The Development Of A Code Of Ethics: An Online Classroom Approach To Making Connections Between Ethical Foundations And The Challenges Presented By Information Technology

Abstract

In today's organizations, ethical challenges relate to areas like fraud, right to privacy for consumers, social responsibility, and trade restrictions. For Information Technology (IT) specifically, these can translate to considerations on how technology is used to violate people’s privacy, how automation leads to job reductions, or how management information and its corresponding systems are used and abused for personal gain. In the last 25 years, we have seen an overwhelming technology infusion affecting business, education, and society. Virtually all areas of our society have been transformed by the usage of technology. The change is important from an ethical perspective in terms of who Information Technology (IT) workers are today and what their tasks are. In the 1980s, IT workers were mainly limited to technical fields, such as programming, data processing, server administration, and phone services. Today, IT workers are integrated into every department of organizations, they function globally, and they have access to a wealth of knowledge and information (Payne & Landry, 2006). With the power and the skills to access such large amounts of data comes the need for ethical employees. Morality of respect doesn’t appear, fully formed, at a particular age. Instead it develops slowly and higher education needs to take a role in this. Higher education, specifically in business schools, needs to take some responsibility in preparing students for the ethical usage of information technology and the underlying information within those systems. In this research investigation, an assignment was provided to students in an online course entitled Ethics and Technology in which they were given the opportunity to develop a code of ethics that focused on key challenge areas in the usage of information technology while at the same time making connections to ethical leaders.