Impact of Codes of Conduct
Codes of Conduct have a significant impact within the IT profession. They maintain the level of professionalism and ensure that IT professionals, their employers and the public at large have a clear idea of the expected standards of the profession.
In general, Codes of Conduct work to the advantage of IT Professionals and their employers, but they can be a double edged sword. For example, it is unlikely that an employer could dismiss an IT Professional for failing to carry out work which the employee could demonstrate was unethical in terms of a code of conduct. If an employee was dismissed under these circumstances, he/she would be able to demonstrate to an Industrial Tribunal that they had adhered to the Code of Conduct while the employer had failed to do so.
On the other hand, an employer could cite an employee's failure to adhere to a code of practice as a reason for dismissal and use the Code of Conduct to defend this action at a tribunal.
As always, there are grey areas. Regarding the BCS Code of Conduct, the BCS web site states:
The Code governs your personal conduct as an individual member of the BCS and not the nature of business or ethics of the relevant authority. It will, therefore, be a matter of your exercising your personal judgement in meeting the Code's requirements.
One person might consider the writing of control software for nuclear weapons systems as an unethical act while another considers it as a contributing towards national defence. Similarly, one person might regard writing software for the alcohol or tobacco industries as morally indefensible, whereas another could regard it as legitimate work on behalf of legal businesses.
In these cases, the best bet is for individuals to avoid accepting employment with organisations whose ethical position is at variance with their own, as this is almost bound to lead to conflict.
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