IT Professional ethics using

the SLEP analytical tool

Industrial Expertise 2014
Terry Keefe
Dr Lynn Cinderey

Something about teaching

professional ethics

Growth area

Publications

HE course content (IT)

Commercial training requirements

Features

Generic principles and themes

Application customised to specific professions

Tendency to focus on extremes big issues, big decisions

Challenges

Inherently interesting and boring

Getting students to understand

Importance and scale of the issues
The philosophical basis
The relevance o their career futures

The SLEP framework

SLEP the 4 modalities

Based on the British Computer Society model

Derived from expert literature (Quinn, Johnson et al)

Analysis organised around four 4 related aspects of

a situation or issue

Social

Legal

Ethical

Professional

Phase 1 - Stakeholders
Stakeholder

Concern

Issue

General
Public

Misuse of personal data

Low public trust in IT

IT Student

Not a meaningful status

No professional
recognition

IT
Practitioner

Competing with
unqualified jobseekers

Career opportunities and

progression

IT User

Reliant on unreliable IT

No controls over IT
industry

Phase 2 SLEP Based Analysis

of Issues

Issue

Social

Low public trust in IT,

Society reliant on uncontrolled IT providers

Legal

Data Protection and other IT laws unclear

and often flouted.

Ethical

Abuse of trust and specialist knowledge

Customer users not always respected

Professional

No formal recognition of IT status

Low motivation to embrace professional
standards

Phase 3 SLEP Based Critical

Evaluation
The topic /
question

Clear, unambiguous statement of the situation highlighting points to be

analysed and discussed.

Issues
Enter against the closest
category.
Don't worry about overlaps.

Description
Impact, positive and

negative.

Stakeholder 1, 2 etc
Impact on them
Their viewpoint

Expert
(Literature Review)
academic
professional
viewpoint
recommendations

Student / Researcher
(Your Conclusions)
Viewpoint
Reasoning
Recommendation

Social
Defined as:

Legal
Defined as:

Ethical
Defined as:

Professional
Defined as:

References

Adams, A. A., 2008. Pandora's Box. s.l.:Wiley.

Addis, M., 2013. Philosophy in the Workplace. Philosophy Now, March.

Cinderey L, Keefe TN, 2013, Developing the next generation of IT Professionals,

Ethicomp 2013

Fisher, C. & Lovell, A., 2009. Business Ethics and Values. 3rd ed. s.l.:Prentice Hall.

Hanks C (Ed), 2010, Technology and Values, Wiley-Blackwell

Hudson, A., 2011. BBC News - Why do people play music in public through a phone.
[Online], http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13749313

Johnson, D. G., 2009. Computer Ethics. 4th ed. s.l.:Pearson.

Keefe, T. N., 2012. Professional Ethics Analytical Framework. Sheffield: s.n.

Lochrie, J. S., 1989. Perry revisitedA fresh look at Forms of intellectual and ethical
development in the college years.. Studies in higher education, 14(3), pp. 347-350.

Quinn, M. J., 2011. Ethics for the Information Age. 4th ed. s.l.:Pearson.

Tavani, H. T., 2011. Ethics and Technology. 3rd ed. s.l.:Wiley.

Watz, A & Mason, M. Your Brain at Work, Harvard Business Review, August 2013