Ethical Information Systems Development: A Baumanian Postmodernist Perspective

Abstract

Sutirtha Chatterjee Prairie View A&M UniversityThe paper offers a critique of traditional methodical approaches to Information Systems Development (ISD), arguing that a number of assumptions (for example, universality and rationality) underlying these approaches lead to incomplete ontological and epistemological considerations, and thereby contribute to IS failures in many cases. The paper proposes that ethical analysis undertaken in conjunction with traditional ISD approaches may be a way to address some of the limitations experienced during traditional ISD. Drawing upon ideas from postmodern ethics formulated by Zygmunt Bauman, the paper argues that increased focus on the moral responsibility of key ISD players (such as the team of analysts) may improve the ISD process. Finally, this paper suggests how, consistent with the postmodern stance, such moral responsibility can be implemented in the context of ISD. The paper concludes with the contributions and future implications of this research.implementation. Again, it would be reasonable to say that not all organizational workers are represented by a powerful union, which actively shapes the agenda/constraints related to an ISD project.Being sensitive to social and cultural contexts is fundamental to the idea of fairness (Lind et al. 1997). We believe that a process that is universal tends to overlook fundamental human concerns about dissonance of the designed systems with core values, artifacts, or organizational rituals (e.g., Hirschheim and Newman 1991), thus rendering it unfair. RationalityDue to the fact that human beings have bounded rationality (Simon 1956), the assumption of rationality underlying ISD is untenable, as seen in the TELECO case. First of all, there was poor estimation and scheduling, what Nelson (2007) refers to as a "classic mistake" in IT projects, reflective of the limited rationality of humans. In the words of a vice president:A lot of restructure and redesign was dependent on the major systems… coming to fruition. We have found that almost every single one of those are well behind schedule… everybody promises that yeah, I have got this, or we can do this, but when it comes down to delivering, you don't get what you expected.Moreover, the rational choice process was clearly not at work during IS vendor selection after the redesign phase, when TELESYS, a company owned by TELECO's parent company was "preferentially" awarded the outsourcing contracts for developing some of the critical systems, even though they had "treated TELECO as a low priority customer in the past." In light of the above, we contend that the assumption of rationality can be unfair, given that it sets up expectations among systems stakeholders that are often impossible to meet. won multiple teaching awards, has published a textbook on Information Systems Project Management, and has taught graduate and undergraduate courses on a variety of topics, including global information systems and strategy, information systems project management, and collaborative technology.

Big Data Research in Information Systems: Toward an Inclusive Research Agenda

“…xi Chatterjee, Sarker, & Fuller, 2009a, 2009b. These issues underlie much of the concerns related to the "transparency paradox 3 " and the "tyranny of the minority 4 ".…”

Ethical norms and issues in crowdsourcing practices: A Habermasian analysis

“…We note that we are interested in the "internal" view on norms and issues in crowdsourcing practices as held by actual participants, not the economic/societal perspective or "external" views on these practices. (Chatterjee & Sarker, 2013;Chatterjee, Sarker, & Fuller, 2009;Mingers & Walsham, 2010). Ethics are a central concern for critical IS research (Cecez-Kecmanovic, Klein, & Brooke, 2008;Stahl, 2008).…”

The Effect of CIO Virtues on CIO Role Effectiveness

“…Warmth or agreeableness is especially important for a CIO because this virtue becomes useful in resolving conflicts [58], and maintaining cooperation between groups [57]. The resolution of conflicts is very pertinent to managing IS implementation across organizations partly because such implementations often result in radical organizational changes with implications for various stakeholders who often have conflicting viewpoints [6].…”

“…The virtue of rhetoric is advantageous because it helps leaders negotiate with and seek convergence with different stakeholders, who may often have conflicting viewpoints. Often, in an organizational context of IT implementation, the marginalization of individual voices creates problems [6], and the practice of this virtue of rhetoric by the CIO, tends to act against such marginalization, thus inherently leading to the ability to persuade or negotiate more.…”

“…We argue that the CIO's role has strong ethical underpinnings, as the development, implementation, and management of IT in today's organizations carry weighty ethical connotations [3][4][5][6][7]. One can argue that CIOs, and also other IS leaders, need to engage in "ethical practices and priorities with responsibility, probity, and integrity" because, in many instances, organizational successes or failures depend on how ethically IS are managed and implemented in organizations [3, p. 785].…”