A Question of Ethics You are enjoying your job as a summer intern in the IT depa
ID: 397013 • Letter: A
Question
A Question of Ethics
You are enjoying your job as a summer intern in the IT department of a local company. At lunch yesterday, several people were discussing ethical issues. You learned that some of them belong to IT organizations that have ethical codes to guide members and set professional standards. For example, Ann, your supervisor, belongs to the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), which has over 100,000 members from more than 100 countries and a website at acm.org. Ann said that the ACM code of ethics is important to her, and would definitely influence her views. On the other hand, Jack, a senior programmer, believes that his own personal standards would be sufficient to guide him if ethical questions were to arise.
Because you are excited about your career as an IT professional, you decide to visit ACM’s website to examine the code of ethics and make up your own mind. After you do so, would you tend to agree more with Ann or with Jack? Why?
Explanation / Answer
Answer
I do agree with Ann, because organization's ethical codes and practices must also reflect in the employees ethical practices, because these ethical conducts are framed by considering the values of all the individuals belonging to the firm, but it doesn't mean that personal values or interests are not considered, ethical standards aims to provide good to everyone without harming personal prejudice. Whereas Jack's personal standards may not be ethically right, he can not be guided in a right direction when ethical issues are occurred. So there must be integration of personal and ethical understanding, to be righteous in personal or in professional life.