Reference no: EM132883571

ICT30005 Professional Issues in IT - Swinburne Business School

Assignment: Ethics Advisory Briefing Paper

Learning Outcome 1: Evaluate the role of standards, codes of conduct and legislative/regulatory obligations on the level of professionalism of the ICT industry.

Learning Outcome 2: Review the roles and responsibilities of ICT professionals in organisations and society from a range of perspectives such as work-life balance, mentoring and life- long learning.

Overview of your task

A briefing paper is a "summary of facts pertaining to an issue and often includes a suggested course of action" (Developing a briefing paper 2021, p. 1).

This assignment requires you to write an Ethics Advisory Briefing Paper on the context and nature of an ethical dilemma currently facing the ICT industry.

You will be provided a choice of 5 ethical dilemmas and must select ONE of the dilemmas provided. Your chosen dilemma will become your research question. You will attempt to make recommendations (your ‘advice' to the briefing paper reader) based on an ethical principle/framework from the ICT30005 unit theory to guide your discussion and help validate your ultimate answer to the research question of your chosen dilemma.

What are ethical dilemmas?

Ethical dilemmas are complicated challenges that cannot be easily solved. There are often different courses of action that can be followed and no matter what course of action is taken, some ethical principal(s) will invariably be compromised. There is no perfect solution.

Ethical advisory papers identify the ethical issues and provide reasoned ethical arguments to help decision-makers make decisions on topics they might not have time to research thoroughly. A briefing paper is a means of providing decision-makers with the information they need on issues they are responsible for. A Briefing Paper recommends and proposes solutions, improvements and approaches based on evidence and argument.

The challenge in writing a briefing paper is to be thorough but also succinct, and this requires a writer to judge what information to include and what to leave out. A briefing paper distils complex information into a well-structured document so that a reader gains a full understanding in a few pages. You should assume the audience for your briefing paper includes your ICT colleagues and managers. The aim of your briefing paper is to bring your colleagues and managers up to speed on an ethical dilemma pertinent to the ICT industry and make yourself more informed on that issue and its relevance to the ICT industry.

Steps in the process
1. Choose ONE of the 5 ethical questions below:
I. Is whistleblowing justified?
II. Which category of road crossing pedestrians should an autonomous vehicle run over? (Consider the Trolley Problem with autonomous vehicles)?
III. Should employers monitor their employee's social media usage?
IV. Should lethal autonomous weapons (commonly abbreviated ‘LAW') be programmed with some measure of ethics to reduce collateral damage and to prevent them from striking certain areas?
V. Should Google have dissolved its AI ethics board?
2. Develop your research plan.
3. Action your research plan by delving into the topic thoroughly and take notes which will help you in writing your briefing paper.
4. Conduct a Critical Analysis (See Critical Analysis pdf and the Week 1-3 On-Campus Workshop material).
5. Provide definitions and characterise the background to the topic.
6. Identify appropriate ethical theories, guidelines and frameworks for your dilemma.
7. Conduct a PEAS Assessment (See PEAS Framework in the Week 1-3 On-Campus Workshop material).
8. Review Steps 4-7 to comprehend the ethical dilemma.
9. Decide on an ethical recommendation based on your research.
10. Compose (write) your briefing paper and provide the reference list.
11. Submit your briefing paper on time.

Attachment:- Professional Issues in IT.rar