Blog Entries Based on Weekly Study of Ethics - Essay Example

Weekly Blog Post Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Course Name Date of Submission Weekly Blog Post Week Three This week’s lesson on ethics and self-control has certainly been an eye opener to me. The lesson has highlighted a number of things that I did not know or taken for granted. The Marshmallow -experiment on the importance of self-control, in particular, proved very educative. Based on the experiment, it emerged that self-control is a virtue that is critical for one to succeed in life. During the study, the researcher observed that children who demonstrate self-control under difficult situations performed better at school compared to those that did not demonstrate self–control (Delaney, 2009). The experiment also found that those children that were able to control themselves found better jobs and did not fall on the wrong side of the law frequently. This is a very powerful lesson that anyone that intend to succeed in life cannot afford to ignore. At times, people find themselves in a tricky situation that calls for self-control. For instance, it has been demonstrated that people who cannot control themselves might end up committing suicide or kill their colleagues. However, people who are able to demonstrate self-control do take their time to ensure that they act on a matter after giving it a second though and evaluating its consequences. The week’s lesson also proved important to me because it demonstrated what ethics entails and some of the ethical principles that can be applied when faced with an ethical dilemma. The lecture defined ethics as the things that people do when they are not been seen. However, accordingly to utilitarian theory, people should strive to do that which is generates the greatest pleasure to the greatest number (Delaney, 2009). This is certainly a very powerful ethical principle that we might use in solving decisions involving ethics be it in business or personal life. Week Four Ethics has become a hot topic in the business community today. This is attributed to the desire of business managers to make money that sometimes result in unethical conduct. This lesson, therefore, is very educative since it highlights the importance of ethical integrity, particularly by the information technology professionals. Today, accountability and ethical integrity is very critical for the success of a business, considering the extensive reliance on IT today by individuals, corporations and governments (Al-A'ali, 2008). This lesson has highlighted that, maintaining high standards of integrity and accountability by IT professionals is critical because it helps boost an individual or a company’s corporate image, which contribute to success. Additionally, the lesson also proved educative because it delved into the aspect of culture with regards to computer ethics, which is very critical considering that we live in a global community. In particular, the week’s lesson explored computer ethics from the perspectives of the Islamic community. Accordingly, we get to learn that, it is not only the Christian community that value ethical values among IT professionals, but also the Islamic community. Additionally, software piracy, intellectual property theft, and software development issues are serious ethics issues that IT professionals are confronted with in their daily activities. Presently, there are many cases that involve IT professionals getting involved in software theft, IP theft and software development problems (Al-A'ali, 2008). Some IT professionals engage in such unethical behaviors without understanding the moral issues associated with such acts. As such, I found this lesson very educating and informative on these issues as the lecture was able to demonstrate how ethical principles, such as deontological, virtue ethics and consequential ethics can be applied to help minimize IT professionals involving in such unethical practices. Therefore, I intend to utilize the lessons learned about computer ethics to promote ethical behaviors in professional life. Week Five Code of Conduct has become an important tool that companies use to instill ethical behaviors in employees (Reynolds, 2014). According to the lesson, a code of conduct is a blue print guideline that defines how employees are expected to behave in the company. As such, the lesson has been educative to me because it has highlighted the importance of having a good ethical code and the needs to ensure that it is implemented. In fact, it is in this lesson that I came to understand why most companies are presently developing a code of conduct. In particular, I learned that most companies develop an ethical code to ensure that employees demonstrate acceptable behaviors when dealing while in the company. In fact, this reminded me of the recent case at Volkswagen. Volkswagen is currently embroiled in a scandal involving cheating on nitrogen emission after it emerged that the engineers of the company installed the so-called “defeat software” that ensured that the cars do not provide the correct emissions that come from the cars when being tested. Although Volkswagen has an ethical code that requires that all employees act fairly and honestly, this did not prevent the company from engaging in unethical behaviors. Therefore, from this lesson and the case at Volkswagen, I have come to understand that the codes of conducts that companies develop can only work if the leaders themselves behave ethically and implement it. Otherwise, a code of conduct becomes just a statement or a blueprint (Reynolds, 2014). As such, based on what I have learned in this lesson, I intend to ensure that I assist in the development of an effective ethical code in an organization that I would work for to ensure that the organization behave ethically to ensure that the interest of shareholders and all the other stakeholders are protected. Week Six Lesson six is certainly one of the lessons that have had a huge impact on my life. Being a strong advocate of environmental conservation, I found the lesson very informative particularly in the present day society, where climate change has become an issue of concern. The entire planet is currently experiencing global warming effect that has contributed to climate change. Some of the devastating effects of climate change include prolonged drought, increased flooding, rising sea levels, increased glacial movements and typhoons, just to name but a few (Maeda, 2014). However, since attending the lesson six seminar and the lessons I have learned in class, I was amazed to learn how IT operations are a major contributor to environmental degradation, something that most of us are either unaware of or take for granted. The good thing about the lesson is that it highlighted how the adoption of Green IT can help in addressing the problem of environmental degradation and climate change (Wohlgemuth, 2009). This is because Green IT aims to reduce the negative effects of IT operations on the environment by ensuring that IT operations, such as designing, operating, manufacturing and disposing of IT related gadgets are done in an environmentally sound manner. Additionally, I learned that Green IT is a good strategy of tackling climate change problem and environmental degradation since it ensures a reduction in the use of poisonous materials, as well as ensuring efficiency in the use of energy. Therefore, I came to the conclusion after the lesson and the subsequent seminar that, in order for the world to tackle the problem of climate change and environmental degradation, the IT sector must be an area of focus. In this respect, individuals, corporations and governments should consider implementing Green IT to help in the fight against global warming so as to help build a world that is conducive to live and do business. Week Seven Week seven lecture was very informative as it highlighted a number of things that I was not aware of before the lesson. Firstly, I found week seven lecture interesting and educative because it highlighted how technology has changed not only the business environment, but also impacted hugely on the society. In the workplace, for instance, I was able to learn how the adoption of IT in companies has helped transform businesses. For instance, I learned how technology has helped increased productivity by making work simpler and faster. For instance, jobs that used to take several days, weeks or months can presently be done within a very short time and accurately because of the power of IT, such as computers (Quinn, 2011). Secondly, the lecture also highlighted how IT has transformed the job market by globalizing it. This is true because, presently, there are many jobs that are done online without necessarily having to be in an office. Accordingly, this has resulted in increased outsourcing and off-shoring of work. Additionally, with the advancements in technology, I learned that companies are increasingly implementing flexible work schedules, such as teleworking to enable people have a work/life program. However, the most interesting part of the week seven lecture was the concept of digital divide. From the lecture, I learned that, as much as there has been advancement in all parts of the world as far as technology adoption is concerned, certain regions and demographics still lag behind in terms of technology adoption in what is called divide. For instance, developed countries are ahead of developing countries in terms of IT adoption because developing countries still lack adequate IT resources and expertise to enable them adopts IT (Quinn, 2011). Additionally, I learned from the week seven lesson that digital divide also exist between the older generation, such as the baby boomers and the generation Y. However, in order for the world to advance at the same pace, there is a need to address the problem of digital divide as this would ensure that every region or individual has equal opportunity as far as technology adoption is concerned. However, the most disgusting thing I learned in this lecture is that, as much as IT adoption is beneficial, it has contributed to massive job loss, particularly to the non-technology savvy individuals such as the old. Week Eight Privacy is one of the fundamental human rights that are spelt out in the constitution. Although everyone has a right to privacy, this right appears to be under extreme threat in the information age (Solove, 2007). Accordingly, this lecture proved very informative as it highlighted the importance of privacy as a fundamental human right and the privacy issues that people are confronted with today because of the advancements in technology. In particular, the lecture broadened my knowledge with regards to the techniques that have put privacy of individuals. According to the lecture, encryption, identity theft, data mining and wiretapping have put the privacy of all of us under serious threat. This implies that, with these techniques, our movements and what we do can be put under surveillance by others, thereby resulting in a violation of privacy. The lecture also proved helpful to me because it highlighted how cyber criminals currently used a variety of techniques to steal an individual’s personal information, which the criminal can use to access confidential information such as credit cards. As such, the lesson was important as it also provided strategies that one can use to avoid their personal information from being stolen by cyber criminals. The lesson learned this week also reflects the controversy that is currently witnessed in the workplace. Presently, most organizations use technology to monitor the actions of their employees so as to ensure that they are productive and do not engage in unethical behaviors. However, the use of technology to monitor the actions of employees has raised ethical issues with the employees terming it a violation of the privacy rights of workers (DSolove, 2004). However, this week’s lesson proved beneficial to me as it highlights the various laws that deal with privacy rights and how these laws and the ethical theories can help solve this workplace dilemma. Week Nine Intellectual property has been a hot topic in the recent past. However, many people just hear about the term but do not understand what it entails. Accordingly, this lesson proved critical to me who had little knowledge of what intellectual property entails and its importance. During the lesson, I learned that intellectual property right is a critical tool that an individual or company can use to protect a piece of work, design or innovation from being used by others without authorization. Nevertheless, as much as intellectual property rights is meant to offer protection, the lecture showed that intellectual property theft has been on the rise due to the advancements in technology. Today, most artists, authors and companies are under increased intellectual property theft as unscrupulous people are now are able to use IT to copy, duplicate, or use a piece of work of invention as their own (Johns, 2010). This lesson reminded on China that has been criticized for copy-cat. On many occasions, China has been accused on IP violations that make many companies afraid of dealing with the country for fear that the Chinese people might steal their trade secrets and use it for their advantage (Torremans, Shan and Erauw, 2007). Additionally, the lesson also reminded me of the increased theft of music, and books through copying. Despite the increased threat of IP right, the lesson proved critical since it highlighted some of the strategies that an individual or a company can use to protect an idea, innovation or a piece of work. These include trademarks, service marks, and patents and copyright (Brynjolfsson and McAfee, 2014). Accordingly, I intend to use the lessons learned in this lecture to enhance intellectual property protection in the future. Week Ten Week ten lecture was valuable and very interesting in almost aspects. However, what interested me most had to do with the accusations that are directed against Generation Y of Generation Me. Generation Y, according to Spinney (2005), are those born between 1980 and 2000. Unlike the baby boomers, they are technology savvy, experimental and are driven by ego. Although some of the accusations and flacks directed against Generation Y are true, I found some discriminatory and untrue. For instance, I found it wrong to generalize all Generation Y as being arrogant, spoiled and narcissistic. This is because personally I am a Generation Y but is not arrogant, nor am I spoiled. However, the lecture was right to point that the majority of Generation Me demand much attention, driven by ego and have high expectation something that make them become depressed. However, what need to be understood that unlike the baby boomers that grew up in the absence of the technologies we see today, the behaviors of Generation Y have been influenced by the technological advancements. Personally, I have learned that Generation Y learn mainly from what they see in the internet and want to copy what they see those whom they admire do, such as celebrities. Additionally, although I found it difficult grasping most of the concepts, the lesson was helpful to me in the sense that it taught me the uses of arguments and how to argue a point in a manner that can be understood without offending the audience. The lecture also provided a description of the Toulmin Model which differentiates different concepts, including claim, ground, warrant and backing (Toulmin, 2003). By the end of the lesson, I knew what these concepts/ terms means and who to use them on a day to day conversation. Nevertheless, I found it difficult to understand the concept of “making a human,” and this part looked boring to me. Week Eleven Week eleven lecture was very informative and educative and I found the lesson very interesting. Because the lecture introduced new development models that are of great importance, particularly in the present day society. For instance, I learned that open-source revolution that is just about to emerge would be of huge benefit to the general public. This is because this computer program would enable the general public use and modify the source code from its original design without any problem (Garrigos-Simon, Gil-Pechuán, and Estelles-Miguel, 2015). This implies that there would be a universal access to productions, design, and redistribution of designs to anyone. I find this model very interesting and beneficial to the public as it will make available, source code, documentations and blueprints free to the public. However, what did not come out clear during the lecture has to do with whether or not the internet access would be free under open-source model. The lecture was also very informative as it was during the lecture that I first heard of the term crowdsourcing. During the lecture, I learned that crowdsourcing is a new model that was introduced in 2005 and is expected to change the business environment in a big way. In particular, with crowdsourcing, companies would be able to source for talented employees from a large group, such as online rather than through traditional sources that would help in the deliver of the services, contents and ideas. Accordingly, I found that crowsourcing could be the next new model that would make it easy for employers to source for talents from different parts of the world, thereby ensuring that employers get the right people for the job. This implies that crowsourcing could become a source of competitive advantage for businesses (Garrigos-Simon, Gil-Pechuán, and Estelles-Miguel, 2015). Week Twelve Week twelve lectures were among the most interesting lessons that I found very enjoyable. This is because it resonated well with what we see happen in today’s society. In particular, the lecture highlighted how information technology presently acts as a useful political tool. Social media, in particular have become a very useful political tool (Pătruţ and Pătruţ, 2014). Currently, activists and politicians use social media to rally people towards a political cause by voicing their issues and concerns, as well as rallying people to stand against autocratic governments. The Hong Kong protest of 2014 was especially fueled by social media that was used to call people to take to the streets to make their voice heard. Similarly, the Arab Spring of 2010 that resulted in the toppling of former autocratic leaders, including the Tunisian, Algerian, Libyan and Egyptian presidents was mainly fueled by social media. Reports have indicated that politicians and activists took to the social media sites, such as Facebbook and Twitter, where they called on their supporters from all over the world to take to the streets in protest against the autocratic leaders that were power hungry and did not want to see democracy thrive in their countries (Pătruţ and Pătruţ, 2014). Because of social media, huge protests were seen in major cities, resulting in the toppling of the unwanted leaders. Therefore, the lesson was very useful and educative since it showed how people can use information technology in the present day society as a political tool. However, one may wonder whether there could be other IT tools that can be used as political tools other than social media because the lecture seen not to have highlighted this. Self-Assessment I wish to begin by stating that the course was very educative as it highlighted a numbers of ethical issues that people and businesses are confronted and how best to overcome such ethical challenges. However, I believe that I fared well in compiling the blogs and meeting the assignment and marking criteria. Therefore, based on the hard work I put in compiling the journal, I strongly believe that I deserve a distinction (DI) score. Firstly, I believe that I deserve a DI score because I was able to not only complete 10 blogs as required, but also ensured that each of the blog meet the word count required of about 300 words. Secondly, I deserve a DI score in the assignment because I not only covered the course content and the learning materials, but was also related them to real life experiences. In this respect, I was able to analyze the concepts and theories presented in class and link them to how they can be applied in real life situation, such as in decision making. For instance, I was able to relate how John Stwart Miller and colleagues’ utilitarianism theory to how it can be applied in resolving an ethical dilemma. Additionally, I deserve a DI score in this assignment since I ensured that I contacted a variety of scholarly materials when compiling the blogs. The scholarly source assisted me a great deal in the analysis of the course materials. Moreover, I ensured that I used 15 scholarly sources consisting of books and journal articles as per the assignment requirements to validate my work. Above all, I ensured that I observed professionalism and used academic language throughout the paper, which is part of the assignment requirements. The work is also edited and may contain just a few unintentional errors, though I have ensured that it is professional and easy to read and understand by using clear English. Therefore, I have met all the assignment and marking requirements, I am strongly convinced that I deserve a distinction. References Al-A'ali, M. (2008).Computer ethics for the computer professional from an Islamic point of view. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 6(1), 28 – 45. Brynjolfsson, E., & McAfee, A. (2014). The second machine age: Work, progress, and prosperity in a time of brilliant technologies. New York, NY: Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing. Daniel J. Solove (2004). The digital person: technology and privacy in the information age. New York, NY: NYU Press. Delaney, J. (2009). Starting with Rousseau. London: Continuum Garrigos-Simon, F. J., Gil-Pechuán, I., & Estelles-Miguel, S. (2015). Advances in crowdsourcing. London: Springer. Johns, A. (2010). Piracy: The intellectual property wars from Gutenberg to Gates. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Maeda, J. (2014). Designing for simplicity. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHsXfmHaBUo Pătruţ, B., & Pătruţ, M. (2014). Social media in politics: Case studies on the political power of social media. London: Springer. Reynolds, G. (2014). Ethics in information technology. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Solove, D. J. (2007). The future of reputation: gossip, rumor, and privacy on the Internet. New York, NY: Yale University Press. Spinney, L. (2005). New scientist, volume 187, issues 2509-2510. New York, NY: New Science Publications. Torremans, P., Shan, H., & Erauw, J. (2007). Intellectual property and TRIPS compliance in China: Chinese and European Perspectives. Boston, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing Toulmin, S. E. (2003). The uses of argument. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. Quinn, M. J. (2011). Ethics for the information age. Fourth edition. New York, NY: Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing. Wohlgemuth, V. (2009). Information technology and climate change: 2nd International Conference IT for empowerment. Berlin: Trafo-Verlag. Read More

Today, accountability and ethical integrity is very critical for the success of a business, considering the extensive reliance on IT today by individuals, corporations and governments (Al-A'ali, 2008). This lesson has highlighted that, maintaining high standards of integrity and accountability by IT professionals is critical because it helps boost an individual or a company’s corporate image, which contribute to success. Additionally, the lesson also proved educative because it delved into the aspect of culture with regards to computer ethics, which is very critical considering that we live in a global community.

In particular, the week’s lesson explored computer ethics from the perspectives of the Islamic community. Accordingly, we get to learn that, it is not only the Christian community that value ethical values among IT professionals, but also the Islamic community. Additionally, software piracy, intellectual property theft, and software development issues are serious ethics issues that IT professionals are confronted with in their daily activities. Presently, there are many cases that involve IT professionals getting involved in software theft, IP theft and software development problems (Al-A'ali, 2008).

Some IT professionals engage in such unethical behaviors without understanding the moral issues associated with such acts. As such, I found this lesson very educating and informative on these issues as the lecture was able to demonstrate how ethical principles, such as deontological, virtue ethics and consequential ethics can be applied to help minimize IT professionals involving in such unethical practices. Therefore, I intend to utilize the lessons learned about computer ethics to promote ethical behaviors in professional life.

Week Five Code of Conduct has become an important tool that companies use to instill ethical behaviors in employees (Reynolds, 2014). According to the lesson, a code of conduct is a blue print guideline that defines how employees are expected to behave in the company. As such, the lesson has been educative to me because it has highlighted the importance of having a good ethical code and the needs to ensure that it is implemented. In fact, it is in this lesson that I came to understand why most companies are presently developing a code of conduct.

In particular, I learned that most companies develop an ethical code to ensure that employees demonstrate acceptable behaviors when dealing while in the company. In fact, this reminded me of the recent case at Volkswagen. Volkswagen is currently embroiled in a scandal involving cheating on nitrogen emission after it emerged that the engineers of the company installed the so-called “defeat software” that ensured that the cars do not provide the correct emissions that come from the cars when being tested.

Although Volkswagen has an ethical code that requires that all employees act fairly and honestly, this did not prevent the company from engaging in unethical behaviors. Therefore, from this lesson and the case at Volkswagen, I have come to understand that the codes of conducts that companies develop can only work if the leaders themselves behave ethically and implement it. Otherwise, a code of conduct becomes just a statement or a blueprint (Reynolds, 2014). As such, based on what I have learned in this lesson, I intend to ensure that I assist in the development of an effective ethical code in an organization that I would work for to ensure that the organization behave ethically to ensure that the interest of shareholders and all the other stakeholders are protected.

Week Six Lesson six is certainly one of the lessons that have had a huge impact on my life. Being a strong advocate of environmental conservation, I found the lesson very informative particularly in the present day society, where climate change has become an issue of concern. The entire planet is currently experiencing global warming effect that has contributed to climate change. Some of the devastating effects of climate change include prolonged drought, increased flooding, rising sea levels, increased glacial movements and typhoons, just to name but a few (Maeda, 2014).

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