G H Raisoni Academy of Engineering & Technology

(NAAC ACCREDITED)
­Shradha Park, B-37/39/1, MIDC, Off. Hingna-Wadi Link Road, Nagpur-440016

Email:-ghraetnag@raisoni.net Web:- www.ghraet.raisoni.net

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Year / Semester : 2nd Yr/ 3rd Sem

Session : 2020-21
Course Name : Ethics in IT
Course Code : BECSE204T
Course In-charge : Prof. Vikrant Chole
 Index

1. Department Vision and Mission

2. Course Objectives & Course Outcome
3. Scheme & Syllabus
4. Text Book & Reference Book
 Department Vision and Mission

Department Vision and Mission

Vision of Department
To develop each individual to meet the rapid advancements in the specialized field and attain recognition in
Computer Science & Engineering education in order to meet the growing needs of the software industry and the
society as a whole.

Mission of Department

Imparting quality education and values to our students with emphasis on basic principles through hands-on
experience and guidance from industry experts in tune to the changing needs of the software industry.
 Course Objectives & Course Outcome

Course Objective Course Outcomes

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to understand the Upon completion of the subject, students will be able to
underlying principles, techniques and approaches which constitute a coherent
body of knowledge in Ethics in IT 1.Create relationships between their ethical decision-making, their values,
1.Students should be able to evaluate a range of source material to support their growth as a person, and the ethics of society
reasoning and analysis of complex moral and ethical problems
1.Demonstrate different professional relationships managed by IT Worker &
2.To manage & maintain professional relationships in IT industry & to identify how to use IT Resources in ethical way
key ethical issues for IT users
3.To evaluate a range of source material to identify key privacy & freedom of 1.Explain the key privacy & freedom of expression issues
expression issues
4.Students should be able to evaluate a range of source material to 2.Identify & understand intellectual property & issues in software
understand intellectual property & issues in software development development
5.To identify impact of IT on productivity, quality of life & social networking
issues 3.Analyze the impact of IT on productivity, quality of life & social
6.Students should be able to evaluate a range of source material to networking issues
understand ethics of IT organizations & response plan in case of security
incident 4.Understand ethics of IT organizations & response plan in case of security
incident
 Scheme & Syllabus

BECSE204T: Ethics in IT
Load Credit Total marks Sessional marks University marks Total
3 hrs (Theory) 4 100 20 80 100
1 hr (Tutorial)

1. An Overview of Ethics.
2. Ethics for IT Professionals and IT Users.
3. Computer and Internet Crime.
4. Privacy.
5. Freedom of Expression.
6. Intellectual Property.
7. Software Development.
8. The Impact of Information Technology on Productivity and Quality of Life.
9. Social Networking.
10. Ethics of IT Organizations.

BOOKS:
Ethics in Information Technology, 4/e by Reynolds George, Cengage Publisher
 Text Book & Reference Book

BOOKS:
Ethics in Information Technology, 4/e by Reynolds George, Cengage Publisher
 G H Raisoni Academy of Engineering & Technology
(NAAC ACCREDITED)
­Shradha Park, B-37/39/1, MIDC, Off. Hingna-Wadi Link Road, Nagpur-440016

Email:-ghraetnag@raisoni.net Web:- www.ghraet.raisoni.net

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Unit-1

An Overview of Ethics
 OBJECTIVES
 What is ethics, and why is it important to act according to a code
of ethics?
 Why is business ethics becoming increasingly important?
 What are corporations doing to improve business ethics?
 Why are corporations interested in fostering good business
ethics?
 What approach can you take to ensure ethical decision making?
 What trends have increased the risk of using information
technology unethically?
 Meaning of Ethics

Ethics: set of beliefs about right and wrong behaviour within a

society

Purpose of Ethics: To guide the conduct of a person before an act

is undertaken

Ethics in business is becoming more important because the risks

associated with inappropriate behaviour have grown

Corporations want to protect themselves and their employees from

legal action
Difference Between Morals, Ethics & Laws
Morals are one’s personal beliefs about right and wrong

Ethics describes standards or codes of behavior expected of

an individual by a group (nation, organization, profession) to
which an individual belongs

Law is a system of rules that tells us what we can and

cannot do. Laws are enforced by a set of institutions (the
police, courts, law-making bodies)
 Ethics in the Business World

• Ethics has risen to the top of the business agenda

because the risks associated with inappropriate
behavior have increased, both in their likelihood and
in their potential negative impact.
• Risks associated with inappropriate behavior have
increased due to
– Globalization
– Heightened vigilance by
• Employees
• Shareholders
• Regulatory agencies
 Ethics in the Business World
• Recent scandals in IT companies
– WorldCom
– Qwest Communications International Inc.
– Adelphia Communications Corp.
– Computer Associates (CA)
A classic example of the many risks of unethical decision making can be found in
the Enron accounting scandal.
In 2000, Enron employed over 22,000 people and had annual revenue of $101
billion. During 2001, it was revealed that much of Enron’s revenue was the
result of deals with limited partnerships, which it controlled.
In addition, as a result of faulty accounting, many of Enron’s debts and losses
were not reported in its financial statements.
As the accounting scandal unfolded, Enron shares dropped from $90 per share to
less than $1 per share, and the company was forced to file for bankruptcy.
The Enron case was notorious, but many other corporate scandals have
occurred in spite of safeguards enacted as a result of the Enron debacle.
 Ethics in the Business World
• A special court under India’s Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) held the founders and former officials of outsourcing
firm, Satyam Computer Services, guilty in an accounting scam
worth Rs7,000 crore ($1.1 billion). B Ramalinga Raju, the
company’s former chairman, has been sentenced to seven
years in jail.
• The case, which is also called the Enron of India, dates back
to 2009. Raju wrote a letter to the Securities and Exchange
Board of India (SEBI) and his company’s shareholders,
admitting that he had manipulated the company’s earnings,
and fooled investors. Nearly $1 billion—or 94% of the cash—
on the books was fictitious.
• In an immediate reaction to the confession, investors lost as
much as Rs14,000 crore ($2.2 billion) as Satyam’s shares
tanked
Why Fostering Good Business Ethics Is
Important ?
 To gain the goodwill of the community

 To create an organization that operates consistently

 To produce good business practices

 To protect the organization and its employees from

legal action

 To avoid unfavourable publicity

 Gaining the Goodwill of the
Community
• Basic responsibilities to society
– Declared in formal statement of company’s principles
or beliefs
– Include:
• Making contributions to charitable organizations and
nonprofit institutions
• Providing benefits for employees in excess of legal
requirements
• Choosing economic opportunities that might be more
socially desirable than profitable
• Goodwill that socially responsible activities create
can make it easier for corporations to conduct
business
 Creating an Organization That Operates
Consistently
• Many business values include:
– Operating with honesty and integrity, staying true to
corporate principles
– Operating according to standards of ethical conduct, in words
and action
– Treating colleagues, customers, and consumers with respect
– Striving to be the best at what matters most to the company
– Accepting personal responsibility for actions
– Valuing diversity
– Making decisions based on facts and principles
 Fostering Good Business
Practices
• Produce safe and effective products
– Avoid costly recalls and lawsuits
• Provide excellent service
– Maintain customers
• Develop and maintain strong employee relations
– Suffer less turnover
– Enjoy better employee morale
• Suppliers and other business partners prefer
companies that operate in a fair and ethical manner
• Bad ethics can lead to bad business results
 Protecting the Corporation and Its
Employees from Legal Actions
• U.S. Justice Department sentencing guidelines
suggest more lenient treatment for convicted
executives if their companies had ethics programs
• Fines for criminal violations can be lowered by up to
80 percent if the organization has implemented an
ethics management program and cooperates with
authorities
 Avoiding Unfavorable Publicity

• Public reputation of company strongly influences

– Value of its stock
– How consumers regard products and services
– Degree of oversight received from government
agencies
– Amount of support and cooperation received from
business partners
Improving Corporate Ethics
• Risks of unethical behaviour are increasing
• Improvement of business ethics is becoming more
important
Some of the actions corporations can take to improve
business ethics:
• Appointing a Corporate Ethics Officer
• Ethical Standards Set by Board of Directors
• Establishing a Corporate Code of Ethics
• Conducting Social Audits
• Requiring Employees to Take Ethics Training
• Including Ethical Criteria in Employee Appraisals
 Appointing a Corporate Ethics Officer
• Corporate ethics officer
– Is a senior-level manager
– Provides vision and direction in the area of business
conduct
– Tries to establish an environment that encourages
ethical decision making
• Responsibilities include:
– Complete oversight of the ethics function
– Collecting and analyzing data
– Developing and interpreting ethics policy
– Developing and administering ethics education and
training
Ethical Standards Set by Board of Directors
• Board responsible for supervising management team
• Directors of company are expected to
– Conduct themselves according to the highest
standards of personal and professional integrity
– Set standard for company-wide ethical conduct
– Ensure compliance with laws and regulations

Employees will “get the message” if board members set

an example of high-level ethical behavior. If they don’t
set a good example, employees will get that message
as well.
Establishing a Corporate Code of Ethics
• Code of ethics:
– Highlights an organization’s key ethical issues
– Identifies overarching values and principles
important to an organization
– Focuses employees on areas of ethical risk
– Cannot gain company-wide acceptance unless
• Developed with employee participation
• Fully endorsed by organization’s leadership
– Must continually be applied to company’s decision
making
 Conducting Social Audits
• In a social audit, an organization reviews how well it
is meeting its ethical and social responsibility goals
• Social audit
– Identifies ethical lapses committed in the past
– Sets directives for avoiding similar missteps in the
future
 Requiring Employees to Take Ethics
Training
• Comprehensive ethics education program
encourages employees to act responsibly and
ethically
– Often presented in small workshop formats
• Principle-based decision making is based on
principles in corporate code of ethics
Including Ethical Criteria in Employee
Appraisals
• Some companies base a portion of employee
performance evaluations on:
– Treating others fairly and with respect
– Operating effectively in a multicultural
environment
– Accepting personal accountability
– Continually developing themselves and others
– Operating openly and honestly with suppliers,
customers, and other employees
 Creating an Ethical Work
Environment
• Good employees sometimes make bad ethical
choices
• May be encouraged to do “whatever it takes” to
get the job done
• Employees must have a knowledgeable and
potent resource available to discuss perceived
unethical practices
How Management Can Affect Employees’
Ethical Behaviour
Manager’s Checklist
 What Would You Do?
As part of your company’s annual performance review
process, each employee must identify three coworkers
to be interviewed by his manager to get a perspective
on the employee’s overall work performance.
Your friend has offered to give you a glowing
performance review if you agree to do the same for
him.
Truth be told, your friend is not a very dependable
worker, and his work is often below minimum
standards. However, he is a good friend, and you
would hate to upset him.
What would you do?
 What Would You Do?
You have just completed a grueling 10-day business trip calling on
two dozen accounts up and down the West Coast. There were
even business meetings combined with social events late into the
night and on the weekends.
On the flight back home at the end of this marathon, you are tired
and feeling as if you have not seen your family for a month. As you
work on completing your expense report, you say to yourself, “The
company does not pay me enough for the work that I do.”
For more than a few moments, you think about padding your
expense report to make up for all the extra hours and time away
from your family.
Would it be okay to add “extra expenses” to compensate for
the hardship of the trip?
Decision-making process
 Develop a Problem Statement
 A problem statement is a clear, concise description of the
issue that needs to be Addressed
 Development of a problem statement is the most critical
step in the decision-making process.

Good problem statement: Our product supply organization

is continually running out of stock of finished products,
creating an out-of-stock situation on over 15 percent of our
customer orders, resulting in over $300,000 in lost sales
per month.
Poor problem statement: We need to implement a new
inventory control system. (This is a possible solution, not a
problem statement.)
Poor problem statement: We have a problem with finished
product inventory.(This is not specific enough.)
 Identify Alternatives
 Involve others, including stakeholders, in brainstorming

 Brainstorming will increase your chances of

identifying a broad range of alternatives and
determining the best solution

 Try not to be critical of ideas, as any negative

criticism
will tend to shut down the discussion
 Evaluate and Choose an Alternative
 Identified alternatives must be evaluated based on
numerous criteria, such as effectiveness at addressing the
issue, the extent of risk associated with each alternative,
cost, and time to implement

 The alternative selected should be ethically and legally

defensible
 Implement the Decision

 Once an alternative is selected, it should be implemented in

an efficient, effective, and timely manner

 Develop and execute an implementation plan

 Provide leadership to overcome resistance to

change
 Evaluate the Results
 Evaluate results against selected success criteria

 Were there any unintended consequences?

 Ethics in Information Technology
• Public concern about the ethical use of information
technology includes:
– E-mail and Internet access monitoring
– Peer-to-peer networks violation of copyright
– Unsolicited e-mail
– Hackers and identify theft
– Plagiarism
– Cookies and spyware
 What Would You Do?
You are a recent graduate of a well-respected engineering
institute, but you are having trouble getting a job. You
worked with a professional résumé service to develop a
well-written résumé and placed it on several Web sites; you
also sent it directly to contacts at a dozen companies. So
far, you have not even had an invitation for an interview.
You know that one of your shortcomings is that you have no
real job experience to speak of. You are considering beefing
up your résumé by exaggerating the extent of the class
project you worked on for a few weeks at your brother-in-
law’s small consulting firm.
You could reword the résumé to make it sound as if you
were actually employed and that your responsibilities were
greater than they actually were.
What would you do?
Thank
you !