Keywords: professionalism and reliability in it
Professionalism may be considered as behaving within an appropriate manner and adhering to accepted concepts and practices. It isn't only vital in the field of IT but it is also very important in other fields. A number of the key areas of IT Professionalism are competence in IT, knowledge, various skills such as gentle skills, ethical behavior and certification. Professionalism and ethics must be educated and practised at the secondary degree of schooling. Professionalism is required not only in neuro-scientific Information Technology but also in other fields in order to bring about reputation, ethical behavior and add value to any company.
This paper discusses about IT Professionalism and Ethics and exactly how professionalism does apply in IT industry. With the help of class discussions, research study and literature review, ethics and professionalism and reliability in IT and other domains are discussed. With this paper, an effort has been made to answer some of the questions below:
- Why IT professionalism and reliability is needed and why is it important?
- What is ethics?
- Why Ethics is needed?
- Role of ethics in Information Technology
Discussion
IT professionals should not just have good technical knowledge and experience but likewise have winning attitude with good gentle skills such as communication, interpersonal, analytical, statistical, managerial, management skills etc.
Nowadays, businesses require professionalism to be able to provide best value service to the clients and to meet their requirements. Professionalism also offers a platform for ethical trade. It greatly improves profits, production and high market value within an organization. It greatly benefits the those who abide by it and impacts contemporary society in a good manner.
Let us check out some of the characteristics which describe a specialist (ACM, 2000)
Trustworthiness: Professional trusts himself in whatever he does indeed and trusts other people.
Honesty: Professional is genuine when working and employs right code of do.
Punctuality: It really is one of the most crucial aspects of professionalism and reliability.
Responsibility: Professional is responsible towards his work and handles work effectively.
Leadership: Professional has good command skills and is an excellent team player.
Confidentiality: Maintains confidentiality of information in an organization.
Competency: Professional is officially skilled in his field.
What is Ethics?
Ethics may be looked at as legislation which distinguish between right and incorrect. It also aspires to differentiate between appropriate and unacceptable behaviour.
Why Ethics is necessary?
Ethics helps visitors to respect and value themselves as well as others. It is based on central principles such as Trust, straightforwardness, integrity, quality, success and reputation. Ethics within an organization assists with retaining the expertise and minimizes attrition rate of jobs. It aims to improve profits and raises productivity among the employees in an organization.
Why IT professionalism and reliability is needed and why could it be important?
In order to enhance the expansion and add value to a business.
It really helps to provide better services to clients
It improves trust with employers and employees in a organization
Create company's own brand value
IT professionalism forms the pillar for company's own eye-sight and mission
It improves customer satisfaction
"They should be aware of the many types of educational programs, different job headings and functions, and some areas of the employment resource and demand. They must be aware of the necessity for each computing worker to have professional responsibility because of their work, and an awareness of the importance of appropriate moral behavior in the group. They must also have a knowledge of the impact of information technology on society as a whole and on individuals, and become prepared to handle a variety of issues arising in the workplace. " (Little, J. C. and Granger, M. J. , 1999)
Role of Ethics and Professionalism in Information Technology
IT has modernized the living standards of mankind. In IT, professionalism and reliability plays a major role in delivering the changes to an organization and to the mankind. Technology can be utilized as an advantage or for devastation. Ethics play a major role in determining the right use of technology. There's a very fine range between professional and non-professional. IT professional will need to have proper code of do, right attitude and good moral values and should not misuse the technology.
Nowadays, due to the rapid growth in technology there's been a common misuse of technology. With the go up of Internet there's been unethical and unprofessional behavior which have resulted in severe problems such as computer trojans, Spamming and hacking.
In IT education, ethics should be educated and permitted to be practiced in all schools and corporations. Students must be made aware of the results which result anticipated to unethical behavior. It really is in the first stage these ideals should be inculcated within them that may lead a long way later in life. There has been a rise in cyber crimes because of the misuse of Internet. Many a time, students don't realize ethics and professional behaviour. Professionalism must be totally followed in colleges and institutions and really should be practised at an earlier stage. In universities, plagiarism is unethical. Duplicating others ideas and work, without proper acknowledgement to the original author it is unfair and severe action is detected and applied.
Case Analysis and personal experience
Personally, it has been a wonderful learning experience learning the value and role of ethics and professionalism and reliability in IT. As should go the famous offer, "Character, not circumstances, makes the person. " (Booker T. Washington), professionalism and ethics helps in making use of science and technology for noble purposes.
In our case study (Digital Artefact on IT Professionalism by Trailblazers, 2010), we discussed about non-professional behaviour and some of the reasons triggering it. Non-professional behavior mainly results anticipated to lack of ethics and insufficient very soft skills.
Let us look at some of the variations between professional and non-professional
Professional
Has self esteem and treats others with respect
Has credibility and performs his/her duties
Responsible and dedicated towards work
Skilled, proficient and experience
Team player and has good management skills
Good communicator
Right frame of mind and audio character
Non professional
Does not respect others
Lacks credibility and will not perform his duties
Not sensible or dedicated
Lack of knowledge, skills and experience
Not a team player and lacks management skills
Not a good communicator
Does not have right attitude, bad character
"The difference between a specialist person and a specialist is that a technician recognizes everything about his job except its ultimate purpose and his devote the structure of things" (Livingston, 2010)
An exemplory case of unethical behaviour in an organization
If a worker in an organization fails to follow the right code of do and will not follow ethics, he/she will be penalized. An individual will not be successful in his field if he doesn't have moral prices.
An example of how atomic bomb was slipped on Hiroshima was completely unethical. People were not educated about the risk and the magnitude of damage that might be triggered by atomic bombs. Had they been imparted proper knowledge and safety measures during the conflict, many individuals' lives would have been kept (Matloff, 1966).
How IT professionalism is applicable to me?
IT professionalism and reliability helps me to move forward in the IT industry and my aspiration is to become network support engineer. To become a specialist in the networking field, developing a career development plan is useful. As change is quick in IT industry, I have to constantly upgrade my skills and knowledge to be skillful and successful. Certifications play a major role in the IT industry (Steven Philip, 2010) and by proper planning and management of day to day activities, I am able to obtain higher qualifications and get hands-on-experience in networking field.
Network pros provide and enforce security of private information online. They must stick to ethics when executing their duties and also provide suited advice to fellow employees or clients. (NPA, 2007)
Some of the top guidelines and procedures for network professionals
Technical competence and knowledge
Confidentiality to be preserved within an organization and with clients
Following proper honest codes
Adherence to key points and practices
Conclusion
In today's world the role of an IT professional is essential. IT professionalism and reliability is not simply about acquiring skills, knowledge, experience and certifications but also giving similar importance to center moral values, ideas and ethical behavior (Jide, 2010). This can have an enormous impact on one's personal life results in positive changes in an organization and benefits the society. A true professional is a mixture of excellent knowledge and skills with fine identity and virtues. Federal and company must promote IT professionalism and penalize the employees or staff who do not follow it. Professionalism and ethics is evidently identified in other professions such as doctors, advocates, technicians etc. IT professionalism and reliability is more concerned with specialized skills, knowledge, knowledge and certifications no clear rules on ethical behaviour are defined. Professionalism is best learnt when one practices than by only studying it.
