Professional Ethics in

Computing
UNITS 5 - PROFESSIONALISM

Presented by:

Clement M. Sinyangwe (Mr)

 Course Outline
At the end of this unit, you should be able to do the following

 Describe common practices of ICT professionals

 Understand the expected conduct of the ICT professionals

 Explain the importance of Professionalism

 Apply good practices amongst ICT professionals

 Introduction
 Professionalism, in the sense described in the quotation above, is arguably more
important in some occupations than others are.

 It is vital in some because of the life and death decisions that must be made, for
example, in medicine.

 In others, the rapidly changing nature of the occupation makes efficient regulation
difficult and so the professional behaviour of the practitioners is central to the
functioning of that occupation.

 The central idea behind this unit is that this process of rapid change is relevant to
information and communications technology (ICT).
 Introduction
 It is always essential to be professional if you want to be successful in your profession. But what
does "being professional" actually mean?

 For some, being professional might mean dressing smartly at work, or doing a good job.

 For others, being professional means having advanced degrees or other certifications, framed and
hung on the office wall. Professionalism encompasses all of these definitions.

 However, it also covers much more. So, what is professionalism, and why does it matter? Moreover,
how can you be completely professional in your day-to-day role?

 In this unit, we will explore all of these questions, so that you can present a professional image in the
workplace
 Professionalism
What is it?

 The conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession

or a professional person.

 The definitions imply that professionalism encompasses a number of

different attributes, and, together, these attributes identify and define
a professional.

 So, what are these attributes?

 Professionalism
Specialized Knowledge

 First and foremost, professionals are known for their specialized knowledge.

 They've made a deep personal commitment to develop and improve their

skills, and, where appropriate, they have the degrees and certifications that
serve as the foundation of this knowledge.
 Professionalism
Competency

 Professionals get the job done.

 They're reliable, and they keep their promises.

 If circumstances arise that prevent them from delivering on their promises,

they manage expectations up front, and they do their best to make the
situation right.
 Professionalism
Honesty and Integrity

 Professionals exhibit qualities such as honesty and integrity .

 They keep their word, and they can be trusted implicitly because of this.

 They never compromise their values , and will do the right thing, even when
it means taking a harder road.
 Professionalism
Accountability

 Professionals hold themselves accountable for their thoughts, words, and

actions, especially when they've made a mistake.

 This personal accountability is closely tied to honesty and integrity, and it's a
vital element in professionalism.
 Professionalism
Self-Regulation

 They also stay professional under pressure. For instance, imagine a customer
service employee who's faced with an annoyed customer.

 Instead of getting upset or angry in return, the employee exhibits true

professionalism by maintaining a calm, business-like demeanor, and by
doing everything that she can to make the situation right.
 Professionalism
Image

 Professionals don't show up to work carelessly dressed, with shabby hair.

They're polished, and they dress appropriately for the situation.

 Because of this, they display the air of confidence, and they gain respect for
this.
 Professionalism
Other attributes include:

 Empathy
 Self - motivation
 Appearance and personal hygiene
 Self - confidence
 Communications
 Time management
 Teamwork and diplomacy
 Respect
 Careful delivery of service
 How to Exhibit Professionalism
As you can see from these characteristics, professionals are the kind of
people that others respect and value. They are a genuine credit to their
organizations!

This is why it's so important that we work to earn a professional reputation in

the workplace.

True professionals are the first to be considered for promotions, they are
awarded valuable projects or clients, and they are routinely successful in their
careers.
 How to Exhibit Professionalism
Here are some further strategies that will help you be more professional in the
workplace:

i. Build Expertise
 Do not let your knowledge and skills get outdated. Make a commitment to build
expertise and stay up-to-date with your industry.

ii. Develop Your Emotional Intelligence

 Professionals can sense the emotional needs of others. They are able to give clients
and coworkers what they need, because they know how to listen actively and
observe what is happening. So, if you want to improve your professionalism, focus
on developing emotional intelligence.
 How to Exhibit Professionalism
iii. Honor Your Commitments
 Whenever you make a promise to your boss, colleagues, or clients, keep it. If it looks as if
you will not be able to meet a deadline, let your boss, team or client know as soon as
sensibly possible.

 However, do what you can to avoid ending up in this situation! Do not make excuses
instead; focus on meeting expectations as best you can, and on making the situation right.
 
iv. Be Polite
 Be kind and polite and use good manners to everyone you come into contact with, no
matter what their role is, and no matter how you're feeling. This might sound unimportant,
but it makes a significant impact.
 How to Exhibit Professionalism
Have the Tools You Need

 Do you show up to a client meeting lacking important samples?

 Or arrive at work, only to realize that you left a vital file at home?

 Alternatively, do you find yourself operating in situations where you do not have the skills
needed to do a good job?

 True professionals are always prepared.

 This requires advance planning, timeliness, and attention.

 Focus on improving your time management and planning skills, so that you are always in
control.
 How to Exhibit Professionalism

 Although professionalism means keeping commitments, doing high quality

work, and having expert status, occasionally the pursuit of these attributes
might tempt you not to volunteer for projects that fall outside your
"comfort zone.

 However, this does not necessarily mean that you should not try! Analyse
risks beforehand to minimize the consequences of getting things wrong, be
honest about any skills gaps that you have, and work to fill them.
END
UNITS 6 - ETHICS FOR
ICT
WORKERS AND USERS
 Course Outline
At the end of this unit, you should be able to do the following

 Distinguishing a professional from other kinds of Workers, and whether

ICT worker considered a professional.
 Factors for transforming the professional services industry.
 Understand the relationships that ICT workers has to manage, and the
key ethical issues on each?
 Introduction
 Ethics are simply moral principles that govern a person's behaviour or the
conducting of an activity.

 Ethics are synonymous to professionalism while a profession is a calling

that requires specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic
preparation.

 Over the years, the United States government adopted labor laws and
regulations that required a more precise definition of what is meant by a
professional employee.
 Introduction
 The United States Code of federal regulations defines a “professional employee” as one
who is engaged in the performance of work:

 professionals such as doctors, lawyers, and accountants require advanced training and
experience; they must exercise discretion and judgment in the course of their work; and
their work cannot be standardized.

 Many people would also expect professionals to contribute to society, to participate in a

lifelong training program (Both formal and informal), to keep abreast of developments in
their field, and to assist other professionals in their development.

 Therefore, this unit brings out professionalism in form of ethics for ICT workers and
users.
 ETHICS FOR ICT WORKERS AND USERS
Are ICT Workers Professional

 Many business workers have duties, backgrounds, and training that qualify them to be
classified as professionals, including marketing analysts, financial consultants, and ICT
specialists such as mobile application developers, software engineers, systems analysts, and
network administrators.

 One could argue, however, that not every ICT role requires “knowledge of an advanced type
in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized
intellectual instruction and study,” to quote again from the United States Code.
 ETHICS FOR ICT WORKERS AND USERS

 From a legal perspective, ICT workers are not recognized as

professionals because they are not licensed by the state or other
authorities.

 This distinction is important, for example, in malpractice lawsuits, as

many courts have ruled that ICT workers are not liable for malpractice
because they do not meet the legal definition of a professional.
 PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS THAT MUST BE
MANAGED

 ICT workers typically become involved in many

different relationships, including those with
employers, clients, suppliers, other professionals,
ICT users, and society at large as illustrated in the
Figure.

 In each relationship, an ethical ICT worker acts

honestly and appropriately. These various
relationships are discussed in the following
sections.
 ICT Workers and Employers

 ICT workers and employers have a critical, multifaceted relationship that requires
ongoing effort by both parties to keep it strong.

 An ICT worker and an employer typically agree on fundamental aspects of this

relationship before the worker accepts an employment offer.

 These issues may include job title, general performance expectations, specific work
responsibilities, drug-testing requirements, dress code, location of employment, salary,
work hours, and company benefits.
 ICT Workers and Employers
 As the stewards of an organization’s ICT resources, ICT workers must set an example and enforce
policies regarding the ethical use of ICT. ICT workers often have the skills and knowledge to abuse
systems and data or to enable others to do so.

 Software piracy is an area in which ICT workers may be tempted to violate laws and policies.

 Although end users often get the blame when it comes to using illegal copies of commercial software,
software piracy in a corporate setting is sometimes directly traceable to ICT staff members either they
allow it to happen or they actively engage in it, often to reduce ICT -related spending.
 ICT Workers and Clients
 ICT workers provide services to clients; sometimes those “clients” are coworkers who are part
of the same organization as the ICT worker. In other cases, the client is part of a different
organization.
 In relationships between ICT workers and clients, each party agrees to provide something of
value to the other.
 The ICT worker provides hardware, software, or services at a certain cost and within a given
period. For example, an ICT worker might agree to implement a new accounts payable
software package that meets a client’s requirements.
 The client provides compensation, access to key contacts, and perhaps a workspace.
 ICT Workers and Clients
 Typically, the client makes decisions about a project based on information,
alternatives, and recommendations provided by the ICT worker.

 The client trusts the ICT worker to use his or her expertise and to act in the client’s
best interests.

 The ICT worker must trust that the client will provide relevant information, listen
to and understand what the ICT worker says, ask questions to understand the
impact of key decisions, and use the information to make wise choices among
various alternatives.

 Thus, the responsibility for decision-making is shared between client and ICT
worker.
 ICT Workers and Clients
 Sometimes ICT projects go wrong because of cost overruns, schedule slippage, lack of
system functionality, and so on, aggrieved parties might charge fraud, fraudulent
misrepresentation, and/or breach of contract.

 Trials can take years to settle, generate substantial legal fees, and create bad publicity for
both parties.

 Clients and vendors often disagree about who is to blame in such circumstances. Consider
the following frequent causes of problems in ICT projects:

 The customer changes the scope of the project or the system requirements.
 ICT Workers and Clients
 Poor communication between customer and vendor leads to
performance that does not meet expectations.

 The vendor delivers a system that meets customer requirements, but a

competitor comes out with a system that offers more advanced and
useful features.

 The customer fails to reveal information about legacy systems or

databases that make the new system extremely difficult to implement.
 ICT Workers and Supplier
 ICT workers deal with many different hardware, software, and service providers. Most
ICT workers understand that building a good working relationship with suppliers
encourages the flow of useful communication as well as the sharing of ideas.

 Such information can lead to innovative and cost-effective ways of using the supplier’s
products and services that the ICT worker may never have considered.

 ICT workers can develop good relationships with suppliers by dealing fairly with them
and not making unreasonable demands.

 Threatening to replace a supplier, who cannot deliver needed equipment tomorrow, when
the normal industry lead-time is one week, is aggressive behavior that does not help
build a good working relationship.
 ICT Workers and Supplier
 Suppliers strive to maintain positive relationships with their customers in order to
make and increase sales.

 To achieve this goal, they may sometimes engage in unethical actions for
example, offering an ICT worker a gift that is actually intended as a bribe.

 Clearly, ICT workers should not accept a bribe from a vendor, and they must be
careful when considering what constitutes a bribe.

 For example, accepting invitations to expensive dinners or payment of entry fees

for a golf tournament may seem innocent to the recipient, but it may be perceived
as bribery by an auditor.
 ICT Workers and Supplier
 Bribery is the act of providing money, property, or favors to someone in business
or government in order to obtain a business advantage.

 An obvious example is a software supplier sales representative who offers money

to another company’s employee to get its business.

 This type of bribe is often referred to as a kickback or a payoff. The person who
offers a bribe commits a crime when the offer is made, and the recipient is guilty
of a crime if he or she accepts the bribe.

 A former midlevel supply chain manager at Apple pled guilty in 2011 to

taking over $1 million in payments from certain iPhone, iPad, and iPod
suppliers in China, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan.
 ICT Workers and Supplier
 The kickbacks took place over several years and were in exchange for the employer
providing confidential information about Apple’s production plans, enabling the
suppliers to negotiate more favorable deals with Apple.

 He now faces 20 years in prison on charges of money laundering, receiving kickbacks,

and wire fraud.

 In some countries, gifts are an essential part of doing business. In fact, in some countries,
it would be considered rude not to bring a present to an initial business meeting.

 In the United States, a gift might take the form of free tickets to a sporting event from a
personnel agency that wants to get on your company’s list of preferred suppliers.
ICT Workers and Supplier

DISCUSSION

At what point does a gift

become a bribe, and who
decides?
 ICT Workers and Supplier
 The key distinguishing factor is that no gift should be hidden.

 A gift may be considered a bribe if it is not declared. As a result, most companies require that
all gifts be declared and that everything but token gifts be declined.

 Some companies have a policy of pooling the gifts received by their employees, auctioning
them off, and giving the proceeds to charity.

 When it comes to distinguishing between bribes and gifts, the perceptions of the donor and
the recipient can differ.

 The recipient may believe he received a gift that in no way obligates him to the donor,
particularly if the gift was not cash.

 The donor’s intentions, however, might be very different.

 ICT Workers and Supplier
Table below shows some distinctions between bribes and gifts.
 ICT Workers and Professionals
 Professionals often feel a degree of loyalty to the other members of their profession.

 As a result, they are often quick to help each other obtain new positions but slow to criticize
each other in public.

 Professionals also have an interest in their profession as a whole, because how it is perceived
affects how individual members are viewed and treated.

 For example, politicians are not generally thought to be very trustworthy, but teachers are.
Hence, professionals owe each other and adherence to the profession’s code of conduct.

 Experienced professionals can also serve as mentors and help develop new members of the
profession.
 ICT Workers and Professionals
 A number of ethical problems can arise among members of the ICT profession.

 One of the most common is résumé inflation, which involves lying on a résumé by,
for example, claiming competence in an ICT skill that is in high demand.

 Even though an ICT worker might benefit in the short term from exaggerating his or
her qualifications, such an action can hurt the profession and the individual in the end.

 Many employers consider lying on a résumé as grounds for immediate dismissal.

 ICT Workers and Professionals
Most frequent areas of résumé falsehood or exaggeration
 ICT Workers and Professionals
 Another ethical issue that can arise in relationships between IT workers and
other professionals is the inappropriate sharing of corporate information.

 Because of their roles, IT workers may have access to corporate databases of

private and confidential information about employees, customers, suppliers,
new product plans, promotions, budgets, and so on.

 It might be sold to other organizations or shared informally during work

conversations with others who have no need to know.
 ICT Workers and ICT Users
 The term ICT user refers to a person who uses a hardware or software product; the term
distinguishes end users from the IT workers who develop, install, service, and support the product.

 ICT users need the product to deliver organizational benefits or to increase their productivity.

 ICT workers have a duty to understand a user’s needs and capabilities and to deliver products and
services that best meet those needs subject, of course, to budget and time constraints.

 ICT workers also have a key responsibility to establish an environment that supports ethical
behavior by users.

 Such an environment discourages software piracy, minimizes the inappropriate use of corporate
computing resources, and avoids the inappropriate sharing of information.
 ICT Workers and Society
 Regulatory laws establish safety standards for products and services to protect the
public.

 However, these laws are less than perfect, and they cannot safeguard against all
negative side effects of a product or process.

 Often, professionals can clearly see the effect their work will have and can take action
to eliminate potential public risks.

 Thus, society expects members of a profession to provide significant benefits and to

not cause harm through their actions.

 One approach to meeting this expectation is to establish and maintain professional

standards that protect the public.
END