Managing Electronic Information: An Ethics Perspective
MANAGING ELECTRONIC INFORMATION: AN ETHICS PERSPECTIVE
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the importance the Ethics in managing electronic information. The methodology and approach used is carried out on six industries to describe the organisational practice of mid level and high level managers in 11 areas of ethical policies. All data was gathered by survey conducted on the mid level and high level managers in these six industries. In the main argument the research paper were carried out in an elaborate way like exactly what's the author is arguing and how clear or relevant their argument is based on their objective. On the one side of the argument the author carried out two different schemes of strategies and each group comprises of unique data sources. It is rated as high and low ethical safeguard groups. Based on these strategies I have argued how well the author is carried out his research in an efficient way which shows how effectively the ethics practice has been followed in major organizational area. On the other hand the author has also suggested a framework for accessing major electronic information activities. Majority of the argument is contributed by a positive approach and points made have technically added value to the research paper. So the future readers can use this strategy or carry out new ones for a much more better result for the existing and future managers in an organisation. In the conclusion part I have mentioned how the over all research paper is commented by my own arguments.
INTRODUCTION
The research paper under critical review is titled "Managing electronic information: an ethics perspective". This paper has been published in an academic journal called "Information Management and computer Security" (2008, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp.20 27), published by "Emerald Group Publishing Limited". This research paper talks about the vital area of managing electronic information – the ethical implications and dimensions; to relate its effectiveness in EI ethics activities in context of original ethics practice and policy, and also suggests a framework for handling ethical disambiguation in managing the major EI activities. The authors of the research paper were from Jesse H.Jones School of business, Texas Southern University and Indiana University Kokomo, U.S.A at the time of this publication in March 2008.
BACKGROUND
EI (Electronic Information) is very important resource of today's effective operating organization. Benefits and advantages of EI is universally known, wrong use of EI would be costly and can cause damage to a great extent to an organistaion. EI should be handled and safe guarded with extreme care, a normal user always assumes that the sources are reliable and authentic but still there are chances of mishandling and misuse.
In order to build trust management should come up with few technical measures and ethical safeguards.
LITERATURE REVIEW
According to author of this journal "EI practices involves every member in an organisation who originates, collects, process, presents and uses EI. Managing EI extends well beyond Chief information officer (CIO) and staff to virtually all organisation managers; where as CIO of an organisation must play a vital role in EI activity".
According to Gottschalk, P (2005) "It was even postulated that in the 1990's, as information became a firm's critical resource, the CIO would become the logical choice for the chief executive officer (CEO) position.
Alignment of business and IT objective is not only the matter of achieving competitive advantage, but is essential for the firm's very survival. As early as 1984, some surveys suggested that one third of U.S Corporation has a CIO function, if not in title"
According to author in this journal "Increasingly, professional ethics codes are addressing EI security as well. Among the leading organizations is the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) (code of ethics, www.acm.org/constitution/code) among its stated purposes is to serve as a guide for ethical decision making among its professional members. Perhaps, most indicative of EI's importance in today's organization is the magnitude of its learning investment in the area"
According to Kent, A (2005)
"Information technology is a potent tool which has been used to achieve goals in an organization, and also a major source for development. Where as same technology can also be misused to create fear in the lives of employees or citizens by all round surveillance supported which is supported by databases with all information on their life aspects. The way the technology is deployed in organisations depends on the decision made as users of information systems, computing professionals, managers and our knowledge of ethics helps us making such decisions.
Ethics and codes of ethics
Ethics is a study of the principles that ought to guide human conduct. Ethics studies what values are worth pursuing in life and what acts are right (or wrong) it is a study of morality. Knowledge of ethics as it applies to the issues arising from the development and use of information systems helps us make decisions in our professional life. Professional knowledge is generally assumed to confer a special responsibility in its domain. The principal code of ethics for computing professionals is the ACM code of professional conduct, binding on the members of the Association for computing machinery. With advancing technology developments and a refined understanding of the potential conduct has been proposed for debate in 1992.
A similar code has been adopted by the data processing management association. Human behaviour falls into three domains, shown in fig 1. The legal domain involves a variety of relatively well specified behaviors, governed by law enforceable in the courts of a given country or within a local jurisdiction. Computer crime and abuse fall into this domain. In the opposite discretionary, domain, we properly act entirely according to our preferences.
The domain of ethics, situated between the two, is governed by the norms and codes of ethics. Ethical considerations go beyond legal liability: just because an action is legal, it doesn't follow that the action is ethical. Although the ethical codes are not enforceable in the courts, a human society would be intolerable in their absence. Therefore, societies have evolved mechanisms that in various ways penalize a breach of ethical norms. But what is to guide us in selecting a course of action? How do we act in an ethical dilemma, a situation in which each course of action appears ethically less than desirable? These questions can be answered by ethical theories".
MAIN ARGUMENT
1.1 STATE WHAT THE AUTHOR IS ARGUING?(CONTENT OF MY AUTHOR'S PAPER)
In this research paper the author is arguing about the importance of ethics in managing electronic information and how ethics policies and practices have been effectively used in EI activities.
The author says "that the computer technology used for generating electronic information (EI) has ethical implications as do the functions of originating, process, storing, distributing and using the data and information. Moreover, each function carries responsibilities for those who perform and manage them, affecting the lives and work of people – the ethical dimension.
A great deal of attention has focused on employee practices such as internet use, perhaps because of legal concerns. However, do the same concerns extend to the other EI activities noted above? Perhaps, the methods of collecting data lack the same legal scrutiny, but they do require decisions having ethical overtones. Further, the ethical considerations should address not only the behaviour, but also the intent, judgment, the consequences and the decision maker's own values and to suggest a framework for handling ethical dilemmas in managing the major EI activities"
1.2 EVALUATE HOW CLEAR/RELEVANT THEIR ARGUMENT IS? /
Author has clearly specified his argument with enough sources to support it by using good methods and techniques to justify his argument.
1.2 EVALUATE HOW CLEAR/RELEVANT THEIR ARGUMENT IS? /2.1 STATE THE METHODS USED BY AUTHOR DATA GATHERING/DATA ANALYSIS/DATA PRESENTATION.
The author has used a primary data collection and quantitative method for collecting data. Author has conducted a survey of mid level and first level managers in six industries where subjects were asked to describe organisation practices in 11 areas of ethics policy application and the respondent firms were compared according to high and low numbers of ethical safeguards; an ethics code, a credo or values statement, written ethics policies – specific and general , ethics development and training, cohesive and a ready access to ethics guidelines at all levels, supportive ethical culture.
In this research the author has used a very good method to measure the level of ethical policies followed by mid level and high level managers in different industries and later analysing the data gathered using a comparison table of high and low ethical safeguard groups, by major organisational area of ethical practice.
Table 1 to show the comparisons of high and low ethical safeguard groups, by major organizational area of ethical practice
| Major activity/practice | HSa means | LSa means | t Values | P (one tailed) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electronic communication | 3.68 | 3.23 | 3.78 | 0.0001 * * |
| Employee relations | 3.42 | 2.86 | 5.14 | 0.00003 * * |
| Staffing | 3.05 | 3.05 | 20.05 | 0.48 |
| Quality and productivity | 3.72 | 3.00 | 5.02 | 0.00005 * * |
| Resolving ethical dilemmas | 3.22 | 2.63 | 5.22 | 0.000002 * * |
| Reporting wrongdoing | 2.92 | 2.77 | 1.43 | 0.077 |
| Legal matters | 3.23 | 3.01 | 2.03 | 0.022 * |
| Safety and health | 2.98 | 2.85 | 1.45 | 0.074 |
| Communications | 3.37 | 3.15 | 2.54 | 0.005 * * |
| Customers | 3.48 | 2.98 | 4.37 | 0.00001 * * |
| Organization priorities | 3.77 | 2.91 | 6.56 | 0.00000002 * * |
Notes: LS – low safeguard group (under four), N ¼ 51; HS – high ethical safeguard group (four to seven safeguards); N ¼ 182; * *significant at 0.01 level; *significant at 0.05 level
The authors study on the influence of ethical safeguards on how and how well ethics codes and policies are applied in practice offers a view point for examining EI communication. In a survey conducted between mid level & first level managers in 6 industries and the subjects were asked to describe organization practices in eleven areas of ethics policy application, Based on the firms which responded firms were compared according to high and low numbers IMCS 16,1 22 of ethical safeguards: an values statement , ethics code, written ethical policies – specific and general, ready access to ethics guidelines at all levels, ethics training and development and a cohesive, supportive ethical culture. The eleven ethical activity areas are those identified in above Table, with EI/communication being first. To provide the larger organizational picture, we also include the ten other areas in Table I, as reported in and adapted from von der Embse et al (2004).While beyond our present scope to analyze the full set of data, it is instructive to note the consistency of results across all areas, with seven of the 11 areas significant well beyond the 0.01 level, strongly reinforcing the observation that ethics safeguards do make a substantial difference in how well the codes and policies are applied in everyday practices (von der Embse et al., 2004). Concerning EI communication, and using a Likert type scale, we asked those surveyed to describe their organization's practices in the following: enforcing their policies on web/internet access; the number of observed policy violations the past month; prohibition on use of e mail for other than company business; employees' latitude in using their judgment in their internet and intranet communications; and the organizations electronic barriers – firewalls – to protect confidential information and break ins.
Results, as noted, closely parallel those in other activity areas, reinforcing the view that EI ethics need to be addressed in the context of the organization's policies and Practices. This extends to specific EI activities as well, where the ramifications of Misbehaviour – or upright behaviour – is magnified. In the following section, we analyze six of these major activity areas, summarized in Table II.
2.2 EVALUATE HOW WELL OR BADLY THE METHODS MEET THEIR RESEARCH OBJECTIVE.
Framework suggested by author for handling ethical dilemmas in managing the major EI activities
The author has used a table in this research paper to explain EI activities and Ethical issues. Table includes Activity, Description of activity and ethical considerations based on which all the activities related to data has been classified.
Extreme care and attention should be given to ethics during each EI activity, each activity is interdependent because of which each activity should be considered and so carelessness in one activity affects the other. Example, if proper attension is not paid for confidentiality of data collection affects the integrity and effectiveness of the process no matter how well the other tasks are performed with respect to ethics.
What data to collect?
For marketing purposes businesses often collect data; however the data collected may not meet the ethical standards because of which using such data might end up affecting people. So inorder to protect this data proper computing technology should be used.
How data are collected
Ethical standards have been violated by businesses which try to collect data without the individual consent which is violation of ethics. Using Electronic equipments without making individual aware may be illegal and can be questioned ethically. Similar to this case, when the company sources or system are used in order to make sure it doesn't harm the organistaion; management can monitor employee internet activity. So this collection of data should always be at consent of individual.
How data is processed
Processing of data which is collected should be processed in such a way that it would not change the meaning of the data. Data should always be process in the right way to maintain its purpose for what it was collected. So proper use of algorithms to make sure there is no favour done between individuals.
How the data are presented
One has to present the data in such a way that there is no unauthorised access to it. For example, if it's a hard copy I.e. sheet of papers then it should be kept safe and well protected and if the presented data is in electronic format the network should be properly secured with enough firewall to make sure only authorised personals can access it. If a company tries to compromise with providing security to data presented in any format to save money then the company is violating the ethics guidelines. So this data should always be presented and distributed with individual consent.
What is the purpose of the data?
Data is collected from individual for many purposes like credit purpose, performance evaluation, marketing and so on. This data should serve only its purpose for what it is collected and should not be misused for any other purposes. There are lot of IT ethics cases nowadays where people are misusing technology because of which ethics in IT is turning to be more complex.
CONCLUSION
This research has outlined the importance of ethics in managing electronic information and a suggested framework for accessing major electronic information activity with respect to ethics. Though the research is very narrow and has focused only on IT industries this research motivates the other researches to be conducted not only in IT industry it but can also be proceed to different streams of industries for an example Banking sector, Business, and all the organisations which deals with individual information and its own information. Overall, the research carried out as a technically sounded research. However, there are one or two loopholes, which overtaken by the more positive approach in this research. Even to avoid these loop holes and expand the positive qualities to the research paper the fore coming readers can do research on the same topic and can take those limitations as considerations and proceed in a wide and broader study. This process can do by the same way with quite possible alterations in it. It furthermore classified into in depth study so the future and existing individuals or organisation will get a more clear solution.
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