1 / 21

Human and Ethical Issues

7. Human and Ethical Issues. Table 7.1 Making New Hire Data Available for Enforcing Child Support Obligations. Table 7.1 Making New Hire Data Available for Enforcing Child Support Obligations. CUSTOMER Spouses to whom child support is owed

ouida
Download Presentation

Human and Ethical Issues

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. 7 Human and Ethical Issues

  2. Table 7.1Making New Hire Data Available for Enforcing Child Support Obligations

  3. Table 7.1 Making New Hire Data Available for Enforcing Child Support Obligations CUSTOMER Spouses to whom child support is owed State welfare agencies trying to enforce child support obligations

  4. Table 7.1 Making New Hire Data Available for Enforcing Child Support Obligations PRODUCT Identification of new address and new job of nonpaying ex-spouse Greater ability to enforce payment of child support

  5. Table 7.1 Making New Hire Data Available for Enforcing Child Support Obligations • BUSINESS PROCESS • Major steps related to gathering data: • Employers submit new hire identification quarterly • Federal government consolidates this data into a single database • Major steps related to using data: • Identify ex-spouses who have not met child support obligations • Search for them in the database • Take action, such as withholding part of their pay • Rationale: • Ex-spouses with child support obligations sometimes move to avoid paying • New hire data should be made available to enforce child support obligations

  6. Table 7.1 Making New Hire Data Available for Enforcing Child Support Obligations PARTICIPANTS Employers Federal government State welfare agencies INFORMATION Name, social security number, address, wages, and employer for each new hire TECHNOLOGY Computer system for storing the data Network for accessing the data

  7. Table 7.2Human Versus Machine Strengths and Weaknesses • ENDURANCE • People: • Become tired and bored • Need variety • Need to stop to rest and eat • CONSISTENCY • People: • Often somewhat inconsistent even when doing highly structured tasks • SPEED • People: • Comparatively slow in storing, retrieving, and manipulating data • MEMORY • People: • Often forget things • Time required for remembering is unpredictable • Able to retrieve information based on associations not programmed in advance • Machines: • Never become tired or bored • Don’t need variety • Need to stop for servicing • Machines: • Operate totally consistent with their programmed instructions • Machines • Enormously fast in storing, retrieving, and manipulating data • Machines: • Storage and retrieval times are predictable • In most cases can retrieve data based only on associations programmed in advance

  8. Table 7.2Human Versus Machine Strengths and weaknesses • ABILITY TO PERFORM PROGRAMMED TASKS • People: • Can perform highly structured work, but may find it boring and unsatisfying • UNDERSTANDING • People: • Capable of understanding the meaning of work • Want to understand the meaning of work • IMAGINATION • People: • Can invert new ideas and associations • Can draw conclusions from data without using formulas • ABILITY TO SEE THE WHOLE • People: • Can recognize things as wholes in addition to recognizing details • Machines: • Can only perform totally structured tasks (which may be parts of larger tasks that are not totally structured) • Machines: • Incapable of understanding the meaning of work • Only capable of following unambiguous instructions • Machines • Basically unable to invent ideas • In a few limited areas, can draw conclusions by combining specific facts in preprogrammed ways • Machines: • Recognize details and combine them into recognizable wholes only through appropriate programming

  9. Table 7.3Characteristics of a Healthy Job SKILLS You can use and increase your skills. MEANINGFULNESS You understand and respect the importance of your work and understand how it fits into the organization’s work. AUTONOMY You can control your work. You are not made to feel childish by the methods of supervision. SOCIAL RELATIONS Your job includes collaboration and communication with others. PSYCHOLOGICAL DEMANDS Your job includes a mix of routine demands and new but reasonable demands. You have some control over what demands to accept. PERSONAL RIGHTS You feel that you have appropriate personal rights at work and have reasonable ways to settle grievances. INTEGRATION WITH LIFE OUTSIDE WORK The job does not interfere excessively with your ability to participate in family and community life.

  10. Figure 7.1Guidelines for VDT users

  11. Figure 7.3Increasing autonomy through tools

  12. Figure 7.2Cockpit of a Boeing 777 airliner

  13. Box 7.1Different types of computer-mediated work COMPUTER-MEDIATED PRODUCTION WORK COMPUTER-MEDIATED OFFICE WORK OR RECORD KEEPING COMPUTER-MEDIATED INTELLECTUAL WORK COMPUTER-MEDIATED CONTROL OR SUPERVISION

  14. Table 7.4 Alternative Levels of User Involvement in System Development NONINVOLVEMENT Users are unwilling to participate, unable to contribute, or are not invited to participate. INVOLVEMENT BY ADVICE User advice is solicited through interviews or questionnaires, but others make decisions about which features are included in the system. INVOLVEMENT BY SIGN-OFF Users approve the results produced by the project team, but are not actively involved in analyzing or designing the system. INVOLVEMENT BY DESIGN TEAM MEMBERSHIP Users participate actively in design activities, such as interviews of other users and creation of functional specifications and external specifications. INVOLVEMENT BY PROJECT TEAM MEMBERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND PROJECT OWNERSHIP Users participate throughout the entire project, including initiation, development, implementation, and operation; a user representative manages the project; the user organization owns the project.

  15. Figure 7.6Importance of involvement and committment during implementation

  16. Table 7.5Common Explanations of Resistance to Information Systems • People: • Perhaps the resisting users are not smart enough to understand the system’s advantages. • The system: • Perhaps the system is too difficult to learn in a reasonable amount of time or too difficult to use effectively. • Interactions: • Perhaps the system is wrong for these particular users. • People: • Perhaps users are involved in a political fight unrelated to the system. • The system: • Perhaps the system is causing a political problem for some of the users. • Interactions: • Perhaps the system will change the political distribution of power in the organization. • People: • Perhaps users are lazy and want to continue doing things the outmoded way they have always worked. • The system: • Perhaps the system doesn’t solve enough of the problem to make the change worthwhile. • Interactions: • Perhaps the system will help some users but harm others by increasing their workloads or devaluing their skills.

  17. Table 7.5Common Explanations of Resistance to Information Systems • People: • Perhaps users’ complaints about missing or poorly designed features are an excuse for not plunging in. • The system: • Perhaps the system is poorly designed. • Interactions: • Perhaps the system needs to be enhanced to make it more effective for these users. • People: • Perhaps users are overly perfectionistic in their expectations. • The system: • Perhaps the system doesn’t solve the problem well. • Interactions: • Perhaps the system doesn’t meet expectations and needs to be improved.

  18. Table 7.6Distinctions between Ethical Issues and Legal Issues • WHAT IS THE BASIS? • Ethics: Customs and beliefs about how people should treat each other • Laws and regulations: • A combination of: • society’s consensus about ethics • practical issues about what can be enforced • historical precedents from existing laws • WHO IS THE JUDGE? • Ethics: Individuals • Laws and regulations: Judges appointed or elected through a governmental process • WHAT IS THE PRICE OF NONCONFORMANCE? • Ethics: Criticism or ostracism • Laws and regulations: Legal penalties such as fines or jail sentences • DOES THE PRINCIPLE HAVE GEOGRAPHICAL BOUNDARIES? • Ethics: May differ from society to society or region to region • Laws and regulations: May differ from society to society or region to region

  19. Figure 7.7Extending technology to increase access

  20. Table 7.7Positive and Negative Impacts of Innovations Mentioned in This Chapter NATIONAL DATABASE OF NEW HIRES Positive impacts: Helps track down parents who fail to pay child support Negative impacts: Jeopardizes privacy of millions of workers who have no child support obligations SOFTWARE THAT MONITORS USE OF CORPORATE NETWORKS Positive impacts: Identifies people who spend too much time playing games; identifies best users of particular software Negative impacts: Promotes feeling that Big Brother is always watching COMPUTERIZED SYSTEMS FOR MONITORING TRUCK USAGE Positive impacts: Increased efficiency through better use of equipment and time Negative impacts: Reduced feeling of autonomy; feeling of being spied on and distrusted COMPUTERIZED SYSTEMS FOR INSURANCE UNDERWRITING Positive impacts: Better service to customers; shorter training time; better work conditions Negative impacts: De-skilling of experienced underwriters USE OF AUTO PILOTS IN AIRPLANES Positive impacts: Greater safety and consistencey in many situations Negative impacts: Mental disengagement of pilots; de-skilling DATA PROCESSING AUTOMATION OF INSURANCE CLAIMS Positive impacts: Greater productivity in claim processing Negative impacts: Decreased social interaction at work; feelings of alienation

  21. Table 7.7Positive and Negative Impacts of Innovations Mentioned in This Chapter AUDITING THROUGH A COMPUTER Positive impacts: Less need to travel to branches because the computer provides information Negative impacts: Increasing abstractness of work; difficulty relating numbers to reality HIGHLY STRUCTURED WORK IN FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS Positive impacts: Making it likely that somewhat unskilled workers will produce consistent results Negative impacts: Feeling that the work requires participants to act like machines DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL CREDIT-RATING SERVICES Positive impacts: Better information for decisions related to granting credit, renting apartments, and hiring employees Negative impacts: Possibility of incorrect decisions based on incorrect information in the database; possibility that information will be retrieved and used illegally USE OF PROFILING IN INSURANCE SALES Positive impacts: Creates a better understanding of client needs; informs client about need for disability insurance Negative impacts: Makes the sales process lengthier and more complex PROLIFERATION OF ELECTRONIC INFORMATION ON VARIOUS MEDIA Positive impacts: Ability to disseminate and use that information more effectively Negative impacts: New opportunities to steal that information and use it illegally

More Related