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Topic 1
Introduction to IT Service
Management and Ethics

ITECH 7400 IT SERVICE MANAGEMENT AND

PROFESSIONAL CULTURE

CRICOSCRICOS Provider
Provider No.No. 00103D
00103D
Content of Course ...
Section Topics
Ethics and • Utilitarianism and deontology

Social impact of technology

professionalism • Contract-based and character
based
• Professional ethics
• IT careers
IT Service • Service management
management • Service lifecycle
• Processes and functions
• Measurement, metrics and the
Deming cycle

3
Summary

Course introduction
Introduction to service management
Introduction to ethics
Ethical terminology
Why study ethics?
Ethical decision making model
Various ethical perspectives

4
Course Objectives

This topic relates to the following course objectives:

• K1. Research and discuss underpinning theories of ethical
philosophy and apply these in to a range of scenarios in IT
workplace and service environments.
• K4. Appraise IT service management practices and how
they assist organisations.
• S1. Evaluate cognitive and practical approaches required
to manage IT professionals in collaborative global work
context.

5
Course Objectives
continued…
• S4. Utilise professional presentation and communication
approaches in a range of IT workplace and service
settings.
• A1. Construct written and verbal arguments in a variety of
formats on the evolving nature of ethical norms relating to
service and implementation of new technologies.

6
Your Reading and Research

Recommended reading:
• Tavani, 2015, Ch 1.
• Whitaker, 2011.
• Lucas, 2010.

7
Course Introduction
The Challenge

This course challenges you

• To look at your professional life beyond your studies
• To extend your outlook beyond yourself
• To aim for quality in all that you do

What you get out of it ... is what you put into it ...

9
Three Principles …

Apply to being a good student and an IT

professional
• Never stop learning
• Take responsibility for your own development
• Don’t let the limits of other people’s knowledge be a
barrier to your own professional growth

10
As a Graduate …

You will be expected to

• Know something about computing
• Be able to solve computing problems
• Be able to communicate with others
• Be able to work in a team

But also ....

11
But also …

To act as a computing professional

• To belong to a professional society e.g. PMI, ACS, ACM,
IEEE
• Take responsibility for your own work
• Demonstrate high standards
• To plan your development as a professional
• To understand your work environment, your community
and the world we live in

12
This course assists you …
To …
• Transition from student to
professional
• Develop qualities of
• competence • self-motivation
• reliability • change agent
• trustworthiness
• high work standards
• ethical decision making

13
Challenge

This course challenges you to:

• Reach a new level of maturity
• Move beyond the areas of programming, multimedia,
networking, database etc.
• Think beyond yourself to: client, co-workers, manager,
organisation, society ...
• Build on your work experiences

14
Introduction to IT Service
Management
IT Service Management

What is ITSM?
• It is the craft of implementing, managing, and delivering IT
services to meet the needs of an organisation. It ensures
that the appropriate mix of people, processes, and
technology are in place to provide value.

ITSM is the art of making a business run

ITSM is about optimising IT

16
Imagine an awkward party where two
groups, who don’t always get along, are
hanging out. One group includes the IT
professionals who serve a company. The
other group includes the end users who
depend on IT for services. End users could
be employees of the company, partners, or
customers. The silence is painful. Someone
asks about the weather. No one is having
that much fun.

17
What
Whatare
arethe
thebenefits
benefitsofofIT
ITservice
service
management
managementin this
in this
situation?
situation?

18
IT Service Management
continued…
Benefits of ITSM
• Better understanding of what the business needs and why
• Repeatable and scalable processes
• Defined roles and responsibilities
• Increased productivity
• Satisfied end users with realistic expectations
• Shorter gaps between detecting and solving problems
• Prevention of IT issues before they happen
• Ability to identify and address repeat problems
• Analytics to measure and improve IT’s performance
19
IT Service Management
continued…
In this course we will look at …
• Service management
• Service lifecycle
• Processes and functions
• Measurement, metrics and the Deming cycle

But first lets take a look at ethics …

20
Introduction to Ethics
ACS

Australian Computing Society ...

• Body for computing professionals
• All IT degrees have ACS accreditation
• For accreditation courses like ITECH 7400 are essential
• Requirements of ACS have a big influence on the content
of this course
• A study of ACS code of ethics is an important part of the
course

22
What is ethics? What does it mean
to you?

23
(Whitaker, 2011, p.78) 24
Moral Continuum

25
(McDonald, 2010, p.42) 26
(Lucas, 2010, p.40) 27
Can ethics be taught?
Advantages of Learning Ethics

According to Bok (1976)

• Helps to develop an awareness of issues that may lay in
hidden situations
• Develop a capacity for moral reasoning
• Clarify moral aspirations

29
Ethical Terminology
Define the following ethical terms

31
Ethics may be defined as:
a. set of beliefs about right and wrong behaviour within a
society

b. set of social conventions about right and wrong

–morality
c. rules that express how people should behave
–moral code
d. assumptions and convictions that are held to be true
–beliefs

32
Values may be defined as:
a. habits that incline people to do what is acceptable
–virtues e.g. fairness
b. system of rules that tell us what we can and cannot
do
–laws
c. one’s personal beliefs about right and wrong
–morals
d. the inner judgements or beliefs that determine how a
person behaves

33
Ethical Terminology
continued …
• Ethics is a set of beliefs about right and wrong
behaviour within a society
• Values are the inner judgments or beliefs that
determine how a person behaves
• The terms ‘Ethics’ and ‘Values’ are NOT
interchangeable. Put simply ...

Ethics = Behaviour

Values = Beliefs
34
Why Study Ethics?
Why should we discuss ethics?
 Jane is a student who needs a copy of a
particular textbook to help her with her
coursework. The university library has a
single copy of the book, which is already on
loan ...
The book is available in the local bookstore
for $120 but her friend tells her of a file
sharing site ... download a PDF version for
free. Jane knows that downloading the
PDF version is in violation of the author’s
copyright – on the other hand ...
(Creaney, 2011) 37
What should Jane do?

38
 Application to IT Projects
Should the programmer blow the whistle?

Consider a computer professional's role in

designing, developing, and maintaining computer
hardware and software systems. Suppose a
programmer discovers a software product is about
to be released, even though it is unreliable
because it contains buggy code.
39
Ethical Decision Making Model
Ethical Decision-Making Model

Six-Step Model (Beemsterboer, 2010; Velasquez et

al, 2009)
• Identify the ethical dilemma or problem
• Collect the information
• State the options
• Apply ethical principles to the options
• Make the decision
• Implement the decision

41
 Ethical Decision-Making Model
continued…

(Beemsterboer, 2010; Velasquez et al, 2009) 42

Various Ethical Perspectives
Various Perspectives

In the next couple of lectures ...

• Four different ethical theories will be introduced
• Each will provide guidance in making an ethical decision
• One theory will suggest one decision and a different
theory a different decision
• The ACS Code of Ethics will be introduced to provide
further support in decision-making

44
Various Perspectives
continued …
The scope of ethics
• There are a number of relationships involved in the case
study
• All of them require ethical consideration
• We all have different values, we are likely to make varying
ethical decisions
• Some factors will be more important to one person than
they are to another

45
Various Perspectives
continued …
Personal ethics
We possess personal values derived from the influence of
our own culture and people e.g.
• parents and other family members
• friends and peer groups
• respected authorities

We practice personal ethics every day, as a member of our

family, as a friend and as a member of our community

46
Various Perspectives
continued …
Professional ethics
• Defined and safeguarded by professional bodies such as
the Australian Computing Society (ACS)
• Defined in a Code of Ethics
• Safeguarded by disciplining members who fail to act
according to the code
• Unethical behaviour by a member brings disrepute to the
whole profession

47
Various Perspectives
continued …
Ethics and the law
• Ethics has to do with responsible decision-making
• It is ethical to obey the law
• Ethics goes beyond the law as it usually involves a
personal choice not covered by law
• In very special circumstances it may be ethical to break
the law, e.g. driving carefully through a red light in an
emergency

48
Various Perspectives
continued …
Ethics and religion
• Religions normally have an associated moral (ethical)
code
• Religion certainly has been and continues to be a strong
influence in the exercise of ethical behaviour
• A person does not have to be religious to be ethical

49
Various Perspectives
continued …
Ethics and philosophy
• Philosophers as a group have long been concerned with
ethical behaviour and the basis of ethical decisions
• The four ethical theories that are studied in this course
have been developed over time by a philosophers in the
Western tradition

50
Various Perspectives
continued …
Making ethical decisions
You will be called upon to:
• put your values into practice
• consider the consequences to others
• consider your duty to others
• consider the rights of others
• consider the obligations and responsibilities you have toward others

51
Various Perspectives
continued …
Being involved
It may be helpful to you in this course in which professional
ethics are studied, to consider also personal ethical
dilemmas that you have experienced or are experiencing

52
Summary

This course challenges your thinking and aids transitioning

you from student to IT professional.
IT service management is the craft of implementing,
managing, and delivering IT services to meet the needs of
an organisation.
The benefits of ITSM include; understanding of business
needs, repeatable and scalable processes, clear roles and
responsibilities, increased productivity, satisfied end users
with realistic expectations, quick detection and solving of
problems, preventative approach, identify and address
repeat problems, analytics capabilities.
53
Summary
continued …
Ethics is a set of beliefs about right and wrong behaviour in
society. Important terminology around ethics includes
morality, moral code, beliefs, values, virtues, laws, and
morals.
There are many ethical decision making models, one version
is the six-step model which includes: identify the problem,
collect information, state the options, apply ethical principles
to the options, make the decision and implement the
decision.

There are various perspectives in ethical decision making:

the philosophers, religion, law, professional and personal.
54
References
Beemsterboer, P. (2010). Ethical decision making. Dimensions of Dental Hygiene, 8(6), 78-81.
Bok, D. (1976). Can ethics be taught? Change 8(9), 26-30.
Creaney, N. (2011). Professional ethics: Telling right from wrong. Retrieved June 29, 2012 from
http://normancreaney.wordpress.com/the-ethical-it-professional/professional-ethics-telling-rig
ht-from-wrong/
Lucas, R. (2010). Are ICT managers as bad ethically as everyone thinks they are? The facts
prove rather surprising. Information Age, 8/9, 45-47.
McDonald, C. (2010). Raising the stakes in the content debate. Information Age, June/July, 41-
42.
SysAid Technologies. (2020). What is ITSM? Retrieved February 2, 2020 from
https://www.sysaid.com/resources/what-is-itsm
Tavani, H. (2015). Ethics and technology: Controversies, questions and strategies for ethical
computing (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
Velasquez, M.,Moberg, D., Meyer, M., Shanks, T., McLean, M., DeCosse, D., André, C., &
Hanson, K. (2015). A framework for thinking ethically. Retrieved Feb 10, 2017, from
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/framework.html
Whitaker, J. (2011). How do we learn ethics? Information Age, March/April, 78-80.

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