Case Analysis On Professional Ethics
Posted by santw001 on Apr 20, 2022 in Uncategorized | 0 comments
Case Analysis on Professional Ethics
In his article ‘The Code I’m Still Ashamed Of,” Bill Sourour recounts his experience with deceitful coding. In 2000 Sourour recalls that he was involved in writing a deceitful code. While working at a Canadian company specializing in interactive marketing, he was once required to write a deceitful code. He highlighted that Canada has strict laws on how pharmaceutical companies advertise prescription drugs to consumers (Sourour, 2016). He was assigned to work on a project that entailed coding a drug that targeted women. Based on the graphics together with the website’s general style, Sourour learned that the client targeted teenage girls. The website had a quiz which contained questions and could recommend the drug based on the user’s answers (Sourour, 2016). After Sourour received the requirements from the client, he coded up the quiz. Sourour’s project manager tested the website and noted that it was not working because it recommended a client’s drug regardless of whatever she did. The quiz only recommended otherwise if the user could say they were using the drug or were allergic to it. Sourour informed her that the client’s requirements required the quiz in such a manner. Although Sourour wished to notify the Account Manager that the requirements appeared deceitful, he could not do so because he did not reflect much about this. However, the drug had side effects like suicidal thoughts and severe depression. In this case analysis, I will argue that virtue ethics shows us that the Code was morally problematic because it was not right. Sourour should have done anything differently because the Code of Ethics for Engineers requires engineers to exemplify the highest standards of integrity honesty.
The central concept from the Code of Ethics that applies to the case is the principle of honesty and trustworthiness. According to this principle, honesty is an important element of trustworthiness (ACM, 2018). The honest and trustworthy principle requires that any computing professional ought to be transparent (ACM, 2018). Also, the computing professional should offer full disclosure of all the essential system capabilities, shortcomings, and possible problems to the right parties. Therefore, falsifying or fabricating data, making deliberately misleading or false claims, giving or accepting bribes, and engaging in any other deceitful conduct contravenes the Code. Equally essential to mention about this principle is that the computing professionals are frank about situations that may result in perceived or real conflicts of interest that may undermine their judgment (ACM, 2018).
The honesty and integrity concept applies to Sourour’s case in that Sourour was involved in a situation that undermined his judgment about writing the deceitful Code for the pharmaceutical company. The computing professionals are required to be guided in their interactions by the standards of integrity and honesty. These professionals are required to avoid promoting their interests while undermining the profession’s integrity and dignity. Therefore, Sourour should have informed the Account Manager that something was wrong with the client’s requirements. In particular, he should have drawn the attention of her manager to the deceitful nature of the quiz requirements. However, Sourour acted immorally by going ahead to code the quiz to protect his interest. The honest and trustworthy principle requires the computing professionals to act transparently and offer full disclosure of all the critical potential problems. Unfortunately, Sourour decided not to disclose the potential problems linked to the project. This confirms that Sourour acted immorally.
Sourour’s decision to write the deceitful Code contravened the honesty and integrity principle because it was driven by his interests. Sourour (2016) acknowledged that he was earning good money considering that he was the youngest developer in his team. Therefore, he knew that it was wrong for him to code the quiz of the pharmaceutical company since it was designed to deceive the young girls. However, Sourour was more concerned about the job and not the morality surrounding the project. Thus, he wrote the Code, an action that contradicted the principle of honesty and integrity.
Still, under the honesty and integrity principle, it can be noted that Sourour infringed the Code when he chose to remain silent about the side effects of the drug. After Sourour’s colleague sent him a link to an online news report about the young girl who killed herself after taking the drug, he should not have pretended that nothing had happened. Instead, Sourour should have acted upon the revelations that the drug has severe depression and could make one experience suicidal thoughts.
Based on virtue ethics and the case analysis, it is apparent that it was morally wrong for Sourour to write the Code for the pharmaceutical quiz. Virtue ethics is essentially character-based ethics. It states that the right or moral action is one that the virtuous individual would undertake when faced with similar circumstances. Sourour’s action to write the Code for the pharmaceutical quiz was morally wrong since another competent and ethical computing professional could not have gone ahead to write the Code knowing very well that it was deceitful. Accordingly, Sourour should have informed his Account Manager that writing the Code according to the client’s requirements could contravene the Code of Ethics governing computing professionals. I believe telling the Account Manager about the client’s intent to engage in deceitful marketing could have been right. If Sourour had informed his manager about the client’s trick to entice the young girls to use their drug, the manager could have terminated the contract with the client. This could have saved millions of young girls from getting tempted to use the drug. Instead, Sourour only informed his sister about the side effects of the drug. Although this shows that Sourour was espousing the value of fidelity, he should have considered the health of all people. That way, Sourour would have promoted the principle of justice since virtue holds that a virtuous individual treats all people equally (exemplifies justice).
One key concept from Mary Beth Armstrong’s article “Confidentiality: A Comparison across the Professions of Medicine, Engineering, and Accounting” is confidentiality. Generally, the employees are required to keep the company and client information confidential. However, Armstrong (1994) noted that the responsibility for confidentiality varies depending on the circumstances, which create special duties for specific individuals. So, the prevailing circumstances influence a person’s duty to act in a certain way. Furthermore, Armstrong (1994) opined that a positive duty would outweigh a negative duty as the magnitude of the effects of the positive duty increases while that of the negative duty decreases. So, a professional can breach confidentiality if the magnitude to do such increases.
The other central concept from Armstrong’s article is whistleblowing. Armstrong (1994) stated that whistleblowing refers to a “special form of confidence breaking.” Whistleblowing may be internal or external. Similarly, the whistleblowers may be internal or external. The employees of corporations have a dual responsibility to be loyal to their employer and uphold the profession’s standards. In addition, Armstrong (1994) highlighted that the engineers working in large companies are allowed to disclose to the public information concerning the safety of services or products. Nevertheless, the engineer needs to possess documented evidence that may convince any impartial observer that their perception is correct. Also, the engineer should have strong evidence showing that disclosing the information would prevent severe harm (Armstrong, 1994).
Another important concept from Armstrong is the Code of Ethics of Engineers. Armstrong claimed that in 1947 the Engineers` Council for Professional Development (ECPD) required the engineers to execute their responsibilities with fidelity to the employer, client, and public. Later revisions were made that required the engineers to formally advise their clients or employers about the perceived consequences of their professional responsibilities. So, these standards encouraged the engineers to make necessary disclosure to safeguard the safety of the public (Armstrong, 1994).
The three concepts – confidentiality, whistleblowing, and the need for the engineers to protect the public’s safety–apply to Sourour’s case. First, relating the issue of confidentiality to Sourour’s case, it can be argued that Sourour acted unethically by choosing not to inform his manager or client that writing the Code with the client’s requirements was unethical. Considering that the positive duty to disclose the deception increased as a news report revealed that a girl had died after taking the drug manufactured by the pharmaceutical in question, Sourour should have made the information public. In other words, Sourour had a moral obligation to engage in whistleblowing to protect the safety of the public. Apart from warning his sister not to take the drug, Sourour had a duty to inform the public about the side effects.
The right thing Sourour should have done based on virtue ethics and the concepts put forth by Armstrong is informing the client and his manager about the adverse consequences of writing the Code as per the client’s requirements. Possibly, this could have brought to the attention of his manager and the client the potential of the effects likely to occur from the deceptive marketing. Also, Sourour should have disclosed the effects of the drug to the general public if the client and his employer had insisted that he goes ahead to write the Code. That way, Sourour could have protected the safety of the public. As Armstrong (1994) observed, professional members may experience conflicting pressures from different stakeholders as they discharge their duties. Armstrong suggested that the members ought to ensure they act with integrity to deal with these pressures. Therefore, Sourour should have ensured he acted with integrity by pursuing the positive duty of placing the interests of the public above his interests. Thus, rather than seeking to protect his job, Sourour should have disclosed to the Account Manager and client the adverse effects of writing the Code according to the client’s requirements.
Based on the Code of Ethics of computing professionals and virtue ethics, it was morally wrong for Sourour to write the Code for the pharmaceutical quiz. Writing the Code based on the client’s requirements could result in adverse consequences since the Code could be deceptive. Virtue ethics requires that any action be deemed right if any virtuous individual would do the same action. Sourour’s action to proceed to write the Code without raising the issue to his manager or informing the client was immoral. It contradicted the principle of honesty and integrity that demands computing professionals to act with integrity and demonstrate honesty in their actions. Although some people may contend that Sourour acted morally right by keeping the information confidential, it must be noted that there are some situations where professionals can breach the duty of keeping information confidential. As Armstrong pointed out, if the positive duty’s magnitude would exceed that of the negative duty, a professional should breach the confidentiality duty. If deemed necessary, disclosing the information to the public could have protected the young girls from taking the drug that was promoted as having no side effects.
References
ACM. (2018). ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. Association for Computing Machinery. https://www.acm.org/code-of-ethics
Armstrong, M. B. (1994). Confidentiality: A Comparison across the Professions of Medicine, Engineering and Accounting. Professional Ethics, A Multidisciplinary Journal, 3(1), 71-88. https://doi.org/10.5840/profethics1994314
Sourour, B. (2016). The Code I’m still ashamed of. freeCodeCamp. https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-code-im-still-ashamed-of-e4c021dff55e/