Ethical and Social Issues in

Information Systems

CHAPTER 4
 UNDERSTANDING ETHICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES
RELATED TO SYSTEMS

Ethics
• moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of
an activity
• Ethics refers to the principles of right and wrong that individuals,
acting as free moral agents, use to make choices to guide their
behaviors
• Examples of societal ethical behavior can include such things as:
Respect for another's property. Refraining from violence against
another. Treating others with civility
Social Issue
• information technology can be used to achieve social progress, but it
can also be used to commit crimes and threaten cherished social
values.
 A MODEL FOR THINKING ABOUT
ETHICAL, SOCIAL, AND
POLITICAL ISSUES
Ethical,social,and political issues are
closely related. Ethical issues
confront individuals who must
choose a course of action,often in a
situation in which two or more ethical
principles are in conflict(a dilemma).
Political issues spring from social
conflict and are mainly concerned
with using laws that prescribe
behavior to create situation sin which
individuals behave correctly
Examples can identify issues
surrounding the five moral
dimensions of the information
age.These include:information rights
and obligations,property rights ando
bligations,accountability and
control,system quality,and quality of
life.
KEY TECHNOLOGY TRENDS THAT RAISE ETHICAL
ISSUES

 Computing power double

severy 18 months
 Data storage costs rapidly
declining
 Data analysis advances
 Networking advance sand the
Internet
 ETHICS IN AN INFORMATION SOCIETY
BASIC CONCEPTS: RESPONSIBILITY, ACCOUNTABILITY,AND
LIABILITY

• Responsibility is a key element of ethical actions.

• Accountability is a feature of systems and social institutions.

• Liability is a feature of political systems in which a body of laws is

in place that permits individual store cover the damages done to
them by other actors,systems,or organizations.

ETHICAL ANALYSIS
1. Identify and describe the facts
clearly.
2. Define the conflict or dilemma
and identify the higher-order
values involved
3. Identify the stakeholders
4. Identify the options that you
can reasonably take
5. Identify the potential
consequences of your
options.
CANDIDATE ETHICAL
PRINCIPLES
what ethical principles or rules
should you use to make a
decision?
I. the Golden Rule
II. Immanuel Kant’s
Categorical Imperative.
III. Descartes’ rule of change
IV. Utilitarian Principle
V. Risk Aversion Principle
VI. This is the ethical “no free
lunch” rule
PROFESSIONAL CODES OF
CONDUCT
A professional codes of conduct
outlines the ethical principles that
govern decisions and behavior at
a company or organization. They
give general outlines of how
employees should behave, as
well as specific guidance for
handling issues like harassment,
safety, and conflicts of interest.
 Promises by professionals to
regulate themselves in the
general interest of society
SOME REAL-WORLD
ETHICAL DILEMMAS
One set of interests pitted
against another
• Example: right of company
to maximize productivity of
workers versus workers
right to use Internet for
personal tasks
 THE MORAL DIMENSIONS OF INFORMATION
SYSTEMS

• Information rights: privacy and freedom in

the Internet age
PROPERTY RIGHTS: INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY
ACCOUNTABILITY,
LIABILITY, AND
CONTROL
SYSTEM QUALITY: DATA QUALITY AND
SYSTEM
ERRORS
QUALITY OF LIFE: EQUITY, ACCESS, AND BOUNDARIES
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