PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES

WEEK 5

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCES

BAHRIA UNIVERSITY LAHORE CAMPUS

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TODAY’S OUTLINE

 BCS Codes of Ethics

 Organizational Structure

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PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

ACM Code of Ethics and

Professional Conduct

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A ACM
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SUMMARY OF CODE OF ETHICS GOALS

 Intellectual Property
 Privacy
 Confidentiality
 Professional quality
 Fairness or discrimination
 Liability
 Software risks
 Conflicts of interest
 Unauthorized access to computer systems

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 BCS CODES OF CONDUCT AND PRACTICE

 The British Computer Society (BCS) sets the professional standards of competence, conduct

and ethical practice for computing in the United Kingdom. The Royal Charter incorporated the
Society in July 1984. This code of conduct is directed to all members of The British Computer
Society. As an aid to understanding, these rules have been grouped into the principal duties,
which all members should endeavor to discharge in pursuing their professional lives.
 The Public Interest
 Duty to Employers and Clients
 Duty to the Profession
 Professional Competence and Integrity

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THE BCS CODE OF CONDUCT

 The Public Interest

 Members shall ensure that within their chosen fields they have knowledge and
understanding of relevant legislation, regulations and standards and that they comply
with such requirements.
 Members shall in their professional practice have regard to basic human rights and
shall avoid any actions that adversely affect such rights.

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THE BCS CODE OF CONDUCT

 Duty to Employers and Clients

 Members shall endeavour to complete work undertaken on time and to
budget and shall advise their employer or client as soon as practicable if
any overrun is foreseen.
 Members shall not offer or provide, or receive in return, inducement for
the introduction of business from a client unless there is full prior
disclosure of the facts to the client.

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DUTY TO EMPLOYERS AND CLIENTS (CONT.)

 Members shall not misrepresent or withhold information on the capabilities of

products, systems or services with which they are concerned or take advantage of the
lack of knowledge or inexperience of others.
 Members shall not, except where specifically so instructed, handle client's monies or
place contracts or orders in connection with work on which they are engaged where
acting as an independent consultant.

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THE BCS CODE OF CONDUCT

 Duty to the Profession

 Members shall uphold the reputation of the Profession and shall seek to improve professional standard through
participation in their development, use and enforcement, and shall avoid any action, which will adversely affect the good
standing of the Profession.
 Members shall in their professional practice seek to advance public knowledge and understanding of computing and
information systems and technology and to counter false or misleading statements, which are detrimental to the Profession.
 Members shall encourage and support fellow members in their professional development and, where possible, provide
opportunities for the professional development of new entrants to the Profession.
 Members shall act with integrity towards fellow members and to members of other professions with whom they are
concerned in a professional capacity and shall avoid engaging in any activity, which is incompatible with professional
status.
 Members shall not make any public statements in their professional capacity unless properly qualified and, where
appropriate, authorized to do so, and shall have due regard to the likely consequences of any statement on others.
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THE BCS CODE OF CONDUCT

 professional Competence and Integrity

 Members shall seek to upgrade their professional knowledge and skill and shall maintain awareness
of technological developments, procedures and standards which are relevant to their field, and shall
encourage their subordinates to do likewise.
 Members shall only offer to do work or provide a service, which is within their professional
competence and shall not claim to any level of competence, which they do not possess, and any
professional opinion, which they are asked to give, shall be objective and reliable.
 Members shall accept professional responsibility for their work and for the work of their subordinates
and associates under their direction, and shall not terminate any assignment except for good reason
and on reasonable notice.
 Members shall avoid any situation that may give rise to a conflict of interest between themselves and
their client and shall make full and immediate disclosure to the client if any conflict should occur. 10
THE BCS CODE OF PRACTICE (SCOPE)

 The Code of Practice is concerned with professional responsibility. All members have responsibilities: to clients,
to users, to the State and society at large
 In the event of apparent clash in responsibilities, obligations or prescribed practice the Society's Secretary-General
should be consulted at the earliest opportunity.
 BCS membership covers all occupations relevant to the use of computers and it is not possible to define the Code
in terms directly relevant to each individual member.

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Week-6
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ETHICAL DILEMMAS

 A situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or

more alternatives
 Please respond to the following situations according to what you would
ACTUALLY do, NOT what you think you SHOULD do. This requires
some tough but honest internal dialogue!

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RESOLVING DILEMMAS

 Resolving the dilemmas

 practical guidelines
 Working through case studies, understanding points of conflict, and
clarifying priorities
 Determining your ethical position

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DILEMMA 1

You have quoted time and hardware pricing for two similar
assignments both requiring installation of ICT. To your delight
both clients order the work but a dilemma has been created. The
hardware from one project on one job can also be used on the
other job. Potentially this reduces your costs and allows you to
reduce pricing on one or both jobs.
What would you do?
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DILEMMA 2

You and a colleague have worked hard with much time

negotiating a bid which you have just won. You are reviewing
your colleague’s bid offer and notice that the client pre-
qualification question requiring a specific CPD certification was
not answered. The client and your colleague appear to have
overlooked this. You do not have the required certification.
What would you do?
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DILEMMA 3

You have developed a successful client relationship for

some years. Your main client contact has indicated to you
confidentially s(he) is considering a move to a consulting
supplier who competes with yourself. You were planning
to recruit a person with the same skills and experience.
What would you do?
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DILEMMA 4
You are in the middle of delivering a successful project with
your employed team. The client wishes to extend the work and
has emailed you asking you confirm within 48 hours that you
have the capacity to deliver more as time is of the essence for a
decision. Your resources are currently fully committed but you
are confident you can sub-contract to an associate to deliver.
However the subcontractors are on holiday and cannot be
contacted within 48 hours.
What would you do? 18
PROFITING FROM GOOD PRACTICE

 Take an ethical approach at all times by:

 Encouraging Clients to evaluate and measure the benefits of any work
conducted by Consultants;
 Protect personal methods but transfer Knowledge; and
 Leave the business change successfully embedded

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 ORGANIZATION

• A social unit of people, systematically structured and

managed to meet a need or to pursue collective goals
on a continuing basis.
WHY DO WE NEED AN ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE?

All Organizations have a

management structure that
determines the relationships b/w
functions and positions and
subdivides and delegates roles,
responsibilities and authority to
carry out defined tasks.
It is a framework within which an Organization arranges it’s lines
of authorities and communications and allocates rights and duties.
TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE?

 Tall Organizational Structure

 Flat Organizational Structure
 Virtual Organizational Structure
 Boundary less Organizational Structure

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TALL ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

• Large, complex organizations often require a taller

hierarchy.
• In its simplest form, a tall structure results in one long
chain of command similar to the military.
• As an organization grows, the number of management levels
increases and the structure grows taller. In a tall structure,
managers form many ranks and each has a small area of
control. 25
FLAT ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

• Flat structures have fewer management

 levels, with each level controlling a broad area or group.

• Flat organizations focus on empowering employees rather than adhering to the

chain of command.
• By encouraging autonomy and self-direction, flat structures attempt to tap into
employees’ creative talents and to solve problems by collaboration the structure
grows taller. In a tall structure, managers form many ranks and each has a small
area of control.

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VIRTUAL ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

 Virtual organization can be thought of as a way in which an organization uses

information and communication technologies to replace or augment some aspect
of the organization.
 People who are virtually organized primarily interact by electronic means.
 For example, many customer help desks link customers and consultants together
via telephone or the Internet and problems may be solved without ever bringing
people together face-to-face.
 Examples?

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BOUNDARY-LESS ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

• A boundary less Organizational structure is a contemporary approach in

Organizational design.
• It is an organization that is not defined by, or limited to the horizontal, vertical or
external boundaries imposed by a pre-defined structure.
• It behaves more like an organisation encouraging better integration among
employees and closer partnership with stakeholders.
 It’s highly flexible and responsive and draws on talent wherever it’s found.

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SUMMARY

 Today we have learnt

 BCS Codes of Ethics
 Organizational Structure

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 REFERENCES

 These lecture notes were taken from following source:

 Professional Issues in Software Engineering M.F. Bott et al. Latest edition
 Computer Ethics, Deborah G. Johnson, Pearson Education (2009) 4th edition

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