MGT 230 Ethics, Sustainability and

Culture
Assessment item 2
(Report)
Submitted to:
Dr. Tom Denigan

Table of Contents
Introduction...................................................................... 3
Body of the report:............................................................4

Ethical Theory and definition:..................................................4

Utilitarianism:....................................................................................... 4
Application of the theory chosen:.........................................................5
Making decision with the understanding of ethical theory:........6

Conclusion:.......................................................................8
References:......................................................................9

Introduction

In any workplace, it is very important for the workers to follow the code of
conducts and policies involved in this workplace. In order for any business to
be successful and smoothly operating, employees must follow these policies
and regulations.
However some times, during the operation of the business these rules will be
violated for some reasons. Plus the relationships, views, principles may vary
and make the employees and workers weight there actions whether they are
right or wrong. This scenario is called ethical dilemma.
Ethical dilemmas (moral dilemmas) are cases where a choice needs to be
made between two options, which are ethically acceptable, but in conflict.
In my case the ethical dilemma that I faced in my workplace was Hacking (evil
hacking) as hacking has two definitions. First definition is the hacking using
legal acts, for example these types of hackers help organizations to test their
security system and look for gaps that need to be filled in order to strengthen
this system. The second definition is the black hackers, and these hackers are
people that gain unauthorized access to computer systems and upload
viruses that damage the contents, steal confidential information, damage a
system and shut it down. In general, we can say that hacking damages
systems, damage or destroy a business or a company revenue and in some
cases hurt people.
Ethical dilemma:
In my case, the company that I used to work for is a company that creates
applications for the mobile phones that help users to store their confidential
information and keep their passwords in case they forgot it.
One day one of the directors believed that there is a virus currently being
implemented in the application, and this virus is able to store all the
confidential information of the users in a different place, which anyone can
access it and change it. So the boss asked one of the employees to hack into
the other system and obtain some information regarding this virus and where
it comes from. The employee did hack into the system and knew who created
this virus, so he decided to send this information to the press, which got the
matter out to the public.

Body of the report:

Ethical theories are concepts that most philosophers use to observe what is
right and wrong, good or bad. The main concept the ethical theory focus on is
how to apply the knowledge of those theories to the morals of the society. And
with the fast change in the world, what is universally and socially accepted is
changing as well, thus ethical theories are always in progress and are always
changing.
The ethical theory that I am using to assess the actions of my colleague at
work is the Act of Utilitarianism.

Ethical Theory and definition:

Utilitarianism:
Act of Utilitarianism is the utility or the doctrine that we should always act
upon to produce the greatest amount of good over bad to everyone affected
by our action. Utilitarianism is associated with social improvement as it always
promotes how to act in a way that makes everyone around you happy.
Moreover, this ethical theory helps people choosing between actions, events
that makes them happier, and in doing so; individuals can maximize positive
and good outcomes.
For some people that may sound selfish, but again utilitarianism is made to
create a society that includes the greatest amount of happiness when it needs
it so this theory promote the improvement of the whole society in general.
Furthermore, when defining what is good or bad for a society, many factors
need to be taken in account such as what influences people choices, what are
the things that make people decide whether they do the good or bad. After
evaluating these influences a system will be produced to get the greatest
amount of happiness.
Not everyone supports or follow the Utilitarianism theory to resolve their
issues. There is many criticisms of the act of utilitarianism, I will list two of
those critics.

1- Will be that linking utility to private preferences is impossible.

2- Is that measuring happiness and unhappiness is not always precise.
So some people argue that there is now way to always calculate the amount
of happiness out of an action, because some times the consequences will be
unknowable. For example, stealing money is universally unacceptable and the
consequences of it is always bad, but if we think about it for example
someone can steal a small amount of money from another person, but the
consequences might be good because this person could go and play lottery
with the money and win a big amount of money. In a result of this action, the
stealer may give the money back to the person that he stole the money from
and keep the rest.

Application of the theory chosen:

Moving from the definition of Utilitarianism to applying this theory to the ethical
dilemma of hacking, this theory can be applied to the IT issue that we listed
before which is hacking, that is dealing with black hackers (hackers that uses
their skills for evil actions).
To prove that hacking is bad we can apply Utilitarianism. There is many
principles of this theory that can support the fact and show why hacking is a
negative and bad concept.
I am going to list a few of these principles to support the viewpoint.
1- The main principle or lets say the definition of Utilitarianism is to
produce the greatest amount of happiness for everyone affected by the
action. And when talking about hacking, most of the businesses or
companies who had their computers, systems, information and network
hacked are definitely not happy. Therefore, we can say the hacking is
the main reason for business or people to be unhappy.
2- Because Utilitarianism evaluates actions according to their
consequences, an action that hurts someone or disturbs an individual
or a business is a bad action. Hacking does not only hurt an individual
or a business, this concept can in fact damage million of people,

networks, computer systems I a matter of hours. So we can say that

hacking as well violate this second principle of Utilitarianism.
3- Utilitarianism includes that all actions, dealings, activities, behaviors
etc. should eventually produce positive (good) results and outcomes.
As we all know that hacking is an illegal concept, there is no way that
this activity will produce a positive outcome.
From a personal perspective, I have spent many years working in this
company and to face a hackers and deal with hacking activities is a very hard
task. So personally, anyone who tries to hack into a system and damage it
should receive harsh punishments.
Moreover, in our case the hacker that hacked into our system and
implemented the virus to steal all the confidential information of our clients
should receive penalties and punishments. Nevertheless, the decision that the
director made which was ask one of employees to hack back into the other
system is also a unethical action and this action shouldnt be taken in account.
There is many other ways to deal with these situations without doing the same
activities (hacking).
In the business that I used to work for, customer confidential information are
the greatest assets that we possess, so if we lose or give these information to
anyone that will damage our reputation and the business.

Making decision with the understanding of ethical

theory:
Making decisions is the selection of a logical choice from presented options.
There is a difference between making a normal decision with a basic
knowledge and making decision with an understanding of ethical and moral
theories.
Having knowledge of ethical theories will make the decision maker first of all
to understand if the issue he is dealing with is an ethical issue, this stage of
the decision making is the hardest, as sometimes the situation is beyond our
knowledge and experience. The second stage will be to get the facts about

the issue, which is putting everything you know and everything you dont know
and try to review the options. The third stage will be evaluating and applying
theories to your decision. In our case:
1- Use the utilitarian theory to evaluate which action result in the greatest
good and least bad.
2- Try to check which action respect the right of everyone affected by the
action.
3- Check which action is more fair to people
The last stage of ethical decision-making will be to test your decision that you
made and check if it results in the greatest happiness and least harm.
In the studied scenario, now that I know more about ethical theory, my action
will of course be different when this ethical dilemma occurred in my
workplace.
One of my actions will be to go to the director and my colleague at work and
face them, that the action they doing is ethically wrong and that they cannot
resolve an ethical dilemma, with another unethical activity. Plus let them know
about other ways to deal with this issue.
This action that I will do after having knowledge about ethical theory, will affect
many stakeholders. When this activity was occurred the results of it was the
our reputation will be ruined, my colleague that did the hack will be facing
penalties, the director will face penalties as well because he was the one
giving orders to his employee.
So by advising, the director and the employees of the results that they might
face when hacking back the system, this will make them avoid the penalties,
and make them aware of the ethical issue of the activity of hacking and how to
resolve it using ethical and moral decision.

Conclusion:
Having knowledge of ethical theory that values the great over bad and have
that sense of moral obligation, is a very important thing to have to provide and
produce a better decision-making and moral principles. Identifying good or
bad is a hard task and needs long time of research, but in completing this
task, every ethical issue can be resolved more accurately and more
professionally. Using utilitarianism as an ethical issue to define and apply on
an ethical issue is a good approach, because it is always based on the
actions that people act upon.
Applying this ethical theory in our real life, for example the case that we
studied (hacking), is a proof that ethical theory can be used in any occasion to
define and set the boundaries of good and bad.
Finally we can say that Utilitarianism can be a practical theory that encourage
happiness and maximize it in a society.
Finally, I will finish this essay with a question, which is, Could we improve the
world and live in a better world if The Act of Utilitarianism was applied to the
society that we live in?

References:

Hacking. Explainer: What is hacking?

Retrieved from:
http://phys.org/news/2013-04-hacking.html

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Act of Utilitarianism.

Retrieved From:
http://iep.utm.edu/util-a-r/
Iowa State University. Moral and ethical theories.
Retrieved from:
http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ362/hallam/presentations/moralthe
ories.pdf
NCSL. 2014. Computer crime
Retrieved from:
http://www.ncsl.org/research/telecommunications-andinformationtechnology/computer-hacking-andunauthorized-access-laws.aspx
Utilitarianism. Most common criticisms of Utilitarianism.
Retrieved From:
http://www.utilitarian.org/criticisms.html