Second, managers must carefully consider whether an action dehumanizes employees. Third, the extent to which a technological application causes discrimination must be considered. This is a real societal concern for many information systems projects, as it has been argued that many newer technologies enable information redlining that bypasses certain socioeconomic strata and ethnic communities. Fourth, and related, managers must determine how particular information systems initiatives will impact the material well-being of society s members as employees or consumers. Fifth, managers face the difficulty of identifying profitable projects that are consistent with their other ethical obligations under the theory to reject actions that are fraudulent or deceptive or that dehumanize employees, and to eliminate options that reduce the welfare of society s members.
Some special considerations exist for members of the corporate information systems community.
Unfortunately, the professional codes being proffered by various information systems organizations remain somewhat of a patchwork quilt, with many areas of ambiguity still unaddressed. Even in situations where the codes address similar issues, they are often in conflict with respect to the duties and responsibilities assigned to information systems professionals by a corporation. Further, corporation-formulated information systems ethics codes may not coincide with those proffered by the professional organizations. Instead, information systems professionals should focus on a systematic approach that will raise ethical issues at the appropriate times. Three steps can be taken.