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Ch10 Professional Ethics

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Professional EthicsProfessional ethics has several characteristics that give it a different emphasis from general ethics.

First, the professional is an expert in a field that the customer usually knows little about and therefore the customer must rely on the knowledge, expertise, and honesty of the professional.

“Gift of Fire” Basse 1st ed.

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Professional Ethics (Cont.)Second, the products of professionals can profoundly affect large numbers of people and do considerable harm to victims who are in no position to protect themselves.

Standards change. Specific standards for ethical behavior are developed gradually based not only upon ethical theory, but also on what is possible using current technology and what is generally accepted practice.

“Gift of Fire” Basse 1st ed.

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Professional Ethics (Cont.)

Courage in a professional setting might include: 1. Disclosing the faults and limitations of a product. 2. Declining a job that you are not qualified for.(more on this later). 3. Whistle blowing.

“Gift of Fire” Basse, 3rd ed.

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Responsibilities

The professional has a responsibility to maintain an expected level of competence and be up-to date on professional standards and techniques. Any claim to be a professional (stated or implied) implies that the customer can expect a certain minimum level of expertise, based upon current knowledge, technology and standards of the profession. There is also the responsibility to learn enough about the application field to do a decent job.

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Full Disclosure Required

To be an ethical professional you need to beable to identify all the areas/topics/skills that come to bare on the problem at hand and give full disclosure on your level of expertise and limitations.

This is a tough one to honor because the first impact you will probably see is not getting a work assignment and the pay check that comes with it.

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Moral Status for Organizations?All decisions and actions are made by individuals, but an organization acts with intention and a formal decision structure is a moral entity.

Businesses do have a "corporate culture" or "personality" which is shaped by the decision makers (management) of the business.

A manager's ethical responsibility includes his or her contribution to the company's ethical personality.

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Responsibilities to the Employer

When acting in a professional capacity as an employee there are responsibilities to the employer.

Responsibilities can be listed explicitly or they can be implied.

We have an ethical obligation not to break agreements and contracts.

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Ground Rule

You can view a company policy as being unreasonable but if you agree to it as part of accepting employment, then you have an obligation to honor it. Note: This does not say that you have an obligation to follow any policy that your company develops and then lets you know of after the fact.

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Ground Rule

If one decides to violate a law or rule because it is viewed as unethical, or for any other reason, one must fully accept responsibility for one's actions and for the consequences. (After a violation is the wrong time to figure out why the broken law or rule was in place.)

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Rules, Laws, and Common Practice

Let your first reaction be to honor existingrules, laws, and common practices. When the chemistry professor gives directions on mixing acid and water (acid to water never water to acid) do it that way. When the captain wants rope coiled clockwise as opposed to counter clockwise do it that way.

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Rules, Laws, and Common Practice

Common practices is an interesting one.There usually is no way of spotting the motivation (there might not be one) butseemingly non-significant practices mightbe very significant to members of an organization or family. Your first reaction should be to honor common practices.

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Professional SocietiesMost professional societies such as ACM, IEEE, the British Computer Society, etc. have codes of ethical practice for their members.

Codes coming from engineering related societies tend to place a very high emphasis on safety aspects while computer related societies give less emphasis and tend to consider other losses as well.

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ACMThe Association of Computing Machinery (ACM),established in 1947, is the oldest educational and scientific computing society. With some 80,500 (35% foreign) members it is also the largest computer professional organization.

This is the organization that sponsors the international programming contest and the annual computer chesscontest. (They sponsored the contest in Philadelphia where Deep Blue beat the world champion Kasparov.)

Conferences and publications are strong points of this organization.

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Of Interest

Robert Hyatt, a USM undergraduate started writing a program to play chess. He was joined in his efforts by Albert Gower (music faculty) and Harry Nelson. “Blitz” made it’s first move in 1968 and was in a constant state of development and refinement through 1980 when Cray Computers became a corporate sponsor. “Cray Blitz” competed in computer chess contest from 1980 through 1994. It won the ACM contest several times and was World Champion in 1983 and 1986.

The program left USM when Hyatt accepted a position at the University of Alabama, Birmingham in 1986.

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BCS: Another Approach

The British Computer Society was formed in 1957 and under a Royal Charter granted in 1984 it has the responsibility for education and training, for public awareness, and for standards of competence, conduct, and ethical practice for computing in the United Kingdom. It influences legislation on data protection, safety, copyright, and product liability, and in other areas it provides experts for international standardscommittees and expert witnesses for courts and tribunals.

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UK Code of Practice forSafety-Related Systems

• Take all reasonable care to ensure their work and the consequences of their work cause no unacceptable risk to safety;

• Not make claims for their work and the consequences of their work that are untrue, or misleading, or are not supported by a line of reasoning that is recognized in the particular field of application;

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UK Code of Practice forSafety-Related Systems (Cont.1)

• Accept personal responsibility for all work done by them or under their supervision or direction.

• Take all reasonable steps to maintain and develop their competence by attention to new developments in science and engineering relevant to their field of activity; and encourage others working under their supervision to do the same;

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UK Code of Practice forSafety-Related Systems (Cont.2)

• Declare their limitations if they do not believe themselves to be competent to undertake certain tasks, and declare such limitations should they become apparent after a task has begun;

• Take all reasonable steps to make their own managers, and those to whom they have a duty of care, aware of the risks they identify; and make anyone overruling or neglecting their professional advice formally aware of the consequent risks;

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UK Code of Practice forSafety-Related Systems (Cont.3)

• Take all reasonable steps to ensure that those working under their supervision or direction are competent; that they are made aware of their own responsibilities; and they accept personal responsibility for work delegated to them.

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Ethical ObligationsWe are going to look at a wide range of codes of ethics and will use a framework proposed by Deborah Johnson.

1. obligations to society

2. obligations to the employer

3. obligations to clients

4. obligations to colleagues and to professional organizations.

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Similarities and Differences

While the wording might differ, all the codes address the following points:

• educate the public about IT• protect privacy and confidentiality of

information• avoid misrepresentation of the members

qualifications• avoid misrepresentation of IT capabilities• obey laws• do not take credit for others’ achievements

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Historically

Professional organizations have viewed codes of ethics as a mechanism to establish their status as a profession or as a means to regulate their membership and thereby convince the public that they deserve to be self-regulated.

Codes of ethics have tended to list violations and threaten sanctions for such violations. The “list violations” approach never seemed to work very well.

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Revised ACM Code of Ethicswww.acm.org/serving

1. General Moral Imperatives. As an ACM member I will...

1.1 Contribute to society and human well-being.

1.2 Avoid harm to others.

1.3 Be honest and trustworthy.

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More General Moral Imperatives

1.4 Be fair and take action not to discriminate.

1.5 Honor property rights including copyrights and patents.

1.6 Give proper credit for intellectual property.

1.7 Respect the privacy of others.

1.8 Honor confidentiality.

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More Specific Professional Responsibilities

2.1 Strive to achieve the highest quality, effectiveness and dignity in both the process and products of professional work.

2.2 Acquire and maintain professional competence.

2.3 Know and respect existing laws pertaining to professional work.

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More Specific Professional Responsibilities

If one decides to violate a law or rule because it is viewed as unethical, or for any other reason, one must fully accept responsibility for one's actions and for the consequences.

2.4 Accept and provide appropriate professional review.

2.5 Give comprehensive and thorough evaluations of computer systems and their impacts, including analysis of possible risks.

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Professional Responsibilities

2.6 Honor contracts, agreements, and assigned responsibilities.

2.7 Improve public understanding of computing and its consequences.

2.8 Access computing and communication resources only when authorized to do so.

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Organizational Leadership Imperatives

3.1 Articulate social responsibilities of members of an organizational unit and encourage full acceptance of those responsibilities.

3.2 Manage personnel and resources to design and build information systems that enhance the quality of working life.

3.3 Acknowledge and support proper and authorized uses of an organization's computing and communication resources.

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Organizational Leadership Imperatives

3.4 Ensure that users and those who will be affected by a system have their needs clearly articulated during the assessment and design of requirements. Later the system must be validated to meet requirements.

3.5 Articulate and support policies that protect the dignity of users and others affected by a computing system.

3.6 Create opportunities for members of the organization to learn the principles and limitations of computing systems.

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Compliance with the Code

4.1 Uphold and promote the principles of this code.

4.2 Treat violations of this code as inconsistent with membership in the ACM.