for professions often centres on analysing

D cases of tmethical professional behaviour. Although case studies serve

to highlight dilemmas, it is more important to introduce ethical thinking
into the education (core and continuing) of all professionals, so that
they can develop the necessary analytical tools to respond to ethical situations
as and when they arise. Two models that information professionals in particular
can adopt as frameworks for ethical decision-making are the practice skills and
the professional-client relationship models. The latter is favoured as it focuses
on the professional's wider public interest responsibilities. Other approaches to
ethical practices include professional codes and the use of role models.
Professionals also need to be aware of the limitations of ethical action within the
wider political, economic and technological environment in which they work.

Part 1: Ethics for Professionals

What are Ethics?

Ethics are best defined as the study of the principles of human conduct or
hU11ldD. actions. These actions must serve a purpose, which constitutes part or
the whole of the moral agent's intention in doing what he or she does. Ethics are
about the way we behave and the values that we hold. 1 John Charvet, in The
Idea of an Ethical Community, considers that 'ethical life depends on the
2
sharing by a collection of persons of authoritative norms. '

Livia Iacovino is a Lecturer in the School of Information Management and Systems, Faculty
of Information Technology, Monash University. She is also a Principal Researcher in the
School's Records Continuum Research Group and the Monash Enterprise Information
Research Group. Email: Livia.lacovino@sims.monash.edu.au
AARL, June 2002

Ethical decision-making is considered a peculiarly human activity due to

our ability to reason, to rationalise and to analyse what we do, to see ourselves
as part of a social group and, in the modem world, as a member of society at
large. The moral agent is a feature of all rational moral discourse. Thus ethics
are not just how we 'feel' about something; it is a reasoned process. It may
become habitual or intuitive once we have a set of values to apply consistently.
Meta-ethics is the conceptual analysis of why we should be concerned with
ethics. Meta-ethical theories or fimdamental ethics are the overarching
principles and perspectives arising :from the conceptual analysis of ethical
questions. Western 'meta' theories sit behind applied ethical approaches.
Applied ethics are normative ethics which aim to guide conduct; the analysis of
specific practical issues using ethical discourse and meta-ethical theories.
However, the distinctions between pure and applied ethics are somewhat
artificial, as the application of ethics has always flowed :from a particular
conceptual viewpoint.
Ethics are often considered as specific to a discipline, religion or
geographic location, for example, professional ethics, Christian ethics, bioethics,
environmental ethics, and business ethics. The 'histories' of these areas of
ethics reveal much about the justification of human conduct in specific
organisational contexts.

Why are Ethics Relevant to Professionals?

Ethics have re-appeared on the agenda of social institutions in the United States
and in Australia in recent years. This is evidenced by the establishment of ethics
education programs in schools and universities, in research, the formation of the
Australian Association of Professional and Applied Ethics, and in the
widespread development of professional codes. 3 The rekindling of interest in
ethics has developed partly as a perceived alternative to the legal regulation of
businesses and the professions. 4
Whether ethics is a preferable way to induce professionals to behave as
expected by society and their peers depends on a complex interplay of law and
morality. Law is insufficient as an ethical system. Codified law focuses on
actions and outcomes rather than values. The process by which legislation
comes into force is different :from ethics; that is, the legislative process via
parliament. This is not to deny that that there is a moral authority to the law. The
law has an important role to play in enforcing minimum standards of what is
right and what is wrong and enforcing breaches, but rules can be misused. We
could have a society in which observing rules replaced social morality. It is
unlikely that we could have rules for everything.
The legal and ethical aspects of actions are not easy to disentangle, and
will in fact often overlap. However, law and ethics need not be in opposition;
they can and should complement each other as a system of control over human

58
 Iacovino: Ethical Principles

behaviour. Ethics, unlike law, are also about choice ofbehaviour. Our freedom
to choose may be limited by our genes, our environment, our education and our
cultural context. The ambit of free choice is a philosophic question in its own
right. The attempt to balance rules and what is 'right' is foWld in applied ethics,
in particular the codification of ethical standards.
Immanuel Kant, the great German moral philosopher of the eighteenth
century, did not see rules as the only defining aspect of ethics. Roger J Sullivan,
in An Introduction to Kant 's Ethics, states,
The appreciation to which Kant refers comes down to an attitude that should lie
behind and encompass all our more specific duties. Rules cannot totally define our
lives. In government and business, for example, an unjust person will always be
able to find loopholes in even the most carefully stated professional or civil codes.
Kant knew this, and for that reason he held that above all we need an underlying
commitment to the moral law that will, as it were, fill in the legislative loopholes. 5

Kant believed that certain acts such as lying had to be wrong because if
everyone lied there would be no way of knowing the truth. If everyone were
false how would anyone have trust in anything? Thus truth telling is a universal
duty. Humans live in communities. The need for assumed trust and truth is
essential for social groups to survive. To make life within a community of
benefit to everyone a shared Wlderstanding of what is good or bad or Wljust or
just makes the community work within specific goals. In other words,
communities cannot exist without some compliance with moral rules. 6
A business argument that is often made for the irrelevance of ethics is that
it is just 'good business' to take advantage of everyone. In this sense this is the
ethic of the business in question. It may also be viewed as a very narrow
understanding of business needs. Fiona Ritchie, in Finishing First with Ethics:
Bringing Good Business Principles and Sound Ethics together for Greater
Profits and a Better Future, argues that business ethics put into practice give an
organisation a distinct competitive advantage, increases profitability, provides
stable management and improves staff morale. 7
The legal argument for the relevance of ethics centres on the notion of
unethical behaviour as the fuilure of duty of care and potential negligent action
in professional practice. The legal motivation for encouraging ethical behaviour
is often that unethical behaviour leads to illegal behaviour and could contribute
to a company being sued. 8

Meta-Ethical Debates and Professional Ethics

Major ethical debates Wtderlie how professional ethics are approached. How we
ensure compliance with appropriate professional ethical behaviour depends on
whether ethics is considered a set of rules, moral codes or norms imposed by a
community or a system of personal choice of conduct, or both. A community of

59
AARL, June 2002

common interest, such as a professional grouping, can make unethical behaviour

unattractive to its members in a number of ways. The punitive approach to
enforcing moral behaviour is often set through professional codes, and as argued
later in this paper, is not the most effective means of ensuring ethical behaviour.

Social, Political, Scientific and Economic Context of Ethics

The social context of ethics is concerned with the following questions. Do we
need a particular kind of social system and institutions for ethics to work? Are
we born with sets of values, such as innate knowledge of what is good and evil
or are they 'learned'?9 This is the argument of 'self-evident' morals or common
sense which has been a legitimate moral position. 10
The ethicist Peter Singer has applied modem Darwinian thinking to our
consumer society which is based totally on competition. Both competition and
reciprocal altruism, defined as cooperation, can coexist. The cooperative
aspects of our nature can be encouraged. Public policy can appeal to the need to
belong to a community, rather than simply rely on the rhetoric of competition. In
this respect modem Darwinism can be compatible with nurturing a moral
community which supports the cooperative aspects of evolved behaviour. The
cooperative model needs a community to prosper, thus it could also be applied
to a professional community. 11

Can Ethics be Unlversalised?

The universalism-relativism debate is a central ethical issue which has a
particular relevance to professional ethics. Universalism or universality refers to
ethical behaviour that transcends time and place. 12 It has been linked to Kant's
view of universal ethics that remain the same everywhere and for everyone, a
theory based on the moral unity of the human species in which cultural forms
are secondary (see rule-based ethics below). On the other hand, a relativist
position determines right and good in relation to social and cultural context and
differs in time and place. It has a 'post modem' flavour to it in that the idea of a
universal truth or a unitary view of the world is rejected. For example, a
relativist explanation has been given for the differing national views on
intellectual property.
The importance of community values should not be confused with crude
versions of cultural relativism which may be used to justify any practice as
acceptable within a given community. However, relativist positions can lead to
universal norms. One need only to consider the histories of specific areas of
ethics such as medicine, which have been tied up with their portrayal through
Greek, Roman, Judea-Christian and eventually secular ethics but are now
considered universal. 13 Thus relativism and universalism are not necessarily in
opposition

60
 lacovino: Ethical Principles

Ethlcal Principles and Professional Relationships

Interpretations of ethical questions centre on the ethical grmmds or principles
which are adopted. Ethical principles enable us to reach normative judgments.
They guide our thinking by providing us with a basis for determining how we
should act when an ethical issue arises. They do not provide definitive answers;
only answers that can be justified by way of argument depending on the ethical
viewpoints adopted, and the decision-making models and processes employed.
Most ethical theories fall between the following types: rule-based ethics
which focuses on actions and duties, also known as the deontological tradition
according to which duty is primary. It is better described as 'duty-based' and
'right' based ethics as Kant himself distinguishes duties from rules. In Kant's
version of 'duty-based' ethics the intrinsic duty to act is our duty to do what is
right. Duty is not contingent on the outcome, although it is not totally ignored.
We may not want to obey the moral law; for this reason all moral laws appear to
us as imperatives. Moreover because nothing can justify disregarding our moral
obligations, they obligate us absolutely, or categorically. eg do not kill or do not
lie. Consequently, in the Foundations Kant called the ultimate moral norm the
'categorical imperative' .14
The notion of the rational autonomous agent is an important Kantian
contribution. The dignity of each person is based on his/her own reason and on
the doctrine of autonomy, that is each person has control over his/her own
destiny. Any individual maxim must be able to be translated into a universal
law. All obligations are binding on any rational being. The moral worth is not in
what will be accomplished but in the agent's intention. A person of good moral
character is one who not only does what is right but also does so from the
specifically ethical motive of dutifulness.
The advantage to this approach is that duties coupled with rights bond
human relationships. The problem is that it does not help resolve conflicts
between duties. If two duties conflict consequences cannot in theory be
considered. An example of applying this approach includes questions such as: Is
my duty and the action taken universally acceptable to those directly affected by
it? Could I inform others about my decision? For example, balancing objectives
of profitability with producing a safe product. 15
Rights-based ethics or contractarianism is based on a right defined as an
entitlement, in which moral rights, unlike legal rights, cut across all notions of
legal jurisdiction. For example the right to privacy is seen as necessary for
autonomy. Its application includes questions such as whether an act violates a
person's rights, and which rights are violated. 16
Another ethical tradition is ends-based or goal-centred theory. It is also
known as the teleological or consequentialist tradition in which goals or
purposes of actions and their consequences are fimdamental. One considers the

61
AARL, June 2002

good from the decision, ie the consequence; so the end justifies the means.
Consequentialism is a modem form of this theory. Its best known form is
utilitarianism which focuses on the social good and social harm of actions. In
the classic utilitarianism or ethical universalism of Jeremy Bentham the good or
end (telos) is the happiness or the greatest happiness for the greatest number.
Singer's cooperative model fits here.
The problem with utilitarianism is that it is not possible to predict all the
consequences of an action, that is, what will be the best outcome for the greatest
number of people. The minority is often sacrificed. Utilitarianism may be
applied in cost benefit analyses by selecting an approach that maximises the
benefit for all parties or stakeholders affected by the decision; that is, the
greatest net benefit approach. How the ends are achieved is secondary and
individual rights are often ignored. It can be used to rationalise unethical
behaviour, for example, monitoring staff performance for maximising staff
productivity. 17
Agent-based ethics, also known as virtue ethics, is sometimes included
within teleological approach, and has its origin in a revitalised version of
Aristotelian ethics. The emphasis is on the qualities of a person which will
ensure that he/she will make the right decisions. Virtues such as integrity,
honesty, fidelity, and probity are motives for the right actions. In its modem
version it is tied to ethics of a community, a form of communitarianism,
originally defined as universal virtues. It is useful for character building, for
education, for application to professional ethics. Virtue ethics offers a strong set
of prindples for professional practice. The problems in this approach revolve
around virtues that may conflict.
Ethical theories that operate on responding to the 'demands' that arise in
human relationships in specific situations are also agent-centred. The 'ethical
demand' is a response to another human being's needs which presupposes that
all interaction between human beings involves a basic trust. The demand is not
derived from any rule and trust is part of what it means to be human. 18 One
takes care of the life which trust has placed in our hands, so exploiting a person
would be unethical. The motive for actions is not central. The emphasis is on
person to person relationships, thus emphasising that ethics is a question of
personal responsibility, which is essential to professional decisions.
Ethical collectivism is a form of discourse ethics which insists that the
correct conclusion about ethical matters is a collective achievement, a consensus
constructed out of the diverse points of view of the participants in the discourse.
The collective agreement is the closest individuals at that time and place can
come to the truth. 19 Professional ethics is also a form of discourse ethics as it
reflectc; a consensus view of a profession at a point in time.
ln summary, a number of ethical principles, including Kantian duties,
consequential actions, virtues, the ethical demand, and rights-based theories,

62
 Iacovino: Ethical Principles

can be adapted to professional relationships. Within professional and other

relationships rights and corresponding obligations such as privacy or
confidentiality can be respected via ethics, as distinct from legal protection, in
terms of the moral agency of role, a notion also found in virtue ethics. Ethical
duties in various 'roles' form part of social relationships; the obligations and
right~ between parties based on mutual respect and trust rather than through
legal pressures of sanctions drawn from the 'demand' position. Concepts of
trust are central to the nature of professionalism.

Part 2: Professional Ethics and Information Professions

Although professional ethics are often considered a twentieth century form of
applied ethics, they are in fact the oldest form of Western ethics. 20 The notion of
duty evolved from doing one's vocational duty. In Aristotelian ethics, the notion
of the virtuous person was embedded in the way one discharged allotted social
functions, which today we would call occupations. As the social order changed
the evaluative predicates of a just king, or a courageous warrior came to refer to
personal attributes relatively independent of social function. 21
In more simple terms professional ethics are ethics specific to professions
and/or to a specific profession. Professional ethics are within the field of
normative ethics and concern professional behaviour, judgment and choices in
one's professional life.
Professional ethics are usually considered one of the hallmarks of a
profession. But there is an ongoing debate both within professions and society at
large as to the effectiveness of ethics in regulating professional behaviour or
conduct. Professionalism also involves the acceptance of a number of legal
responsibilities, including duty of care.

Who (or What) is a Professional?

Divinity, law and medicine have historically been the 'classic professions'. 22
The word 'profession' in its Latin form meant a public declaration or vow. The
notion of a vow to be 'faithful for something' (special expertise) 'to someone'
(client) for his or her benefit and not for one's own, has continuing resonance
for what it means to be a professional. 23
The characteristics of a profession have generally included its exclusivity,
highly developed skills and theoretical or specialised knowledge of a specific
domain, several years of formal education and training in a related domain,
service to society or a public benefit, governance by code of ethics or conduct
laid 1own by the profession, and a professional association.
Professionals maintain that their specialist knowledge and education gives
them an understanding of their field that is not shared outside the profession.
Apart from the expertise, service orientation, and altruistic motivation of public

63
AARL, June 2002

duty, ethical standards are usually expected to be higher than for the general
community. A distinguishing characteristic of professionals is that they are
meant to act differently from a business person in dealing with clients. The
element of trust is essential if the profession is to be seen not merely as a
monopoly.
The nature of professionalism has been much debated, including whether it
differs from a 'vocation'. McDowell Banks, in Ethical Conduct and the
Professional's Dilemma: Choosing Between Service and Success, says:
Mere occupations do not claim a special commitment to the welfare of their
customers. The professional asks for a relationship of trust. The concomitant
ethical obligation is what really distinguishes the professional from other
occupations. In my analysis, these twin requirements of possessing a special
expertise not easily understood by Jay people and of being ethical and trustworthy
in relationships with clients and the public are what distinguish professions from
other occupations. 24

In addition to the external marks of a profession, Banks refers to the

internal dimension, the character of a professional as the individual choice or
coiiliiJ.ltment to aspire to the highest competence and to serve others. The duty
of service to the client can run to fellow professionals, to others who stand in
some relationship to the client such as family members or business associates,
or even to bystanders, and on occasion to the community as a whole. The
dilemma occurs when the interests of a particular client clash with the broader
interest of the public, or some part of it. Most importantly the commitment not
only to the client but also to public service is part of the tradition of all
professions. 25

Conflicts for Professionals

It is important to remember that many professionals are not self-employed but
find themselves working for large corporations or institutions. 'Ethics of
agency' is a view that professional responsibility is tied to the role the
professional plays in an institution. This approach has detractors, who see a
frequent conflict with a professional view of what for example the government
or the organisation should be doing and what it is doing. 26 As Ann Picot states,
'one lhing which distinguishes the role of a professional in the workplace is the
requirement to exercise professional judgment even if this conflicts with the
policy directions given by management'. 27
Conflict between professional and organisational ethics need not only be
seen as a negative force but also as a means of highlighting a professional issue.
In the corporate sector protecting the organisation is uppermost, so attempting
to link professional ethics with corporate ethics may not improve the ethical
behaviour of the corporation In fact organisations and professions learn to
behave compassionately from individuals rather than the other way around. 28

64
 Iacovino: Ethical Principles

Regulatory Mechanisms and the Professions: Relevance to Ethical

Behaviour
Traditionally professions have used a number of techniques to uphold their
professional status, such as limiting membership, requiring continued education,
licensing and enforcing codes of conduct.
There is a substantial difference between professions such as the
information professions and highly controlled professions such as medicine and
law where a loss of membership (being 'struck off') may also imply a loss of the
right to practice. Regulation and sanctions are highest in professions which can
take away the livelihood of its members for unprofessional conduct. Unethical
behaviour can therefore lead to the loss of one's livelihood. Many illegal
activities, eg fraud, corruption, abuse of people's rights are also professionally
unethical, thus acting ethically contributes to overall legal compliance.
Unprofessional behaviour is unethical behaviour.
Should ethical obligations be legal ones? There is controversy over codes
and rule-based/deontological approaches to ethical compliance. The codification
of ethics into a normative system and a legal conception of ethics are rejected
by virtue ethicists. Ian Freckelton believes that for a profession to maintain its
bone fides it must impose penalties for non-compliance with a provision of a
code. 29 This is the 'legal' approach to ethical behaviour and has limitations as a
professional may follow the letter but not the spirit of an ethical code.
As Banks states,
When standards carry legal sanctions, the professional has difficulty in predicting
the exact content that these terms will be given by the administrative agencies or
courts charged with their (:nforcement. The professional who wants to be sure to
comply will then be led to very cautious practice that is unquestionably within the
boundaries of the guidelines. The undesirable consequence of either rule-specific
norms or flexible guidelines if they carry serious legal sanctions is more routinized
performance and less innovative or risky practice. 30

The real risk of relying on codes to make professionals ethical is that they
may absolve themselves from responsibility for determining their own duty. In a
climate that challenges the autonomy of the professions, codes have attempted
to accommodate consumer demands, thus they have become more outward
looking.
There is little evidence that codes of ethics have in themselves nurtured
ethical practices or made professionals more ethical. They are often flagrantly
ignored. One need only consider the example of the New England Journal of
Medicine which firiled to follow its own ethical guidelines regarding disclosing
the names of the drug companies that provided financial support for a large
number of articles published on drug tests. 31 It can also be argued that the very

65
AARL, June 2002

existence of the code revealed that it had been transgressed and thus the code
served the purpose of disclosure.
A set of professional ethical standards developed by a professional
community that is prepared to critically revise them can provide the individual
professional with ethical guidance, may assist new professionals or those still
studying, assist in the revision of professional thinking and play a part in the
regulatory controls over consistent professional practice.
The issue of cultural relativism versus universal principles, as introduced
earlier, is particularly relevant to professional ethics. Within one profession
there may be divergent views of professional practice because of religious,
cultural or national differences. Universalising one professional ethic within a
profession can only be achieved by ongoing dialogue. Through its experienced
practitioners problematic rules can be interpreted. This is a good example of
virtue ethics in practice, as practice takes place in specific environments. How is
uniformity achieved world-wide? One has to accept that the more culturally
diverse professional members are, the more difficult it will be for them to share
standards. 32 This is particularly relevant in the online environment where
professionals and their clients will be from all parts of the globe and have
divergent political, legal and ethical views.

Information Professions
There is a blurring in the rigid definitions of profession as new ones emerge.
This is particularly the case in the computing and information professions,
which are often seen exclusively within a business context and have therefore
not developed the ideal of professionalism that has nurtured the established
professions in which public service was as important as financial rewards. 33
This can be partially attributed to the fact that the information professions have
developed in a period when consumerism and competition policy within a global
market have become ascendant and the ideal of community service over and
abovt: paid service that lay at the core of professionalism is almost dead. 34
Information professions comprise many groups which have their own
ethical traditions; that is, there is not one set for the profession Librarians,
archivists and records managers have different interests from computing
professionals, even though the distinctions are blurring. A recordkeeping
professional is particularly concerned with illegal destruction of records or
inadequate evidence; preserving records over time; protecting personal data
from inappropriate disclosure; and providing access to material equally. For web
content providers censorship is more important. There are a number of legal and
ethical areas that are common to all of them, for example, intellectual property
and data protection However, differences between information professions may
require the development of a set of ethical principles incorporating interests
common across all fields.

66
 lacovino: Ethical Principles

How do we apply Ethics to Information Professionals?

Models that assist ethical decision-making for information professionals are
only useful if meta-ethical theories, summarised earlier in this article, are also
introduced.

The Practice Skills Model

The practice skills model for a professional rests on their activities and their
professional duties.
Professional responsibility (as opposed to legal liability) will depend on
one's position and competencies. Both the organisation and its executives and
individuals may be responsible for particular activities. What kind of
information will be gathered and stored, who will have access, and how it will
be protected from unauthorised disclosure are both ethical and legal issues.
These can be broken down into:
• Capture of data and its purpose. What information should be collected and
how should it be used or shared. Privacy and confidentiality are the most
common concerns.
• Processing of data: its timeliness, relevancy, completeness, and accuracy.
Providing information that has not been checked or validated, upon which
decisions by others are made, could lead to poor decision-making in an
organisation and expose it to legal liability, as well as limit individual
rights.
• Ownership of data: intellectual property rights in particular may need to be
protected. An ethical approach includes the concept of 'stewardship', that
is, the obligation to look after property that belongs to another, including
customer information, its security, its misuse or re-use.
• Access and dissemination of information: who has access to what,
including access authorisation data. 35
• Reliable and authentic evidence: maintaining its integrity for evidential
purposes; avoiding the destruction of data and records without authorised
procedures.
• Reliability of the system (liability for system fuilure).
• Other socio-technical issues: computer system and people firilure;
equipment control; technological obsolescence; accessing old data or
records; maintaining standards; system development issues; other computer
system risks, for example, security in networks, tampering; computer fraud
and security risk management.
Mason, Mason, and Culnan in Ethics ofInformation Management consider
major social responsibilities common to all professionals. 36 These include how
they monitor themselves, set standards for acceptable practice, maintain their

67
AARL, June 2002

body of knowledge, educate their public about their practices and educate and
train professionals. Other professional responsibilities additional to general
social responsibilities include exhortations to do no harm, to be competent,
maintain independence, avoid conflicts of interest, match client expectations,
maintain fiduciary duties, safeguard client and source privacy, protect records,
safeguard intellectual property, provide quality information, and avoid selection
bias. Additional professional responsibilities include further duties to a specific
profession. Finally there is a need for professional judgment.

The Professional-Client Relationship Model

Professional obligations arise from relationships not only between the
information professional and the client, but also professional to professional,
businfJSs to business relationships or professional to manager or employer
relationships, and with a range of third parties, which include obligations to
society at large (the public interest component). Each relationship has its own
ethical and regulatory context, but stands in relation to the others, for example,
doctor-patient, employer-employee and student-academic. This is where
conflicts of interest often arise, for example the lawyer who owns shares in the
company she is representing in a court case.
The business context in which one works, that is, the nature of the
information one works with, forms part of the regulatory and ethical
environment. Ethical issues of collecting information are critical to areas such as
medical care. Other professionals involved in the collection of data and creation
of records will themselves be bound by professional ethics contributing to a web
of responsibility in information ethics.
Organisational and professional culture is largely determined by standards
of acceptable behaviour within specific environments. In addition, the concept
of reasonable behaviour and duty of care which form part of the law of
negliyence in the common law system are re-enforced through professional
ethics and professional practice, for example, confidentiality which forms part
of every transaction between a patient and a doctor is an important part of
medical ethics. The ethical dimension of professional relationships is
underpinned by records as evidence of ethical or unethical behaviour, including
what is destroyed to cover up unethical or illegal behaviour. 37
The focus on the nature of each relationship brings us back full circle to
ethical theories and ethical duties in various 'roles' (professional, personal,
citizen, or customer). The ethical demand and the cooperative community
concepts introduced earlier also support this model. A corporation will also
have a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders but is itself a moral agent within
'a web of relationships'. Professional roles cannot be divorced from social
responsibility and the wider impact on family life, the environment, and social
justice.

68
 lacovino: Ethical Principles

Legal, Economic, Technological and Socio-Cultural Issues for

Professionals
Information professionals, and professionals in general, need to be aware of
current legal, economic, technological and socio-cultural issues that constrain
ethical action.

Change in the Nature of Professional Relationships

Although on the one hand self-regulation and autonomy have re-enforced claims
to professionalism, on the other hand the advance in knowledge and technology
and how we receive services have reinforced consumers' sense of rights. This
has led to a view that the consumer has a right to be involved in professional
decisions. It is been supported by consumer rights in product liability law, and
cases of professional negligence have strengthened consumer demands over
professionals. Professional negligence has been on the rise and professions are
being regulated more and more externally.
Exclusive control over an area of business activity has been fi.mdamental to
professionalism. 38 The right to provide a service exclusively is in conflict with
Australian national competition policy, and world-wide trends. 39 Competition
policy through the anti-competitive provisions ofPart IV of the Trade Practices
Act threatens professional exclusivity which is seen as creating a monopoly.
Even codes of ethics may have illegal provisions. 40 Essentially competition
policy is concerned with efficiency, not with whether an action is ethical or
unethical.
Competition policy has other ramifications, in particular its emphasis on
the business element of professional relationships, in particular the introduction
of a third party into the relationship, who does not have a direct ethical or legal
obligation to the client, for example, a contracted provider, typical of purchaser-
provider agreements. 41

Technological Context
The delivery of electronic services via the Web has implications for professional
practke, which include the greatly increased risk to privacy, the fraudulent
manipulation of data, and the ease with which records can be reproduced
without attribution. Other issues include applying ethics globally in the
networked environment, and whether virtual corporations will engender loyalty.
Despite recent legislation from copyright digital agenda, privacy and electronic
transactions acts, the legal system tends to trail technology and thus ethical
guidance is the only solution to a new problem.
The implications for human development from a physically-centred world
to a 'virtual' world, together with the use of contracted service providers, means

69
AARL, June 2002

that professionals will have less and less personal contact with their clients.
Confidentiality and privacy will have to be protected more by technical means,
but mediated trust involving humans is unlikely to be completely superseded.

Part 3: Approaches to Promoting Professional Ethical

Thinking

Importance of Ethics In the Education of Professionals

Professional ethical attitudes should be nurtured through vocational and
continuing education in information management and systems courses. 42 Their
success depends on certain assumptions. Can students be taught to be ethical?
Can professionals learn to be relatively detached, and notice when self-interest
takes over? Understanding internal motivation requires developing ethical
virtues in the students that will help them make ethical judgments. If ethical
obligations are treated as legal rules, there is an assumption that no ethical issue
exists. 43
Andrew Morris, in 'Effective Information Management: A Question of
Ethics?' argues the need for Information Systems practitioners to be educated in
the areas of privacy, intellectual property, and access control; in particular the
properties of information, inherent rights of privacy and ownership and to have
status to formulate an adherence to strict information policy. He adopts the
utilitarian view that any situation that implies harm or benefit to others has an
ethical component, and that this is basic for the development of information
systems that emphasise benefit, including minimising harm. 44
Ethical thinking can assist information professionals in making considered
judgments about information risks. Neither the law nor the marketplace provides
sufficient guidance for managing information ethically. The ethical theories
introduced earlier can be applied to information technology. The importance of
human values, the Kantian principle of treating people as ends and not as means
and Jeremy Bentham's valuing actions that promote happiness and diminish
misery are some ethical principles that are of general application. 45

'Learning Organisations'
Organisations can change even if they are conditioned by facts that are difficult
to change. Reality should be perceived as both immediate and long term. You
may not be able to change this year's budget or a government policy but you
can work towards goals that promote the ethical outcomes sought.

Role Models
Role models are often underrated as a means of promoting ethics. Firstly,
academics should be role models for their students. This requires academics to

70
 lacovino: Ethical Principles

improve their own research ethics standards. The teacher-scholar should be the
conscience of the profession Responsibility to conserve the traditions and
history of the profession and contribute to its development are core duties of the
academic. If the teacher only teaches the technicalities he/she bears some of the
responsibility for the amoral attitude of the profession However, academics
mce conflicts of interest that may limit them as role models, for example, the
acadc:mic as an educator, researcher, and practitioner (in a 'not for money role')
and the pressure to teach students for entry into a vocation rather than for
education broadly. With university courses moving more to a full fee basis,
students are more concerned with vocational training, and the freedom of
academics to direct the curriculum has been reduced.
Senior practitioners can provide role models and be involved in mentoring
schemes. They should be profiled in professional literature, but more
importantly in the media at large. Lastly, continuing professional education
should integrate ethical judgments into the changed situations, and professional
issues should be discussed at professional fora. Once a professional is in the
workforce the role of the professional association and workplace ethics take on
a prominent role in maintaining ethical standards.

Conclusion
Information professionals need to re-evaluate their own ethical standards in a
period in which the nature of professionalism is being re-assessed. Ethical
behaviour can minimise the possibility of negligent conduct and assist legal
compliance, but that makes ethics another form of regulation More importantly
codes should be used to focus on professional duties and virtues, and as a
collective consensus of professional values.
Understanding the corporate culture within the wider social context is
long-sighted, not short-sighted. Knowing how much to accept the givens and
where there is manoeuvrability for improved ethical standards is a professional
goal. Assistance and support of peers through professional associations and
networking are avenues for professional solidarity. Each professional
community needs to create a climate of ethical awareness and a sense of
consensus through debate and discussion
Ethical frameworks need to be applied to specific issues: retrospective
(case studies real and/or hypothetical) and prospective (being prepared to act
when an ethical question arises); to consider the role of a professional in terms
of the nature of the relationship which arises with the client within a web of
obligations; each communication or encounter has an ethical dimension based
on tJ ust. It has been the shift in the balance of power from the professional to
the client that has altered the relationship. We have to somehow retain the
special aspects of the professional-client relationship, in order to retain

71
 AARL, June 2002

professionalism and its ethical dimension. This is not going to be an easy course
of action in the current social and economic environment.
Professionals can marry a number of the principles enmciated in ethical
theories to professional ethics. This includes cultivating virtues of integrity and
honesty, balancing the rights of and the duties to the client, to society and to
fellow professionals, as well as consideration of the 'other person' as a fellow
human being. Through role models, education and professional discussion,
ethics should become an essential part of professional best practice of all
information professionals.

Notes
1 Adapted from A Macintyre A Short History of Ethics 2nd ed Notre Dame University
ofNotre Dame Press 1997 p85
2 J Charvet The Idea of an Ethical Community Ithaca New York London Cornell
University Press 1995 p1
3 See H Whitton, 'Rediscovery of Professional Ethics for Public Officials An Australian
Review', in N Preston (ed) Ethics for the Public Sector Education and Training
Annandale (NSW) Federation Press 1994 pp39-59. An example of the relevance of
ethics to modern organisations includes appointing Probity Officers, and establishing
anti-corruption bodies and ethics committees both within and outside organisations, eg
Police Ethical Standards Committee.
4 C A Coady 'On Regulating Ethics' in M Coady and S Bloch ( eds) Codes of Ethics and
the Professions Carhon South Melbourne University Press 1996 pp 269-287
5 R J Sullivan An Introduction to Kant's Ethics New York Cambridge University Press
1994 p95
6 F Leal 'Ethics is Fragile Goodness is Not' inKS Gill (ed) Information Society New
Media Ethics and Postmodernism London Springer 1996 pp78-89
7 F Richie Finishing First with Ethics Bringing Good Business Principles and Sound
Ethics Together for Greater Profits and a Better Future Sydney Business and
Professional Publishing 1996
8 B Sharpe Making Legal Compliance Work North Ryde NSW CCH Australia 1996 p6
,9 We tend to forget that issues such as whether we can 'educate' people to act ethically
were considered at least as early as the seventeenth century by Montesquieu.
Macintyre pp183-185
10 Macintyre p 177
11 P Singer A Darwinian Left Politics Evolution and Cooperation London Weidenfield
and Nicholson 1999. A scientific model for human behaviour is offered by Social
Darwinism. The model is predicated on the notion of human beings as 'evolved human'
animals who are genetically predisposed to behave in a particular way which limits their
ability to modify evolved behavioural characteristics. Some evolutionary psychologists
and biological determinists consider ethics as irrelevant on these grounds. Peter Singer
rejects this version of Darwinism because it deduces values from observed facts. He
believes that evolution is not necessarily 'good' or 'bad'. We cannot infer what is
'right' from what is 'natural'. Weahh for example is not an evolutionary instinct. Self-
interest includes economic interest. Unfortunately Darwinism has been used as a reason
for accepting many of the negative aspects of our society, including our purported

72
 lacovino: Ethical Principles

'innate' nature to exploit. In the end Singer's suggestions for changing behaviour are
by legal regulation, for example, tax incentives.
12 Universalism or universality is also called objectivism and pluralism which is very
confusing when pluralism is also used for relativism!
13 I ~iggens 'Professional Codes Some Historical Antecedents' in Codes of Ethics and
the Professions pp55-71
14 Sullivan p43, footnote 1
15 R Spinello Case Studies in Information and Computer Ethics Upper Saddle River NJ
Prentice Hall 1997 Part 1
16 Ibid Part 1 Chapter 2
17 Spinello p 28
18 K E Logstrup The Ethical Demand Notre Dame London University of Notre Dame
Press 1997. In the business context, the importance of trust is well researched, but less
so in ethics. Knud Ejler Logstrup, in his exposition of the ethical demand, is at odds
with both Kantian and utilitarian accounts of morality, and the quarrels between them
that hinge on issues that are taken as moral rules or on doing something for the sake of
something further. In ontologically-defined ethics it is the concrete immediate situation
which needs action. Logstrup was influenced by his experiences in German-occupied
Denmark in wwn. Ethical action required quick responses.
19 J Thompson Discourse and Knowledge Defence of a Collectivist Ethics London
Routledge 1998
20 In Europe professional ethics has a history from Greco-Roman times, from the Catholic
Church's control over it, its secularisation through education and the craft guilds. See I
Siggens 'Professional Codes Some Historical Antecedents' in Codes of Ethics and the
Professions pp 55-71
21 This is the author's interpretation of Maclntrye's notion of what we would now
consider 'professional' arising from what was a unified concept of personal-public
duty, later separated into distinct personal and professional domains, with a
concomitant division of personal and professional duty.
22 A non-religious association is claimed by those that argue that a profession originally
meant an occupation. Prestigious trades were classed as either 'liberal' or 'learned'.
When the epithet was dropped, the more prestigious occupations such as the clergy,
the law, and medicine laid claim to professionalism exclusively. Profession came to
mean an occupation so controlled that it did not have to act as a trade union. See H
Perkin The Rise of Professional Society England Since 1880 London New York
Routledge 1989 p23
23 The terminology of profession has always had religious overtones. For example the
Catholic Church bequeathed to the legal profession the ethical orientation ofbalancing
the advocate's duty to fight for the represented person with a wider duty to society, the
law and the truth. Siggens p62 pp55-71
24 M Banks Ethical Conduct and the Professional's Dilemma Choosing Between Service
and Success New York Quorum Books 1991 pp 16-17
25 Jbidpp17-18
26 J Uhr 'Managing the Process of Ethics Training' in Ethics for the Public Sector
Education and Training p167
27 A Picot 'Ethical Meltdown Accountability and the Australian Recordkeeping
Profession' Archives and Manuscripts, vol28 no 2 Nov 2000 p124

73
AARL, June 2002

28 C W Palmiter 'Personal and Social Ethics amid Technological Change', in J M Kizza

( ed) Social and Ethical Effects of the Computer Revolution Jefferson NC McFarland
1996 pp230-247
29 I Freckelton 'Enforcement of Ethics' in Codes of Ethics and the Professiom ppl30-
165
30 Banks pl38
31 The Age 25 February 2000 p3
32 J Jackson 'Common Codes Divergent Practices' in R F Chadwick (ed) Ethics and the
Professiom Brookfield Aldershot 1994 pl22
33 D Gotterbarn 'Computer Practitioners Professionals or Hired Guns?' in Social and
Ethical Effects of the Computer Revolution pp219-229
34 Perkin p290
35 Mason and Spinello p7
36 R 0 Mason F M Mason and M J Culnam Ethics of Information Management
Thousand Oaks California Sage 1995
37 "i'he 'Heiner affair' in Australia is an example of 'legal' but unethical destruction of
records related to an aborted inquiry into the John Oxley Centre, Waco~ Queensland
and its manager which included evidence of child abuse. See C Hurley 'The Heiner
Shredding An Appreciation' http://www.caldeson.com/RIMOS/heiner.html [accessed
June 2001)
38 The Trade Practices Commission undertook reports on selected professions in 1992
mainly in the area of price competition, see Study of the Professiom Final Report TPC
Canberra 1992 as quoted in P Clarke and S Corones Competition Law and Policy
Melbourne Oxford University Press 1998 p230
39 Competition is defined as the 'striving or potential striving of two or more persons or
organisations against one another for the same or related objects'. Clarke and Corones
pill. The goal of competition policy is to increase efficiency.
40 Independent Committee of Inquiry Towards A National Competition Policy 'Hilmer
Report' AGPS Canberra 1993 as quoted in Clarke and Corones pl4 singled out the
cost to consumers of the anti-competitive practices of professions such as lawyers. It
was found that professional and industry codes often contain restrictions on
competition, for example restrictions on advertising, fee competition and working with
non-members. Restrictions of this kind are likely to contravene s. 45 of the Trade
Practice Act 1974 (Cth) unless they are exempt from the Act or authorisation is
obtained.
41 The purchaser-provider agreements between medical insurance funds and hospitals as
well as hospital day facilities are an example of the effect of competition policy on the
medical profession. D Mendelson 'Devaluation of A Constitutional Guarantee The
History of Section 51 (xxiiiA) of the Commonwealth Constitution' Melbourne
University Law Review vol 23 no 2 1999 section VIII The Purchaser-Provider
Agreements pp331-340
42 J M Kizza 'Can Education Solve Society's Computer Ethics Problems?' in Social and
Ethical Effects of the Computer Revolution pp45-52
43 Banks Chapter 3
44 A B Morris 'Effective Information Management A Question of Ethics?' in Social and
Ethical Effects of the Computer Revolution pp32-44
45 J L Fodor 'Human Values in the Computer Revolution' in Social and Ethical Effects
of the Computer Revolution p258

74