Program: Professional Year Program
Course:
Assignment: 1 Professional Environments
Topic: Ethics, Professionalism and Governance
Available: Week 3 open
Due: Week 4 close (Saturday midnight AEST)
Read the 3 Case Studies below and select ONE as the basis of your analysis and discussion. Please indicate clearly which Case Study you have chosen
Case Study 2 – Conflict of Interest
Hardeep is the IT manager in a government department with more than 500 staff members and six branches across Australia. His department has decided to acquire an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. A request for proposal (RFP) for the procurement of the software has been advertised in a number of Australian newspapers. Two local companies have responded to the advertisement and have sent their offers to the department.
When Hardeep has examined the offers, he has found that Company A’s offer is slightly better than that of Company B. To his surprise, Company B’s offer has been made by Mandeep, who is his best friend, and the general manager of Company B.
Although the initial cost of Company B’s software appears less than that of Company A, Company B’s software may require some modifications which could eventually increase the total cost.
To complicate matters, Hardeep has received a phone call from Mandeep, urging him to favour his offer as he needs this work.
Discuss briefly how Hardeep’s friendship with Mandeep causes an ethical problem. Follow your brief discussion with a recommendation on this issue. Be sure to support this recommendation with reasons informed by your research and thinking on the ethical issues identified in your discussion.
Case Study 5 – Use of Company Computers
Joseph is a security administrator for a company with 500 employees, this is an ongoing job (not a short contract) and he wishes to stay at this company for a long time. His manager gives him the task of providing weekly reports showing which web pages have been accessed by individual employees and flagging any websites that are questionable (such as pornography).
Joseph is aware that employees have not been asked to sign any agreement about which web page they visit while at work using work computers. He is also aware that employees may be penalised.
Discuss briefly the ethical dilemma that this presents to Joseph outlining the potential outcomes if he provides the report. Show your utilisation of either Thomas White or Chris MacDonald's methodology to demonstrate how Joseph might analyse and resolve the dilemma. Provide a recommendation of what actions Joseph should take and how he should communicate his choices.
Include in your answer those clauses from the ACS code of Ethics and ACS code of Professional Conduct that are relevant and briefly explain why. Refer also to any relevant legislation again with an explanation of how it relates.
Case Study 12 – Trans Australia Solutions
“Trans Australia Solutions” has been operating as a solutions provider for many years. Despite the grand name, it had actually been quite a small company for over half that time, but work was increasing and the company was growing rapidly.
Fortunately, the management team had been formed from ACS PY graduates, and so when they originally started the company, they put in place a governance structure, a code of ethics, a project management methodology, and they used SFIA for recruitment and career paths.
As the company continued to grow, they often found that they were too busy to interview contractors, and sometimes a project was delayed because of staff shortages. So they decided to employ a full-time HR manager to look after their employment requirements.
Pradip was hired as the HR manager. Not only was he experienced, he was familiar with SFIA and he had many contacts in the recruitment industry.
Everything seemed to go smoothly at first, and contractors were always available when required.
However, the CEO became concerned when the Accountant informed him that the company’s contractor wage costs had increased 20% over the past year (adjusted for inflation). The Accountant said that almost all of the contractors were being supplied by a new recruitment company “Job 4U”, instead of being employed directly.
The CEO was concerned and asked the company auditor to investigate. The auditor discovered that Jobs 4U was owned by Pradip’s wife. He also questioned several of the contractors who said that Pradip had refused to employ them unless they applied for work through Jobs 4U.
The CEO called Pradip and accused him of unethical behaviour. However, Pradip defended his actions saying that under his management, the company always had the right staff and the right times, so that the project were not delayed. This saved the company more than the 20% increase in staff costs.
Do you believe that Pradip’s actions are ethical?
Assignment Task
From what you have learned during Week s 3 and 4 of your Professional Environments Course, discuss ethical, professional and legal issues which you consider arise from this scenario. Make some recommendations of actions which could be taken to resolve the situation and/or to minimise the chance the scenario may recur. Support your answers with relevant references (as well as the Codes and Laws).
Things to Consider in Your Assignment:
• You should list at least 3 values from the ACS Code of Ethics and up to 5 clauses from the ACS Code of Professional Conduct, you think are specifically relevant in deciding how to resolve the situation. Make sure that you refer to the most up to date ACS Codes which are available on the ACS website – www.acs.org.au.
• You should also list any relevant Australian legislation that you think applies to this scenario.
• Your analysis, discussion and recommendations should use the framework you selected in Week 3 – Solving an Ethical Dilemma.
Your assignment should be 400 -500 words in length (excluding your code lists, legislation list and references).
You may need to undertake a small amount of research, however, most information you will need is available via the seminars and their references. Also,
• use a cover page – as per the suggested template,
• use in-text referencing,
• use complete Harvard Notation, submit in “Word” format or equivalent format that can be readily opened in MS Word, keep your formatting simple: Arial 11pt, 10pt after paragraph, single line spacing, headings in bold, maximum 2 indent levels/bullet levels. Do not use page borders, word art, page backgrounds or similar extraneous decoration
• Your uploaded file name should identify you as part of its name – e.g.
PE_Assignment1_William_Smith.
Marking Guide
Marks will be awarded using the following guidelines.
• 15% meeting the procedural requirements, including, spelling, grammar, number of words, document formatting,
• 30% how logically and thoroughly you identified and described professional ,ethical and legal issues arising in the scenario,
• 30% how well you developed your recommendations and supported them with relevant, correct referencing,
• 20% how well you convinced the reader that you understood the issues,
• 5% did the material generate interest in the reader?