| Assessment Details and Submission Guidelines | |
| Unit Code | MN501 |
| Unit Title | Network Management in Organisations |
| Term, Year | Term-3, 2018 |
| Assessment Type | Assignment-2 (Group Report) |
| Assessment Title | Ethical issues arising from use of ICT technologies |
| Purpose of the assessment (with ULO Mapping) | This assignment assesses the following Unit Learning Outcomes; students should be able to demonstrate their achievements in them. Analyse ethical, professional standards and codes of practice in relation to ICT systems; Understand the importance of team work, collaboration and life-long learning in the workplace. |
| Weight | 20% |
| Total Marks | 100 |
| Word range | 800 – 1200 |
| Due Date | Week-11 Friday 23:55 PM. |
| Submission Guidelines | All work must be submitted on Moodle by the due date along with a completed Assignment Cover Page. The assignment must be in MS Word format, 1.5 spacing, 11-pt Calibri (Body) font and 2 cm margins on all four sides of your page with appropriate section headings. Reference sources must be cited in the text of the report, and listed appropriately at the end in a reference list using IEEE referencing style. |
| Extension | ļ· If an extension of time to submit work is required, a Special Consideration Application must be submitted directly on AMS. You must submit this application three working days prior to the due date of the assignment. Further information is available at: http://www.mit.edu.au/about–mit/institute–publications/policies–proceduresand–guidelines/specialconsiderationdeferment |
| Academic Misconduct | ļ· Academic Misconduct is a serious offence. Depending on the seriousness of the case, penalties can vary from a written warning or zero marks to exclusion from the course or rescinding the degree. Students should make themselves familiar with the full policy and procedure available at:http://www.mit.edu.au/aboutmit/institute–publications/policies–procedures–and–guidelines/PlagiarismAcademic–Misconduct–Policy–Procedure. For further information, please refer to the Academic Integrity Section in your Unit Description. |
Prepared by: A/Prof Nalin Sharda Moderated by: Dr. Sihui (Sue) Zhou December, 2018
Assignment Description
Students should form a group of five (5) students from the same laboratory class. You must not change the group membership unless approved by your tutor. Tutor will then allocate one of the topics listed in Table 1 to each group.
All students must collaborate in this group assignment and contribute equally. Group leader should report their progress on a weekly basis to relevant tutor. Every student must participate in peer assessment on the SparkPlus system.
Acknowledgment: The following cases have been taken verbatim, for educational purposes, from:
Table 1: List of topics for Assignment-2.
| Topic 1: Does information’s availability justify its use? Governments collect massive amounts of data on individuals and organizations and use it for a variety of purposes: national security, accurate tax collection, demographics, international geopolitical strategic analysis, etc. Corporations do the same for commercial reasons; to increase business, control expense, enhance profitability, gain market share, etc. Technological advances in both hardware and software have significantly changed the scope of what can be amassed and processed. Massive quantities of data, measured in petabytes and beyond, can be centrally stored and retrieved effortlessly and quickly. Seemingly disparate sources of data can be cross-referenced to glean new meanings when one set of data is viewed within the context of another. In the 1930s and 1940s the volumes of data available were miniscule by comparison and the “processing” of that data was entirely manual. Had even a small portion of today’s capabilities existed, the world as we now know it would probably be quite different. Investigate and report on: Should organizations’ ability to collect and process data on exponentially increasing scales be limited in any way? Does the fact that information can be architected for a particular purpose mean it should be, even if by so doing individual privacy rights are potentially violated? If data meant for one use is diverted to another process which is socially redeeming and would result in a greater good or could result in a financial gain, does that mitigate the ethical dilemma, no matter how innocent and pure the motivation? |
| Topic 2: How much effort and expense should managers incur in considering questions of data access and privacy? This is an issue with both internal and external implications. All organizations collect personal data on employees, data that if not properly safeguarded can result in significant negative implications for individuals. Information such as compensation and background data and personal identification information, such as social security number and account identifiers, all have to be maintained and accessed by authorized personnel. Systems that track this data can be secured, but at some point data must leave those systems and be used. Operational policies and procedures can address the proper handling of that data but if they’re not followed or enforced, there’s hardly any point in |
| having them. Organizations routinely share data with each other, merging databases containing all kinds of identifiers. Investigate and report on: What’s the extent of the responsibility we should expect from the stewards of this data? Since there’s no perfect solution, where’s the tipping point beyond which efforts to ensure data can be accessed only by those who are authorized to do so can be considered reasonable and appropriate? |
| Topic 3: What part of an information asset belongs to an organization and what is simply part of an employee’s general knowledge? Information, knowledge, and skills we develop in the course of working on projects can be inextricably intertwined. You’re the project manager for an effort to reengineer your company’s marketing operations system. You have access to confidential internal memoranda on key organization strategic and procedural information. To build the new system, you and your team have to go for some advanced technical training on the new technology products you’ll be using. The new system you build is completely revolutionary in design and execution. Although there are areas of patent law that cover many such situations, there’s not much in the way of case law testing this just yet, and of course laws vary between countries. Clearly, you’ve built an asset owned by your company, but do you have a legitimate claim to any part of it? Investigate and report on: Can you take any part of this knowledge or even the design or code itself with you to another employer or for the purpose of starting your own company? Suppose you do strike out on your own and sell your system to other companies. Is the ethical dilemma mitigated by the fact that your original company isn’t in the software business? Or that you’ve sold your product only to noncompeting companies? What if we were talking about a database instead of a system? |
| Topic 4: Do employees know the degree to which behaviour is monitored? Organizations have the right to monitor what employees do (management is measurement) and how technology systems are used. It’s common practice to notify employees that when they use organizational assets such as networks or Internet access, they should have no expectation of privacy. Even without that disclaimer, they really don’t need the warning to know this monitoring is, or could be, taking place. Investigate and report on: Do organizations have an obligation to notify employees as to the extent of that monitoring? Should an organization make it clear that in addition to monitoring how long employees are using the Internet, it’s also watching which Web sites they visit? If the organization merely says there’s no expectation of privacy when using the e-mail system, is it an ethical violation when employees later find out it was actually reading their e-mails? |
Topic 5: Have systems been reviewed for the most likely sources of security breach?
As we mentioned in the previous article on ethics, security used to be confined to locking the door on the way out of the office or making sure the lock on the safe was spun to fully engage the tumblers. Technology presents us with a whole new set of security challenges. Networks can be breached, personal identification information can be compromised, identities can be stolen and potentially result in personal financial ruin, critical confidential corporate information or classified government secrets can be stolen from online systems, Web sites can be hacked, keystroke loggers can be surreptitiously installed, and a host of others. (It’s interesting to note at this point that statistics still show that more than 80 percent of stolen data is the result of low tech ādumpster diving,ā and approximately the same percentage of oranizational crime is the result of an inside job.) Investigate and report on:
How far canāand shouldāmanagement go in determining the security risks inherent in systems? What level of addressing those risks can be considered reasonable?
NOTE: Please show a draft version of your group assignment in Week 10 to the tutor so he/she can provide you with verbal feedback and check your research approach/writing.
Marking criteria: You must use the following aspects as headings for your report.
| Aspects | Description of the section | Marks |
| 1. Introduction to the case / scenario | Introduce the ethical issue/s that arise in the case/scenario, and describe these clearly. | 10 |
| 2. Identification of ethical values | Identify at least 2 important ethical values related to the scenario and explain their relevance to the case. Use peer reviewed academic sources. | 20 |
| 3. Analysis of ethical issues using ethical theories framework | Conduct an ethical analysis using ethical theories framework (consequence, duty, contract and character based theories). Use ethical principles from these theories, apply it to the scenario, and conduct your analysis. Arguments need to be stated clearly and backed up using peer-reviewed sources. | 30 |
| 4. Discussion on your findings | Discuss your findings here in detail. What would be your final decision? Explain why this is the best decision. Justify from ethical and practical angles. | 20 |
| 5. Conclusion | Write a conclusion to summarise the research work you did, and state your final decision. No new information should be included in the conclusion. | 10 |
| 6. Referencing | Follow IEEE reference style | 10 |
| Total | 100 |
Marking Rubric:
| Grade Mark | HD 80-100% | DI 70-79% | CR 60-69% | P 50-59% | Fail <50% |
| Excellent | Very Good | Good | Satisfactory | Unsatisfactory | |
| Introduction to the case/scenario | Information is excellent. Case is explained very succinctly | Case information is clearly presented | Case explanation is presented and good attempt at it | Case explanation is satisfactory | Case is not clear. Hard to follow |
| Identification of ethical values | Demonstrated excellent ability to think critically and sourced reference material appropriately. Ethical values discussed using peer reviewed academic sources | Demonstrat ed very good ability to think critically. Ethical values are listed and explained using academic sources | Demonstrated ability to think critically and sourced reference material appropriately. Ethical values are explained. Academic sources are not integrated fully | Demonstrated ability to think critically and did not source reference material appropriately. Ethical values need to be justified clearly | Did not demonstrate ability to think critically and did not source reference material appropriately. Ethical values are not discussed |
| Analysis of ethical issues using ethical theories framework | Logic is clear and easy to follow with strong arguments. Excellent integration of ethical theories in the context of the case | Very good discussion of ethical theories in the context of the case supported through academic argument | Good attempt at explaining the ethical theories in the context of the case using some academic sources | Ethical theories are integrated within the case to some extent. However requires more extensive work | No evidence of ethical theories and their relevance to the case |
| Discussion of your findings | Excellent discussion of findings in the case study. Clear justification of their final decision in the case using arguments | Very good discussion of findings in the case study. Final decision in the case explained | Good attempt at discussion of findings in the case. Final decision is listed but requires more work | Made some effort in discussing the case study findings. No clear evidence of justification of decision | Poor discussion of findings. Lacks coherence and justification |
| Conclusion | Conclusion is excellent offering insights in to the case and summary of report | Conclusion is very good and provides insights in to case and summary of work | Conclusion discusses the case and major findings | Conclusion includes summary of work but requires more work | Conclusion is not written very well and has new information |
| Referencing | Clear styles with excellent source of references. | Clear referencing style | Generally good referencing style | Sometimes clear referencing style | Lacks consistency with many errors |
