Information Systems Unemployment Ethical Framework

1772 Words8 Pages
Using one or more ethical theories as a framework, discuss the following: Should companies be responsible for the unemployment caused by their information systems? Since the 1980’s there has been an exponential growth in technology. The 1980’s and 1990’s saw the release of the personal computer, cds, mobile phones and most importantly the internet. It did not take long for these technologies to become integral in the way that most companies across the world operated. According to Reisinger (2012) the adoption of mobile platforms of computing is “ten times greater than PC adoption at that technology's rapid-growth phase in the 1980s.” The growth in these technologies has allowed many companies to utilise the use of information systems that reduce the number of people the company needs to employ. The ethical framework of act utilitarianism can be applied to a company’s decision making process of employing technologies that either reduce the number of employees or reduces the rate of job creation. Unemployment is not just caused by the direct loss of a job but the decrease in job opportunities, “impressive advances in computer technology… are largely behind the sluggish employment growth of the last 10 to 15 years.” (Rotman, 2013). “Utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory that places the locus of right and wrong solely on the outcomes (consequences) of choosing one action/policy over other actions/policies” (Cavalier). The utilitarianism ethical framework is used to analyse the positive effects of an action outweigh the negative effects. Act utilitarianism is the analysis of the benefits of a particular act compared to the alternative actions, “The right act is then defined as the one which brings about the best results” (Cavalier). Act utilitarianism can be manipulated to declare a decision or action ethical due to the difficulty of assessing and comparing
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