This restructuring effects department structures, organisation hierarchies, job contents, span of control, social interaction and so on. There is a need to develop goals, social objectives and a moral framework within which the technologies can be applied in an acceptable manner. With that power goes responsibility and obligations to society, the employer, clients, colleagues, and the profession. Actions founded on the ethical high ground are called for. For this to be achieved, it is important to understand the meaning of ethics so that actions can be kept under review regarding their ethical or unethical content.
Ethics is the practice of making a principled choice between right and wrong.
It is concerned with how people ought to act not how they do act. Ethics is value driven, action oriented and determined by the situation. In other words, ethics ensures that an action that is designed to achieve a certain objective will do so without violating a value. The only thing that is ever judged to be ethical or unethical is an action. The driving force in ethics is to do the right thing all the time and not to do the same thing all the time.