Case Study 11 – Pico PC’s Manufacturing Company Pico PCs has decided to begin manufacturing tiny processors for use in the manufacture of wearable technology. During manufacture, 64 gold wired, each much finer than a human hair, must be soldered from the chip to the pins of the processor. Robots were trialled for the soldering, but the error rate was unacceptable high. One single mistake in positioning a wire or soldering it, ruined the chip. The robots were also not only prohibitively expensive. But required frequent and expensive calibration. Kushlani, the IT Production Manager was asked to carry out trials using human technicians for the work. The trials clearly demonstrated that humans had a much lower error rate and were less expensive than robots, but the technicians complained that constantly staring through a microscope at a brightly illuminated object gave them headaches and was harmful to their eyes. She reported back to management that she believed the trial had failed. The CEO was very disappointed, because he thought that the solution was good, and ‘worth a few headaches’. He asked Kushlani to get a professional medical opinion. Kushlani discussed the issue with two senior doctors, who confirmed that this work could permanently damage a person’s eyesight in as little as 5 months, and could lead to blindness in as little as 18 months. PE_Assignment1_Set A - Jan 2017 The company’s legal advisors confirmed that this was clearly in breach of the Work Health and Safety Act in Australia, so they could not go ahead. The CEO was really angry. Next morning the CEO called Kushlani into his office. Kushlani was surprised to find him quite cheerful. The CEO said that he had discovered that there was an Island in the Pacific that does not have health and safety laws, and so it would be quite legal for people of that island to solder the processors. And, better still, they were willing to work for one tenth of the wages of Australians. He said that this was a ‘win win’. What do you think that Kushlani should do? PE_Assignment1_Set A - Jan 2017 Assignment Task From what you have learned during Week s 3 and 4 of your Professional Environments Course, discuss ethical, professional and legal issues which you consider arise from this scenario. Make some recommendations of actions which could be taken to resolve the situation and/or to minimise the chance the scenario may recur. Support your answers with relevant references (as well as the Codes and Laws). Things to Consider in Your Assignment: ·  You should list at least 3 values from the ACS Code of Ethics and up to 5 clauses from the ACS Code of Professional Conduct, you think are specifically relevant in deciding how to resolve the situation. Make sure that you refer to the most up to date ACS Codes which are available on the ACS website – www.acs.org.au. ·  You should also list any relevant Australian legislation that you think applies to this scenario. ·  Your analysis, dis ...

1. Case Study 11 – Pico PC’s Manufacturing Company
Pico PCs has decided to begin manufacturing tiny processors for
use in the manufacture of wearable technology.
During manufacture, 64 gold wired, each much finer than a
human hair, must be soldered from the chip to the pins of the
processor. Robots were trialled for the soldering, but the error
rate was unacceptable high. One single mistake in positioning a
wire or soldering it, ruined the chip. The robots were also not
only prohibitively expensive. But required frequent and
expensive calibration.
Kushlani, the IT Production Manager was asked to carry out
trials using human technicians for the work. The trials clearly
demonstrated that humans had a much lower error rate and were
less expensive than robots, but the technicians complained that
constantly staring through a microscope at a brightly
illuminated object gave them headaches and was harmful to
their eyes.
She reported back to management that she believed the trial had
failed.
The CEO was very disappointed, because he thought that the
solution was good, and ‘worth a few headaches’. He asked
Kushlani to get a professional medical opinion.
Kushlani discussed the issue with two senior doctors, who
confirmed that this work could permanently damage a person’s
eyesight in as little as 5 months, and could lead to blindness in
as little as 18 months. PE_Assignment1_Set A - Jan 2017
The company’s legal advisors confirmed that this was clearly in
breach of the Work Health and Safety Act in Australia, so they
could not go ahead. The CEO was really angry.
Next morning the CEO called Kushlani into his office. Kushlani
was surprised to find him quite cheerful. The CEO said that he
had discovered that there was an Island in the Pacific that does
not have health and safety laws, and so it would be quite legal

2. for people of that island to solder the processors. And, better
still, they were willing to work for one tenth of the wages of
Australians. He said that this was a ‘win win’.
What do you think that Kushlani should do?
PE_Assignment1_Set A - Jan 2017
Assignment Task
From what you have learned during Week s 3 and 4 of your
Professional Environments Course, discuss ethical, professional
and legal issues which you consider arise from this scenario.
Make some recommendations of actions which could be taken to
resolve the situation and/or to minimise the chance the scenario
may recur. Support your answers with relevant references (as
well as the Codes and Laws).
Things to Consider in Your Assignment:
Ethics and up to 5 clauses from the ACS Code of Professional
Conduct, you think are specifically relevant in deciding how to
resolve the situation. Make sure that you refer to the most up to
date ACS Codes which are available on the ACS website –
www.acs.org.au.
you think applies to this scenario.
Your analysis, discussion and recommendations should use
the framework you selected in Week 3 – Solving an Ethical
Dilemma.
Your assignment should be 400 -500 words in length (excluding
your code lists, legislation list and references).
You may need to undertake a small amount of research,
however, most information you will need is available via the
seminars and their references. Also,
• use a cover page – as per the suggested template,
• use in‐text referencing,
• use complete Harvard Notation, submit in “Word” format or
equivalent format that can be readily opened in MS Word, keep

3. your formatting simple: Arial 11pt, 10pt after paragraph, single
line spacing, headings in bold, maximum 2 indent levels/bullet
levels. Do not use page borders, word art, page backgrounds or
similar extraneous decoration
• Your uploaded file name should identify you as part of its
name – e.g. PE_Assignment1_William_Smith.
Marking Guide
Marks will be awarded using the following guidelines.
• 15% meeting the procedural requirements, including, spelling,
grammar, number of words, document formatting,
• 30% how logically and thoroughly you identified and
described professional ,ethical and legal issues arising in the
scenario,
• 30% how well you developed your recommendations and
supported them with relevant, correct referencing,
• 20% how well you convinced the reader that you understood
the issues,
• 5% did the material generate interest in the reader?
ETHICAL DILEMMA SOLUTION AND ACS CODE OF
ETHICS
CASE STUDY 3 – COPYRIGHT AND INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY CONSIDERATIONS

4. Introduction
The report illustrates about the violation of ethical principles in
terms of violation of intellectual property rights. Courtney is
young ambitious programmer who has been cheated by the
Michael who has taken credit for her work. The national
business award is offered to Michael because he did not divulge
the matter to company that Courtney has actually developed the
new user interface.
Ethical consideration
The behaviour of Michael raises many ethical questions. First is
the honesty value that is violated by the Michael act. The
honesty factor determines that public trust should not be
breached. The trust of specific stakeholders should not be
breached. By the act of Michael, he not only violates the value
but also breeches the trust of investors, employees,
management, suppliers and other stakeholders. The services
provided to the aboriginal communities may not be hampered
but the internal processes and trust is certainly breached. The
value demands that person should reject to any inducement or
bribery, not mislead client of potential clients about the product
and services suitability, distinguish between the personal
opinions and professional opinions, and give realistic estimates
opinions, give credit to a work done by others and to attempt to
enhance the reputation at the expense of others. Certainly some
of these clauses are violated by the act of Michael.

5. The second value is competence. It says that only those work
should be accepted that a person is competent to perform and do
not hesitate the gain expertise from qualified personals. A
person should be aware about his or her limitations and must
not show false competencies. The value reflects that endeavour
to offer products and services must be providing according to
the operational and financial aspects of stakeholders. He should
not misrepresent skills and knowledge. He must respect and
protect the interests of stakeholders. He must respect and seek
professional expertise from colleagues. All these clauses are
violated by the act of Michael because his act not only
misrepresents the fact but also deceives the stakeholders.
The third value is professional development (“ACS Code of
Professional Conduct Professional Standards Board Australian
Computer Society,” 2014). A person should upgrade his
knowledge and skills and increase awareness about those issues
that affect the professionalism factors. But this factor is
overlooked by Michael. The person should encourage the
colleagues, employees and students to promote their own
professional development. This is also not promoted by Michael
act. He should support the education, professional development
and training to the organizational members. But the act of
Michael suppresses the education, professional development and
training to people. Certainly Courtney will have lack of
motivation and lack of commitment for professional
development. Therefore these findings suggest that all these
clauses and values are violated by the Michael act.
There are additional factors that also need to be considered. The
violation of intellectual property rights has taken place
(“Intellectual property laws amendment act 2015,” n.d.). Ethical
theories such as deontological theory (“Deontological Ethics,”
n.d.), consequentialism theory and virtuousness theory all are
violated by the act of Michael.
Conclusion and recommendations
Therefore it can be concluded that Michael act certainly violates
many clauses and values of ACS code of conduct as well as

6. many ethical theories and it is imperative for organization to
inculcate the values and clauses of ACS code of conduct by
offering them ethical training. Organization must monitor the
behaviour of employees and must take immediate action against
unethical behaviour of employees. It should recruit whistle
blowers in organization and must make sure that whistle
blowers should be safeguarded by the intentional harms of
culprit employees. All these initiatives may assist organization
to minimise unethical conduct.
References
ACS Code of Professional Conduct Professional Standards
Board Australian Computer Society, (2014) Available
at:https://www.acs.org.au/content/dam/acs/acs-

7. documents/ACS%20Code-of-Professional-Conduct_v2.1.pdf
[Accessed 11 June, 2017].
Intellectual property laws amendment act 2015 (n.d.) Available
at: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2015A00008
[Accessed 11 June, 2017].
Deontological Ethics (n.d.) Available
at:http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/~barsp59601/text/lex/defs/deont
ological.html [Accessed 11 June, 2017].
Ethics chapter four: ethical theories section 3. consequential or
non-consequential (n.d.). Available at:
http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/SocialSciences/ppecorino/ETHICS_TE
XT/Chapter_4_Ethical_Theories/Consequential_or_NonConsequ
ential.htm[Accessed 11 June, 2017].
Case study 4: Quality Assurance case.
ACS Code of Ethics:
1. Enhancement of quality of life:
Jane and her company hold the responsibility for producing
qualified inventory software that is crucial to the shoe
manufacturing company operations (ACS, 2014).
2. Honesty:
Jane and her company should not misrepresent the inventory
software. They should be honest with their client by intimating
the defects prior to the delivery (ACS, 2014).
3. Competence:
Jane and her company could be referred as competent and hard
working if they strive to produce the best inventory software
which does not have any defects and add value to the IT
operations of the client (ACS, 2014).
ACS Code of professional conduct:
1.2.1(c) Advice your stake holders as soon as possible of any
conflicts of interest or conscientious objections you have (ACS,

8. 2014).
Jane’s employer should intimate the conflict of interest that has
risen between them, about that single defected module which is
suspected by Jane.
1.2.2(d) Attempt to increase the feelings of personal
satisfaction, competence, and control of those affected by your
work (ACS, 2014).
Jane’s employer should regard the feelings of self satisfaction,
and proficiency of the quality of product or service they agreed
with their client and other stakeholders.
1.2.3(b) Not knowingly mislead a client or potential clients so
as to the sustainability of a product or service (ACS, 2014).
Jane and her employer should not intentionally misguide their
client with regard to the sustainability of a product or service
they offer since Jane has already suspected a defect and
intimated it to her employer.
1.2.3(c) Give realistic estimates for projects under your control
(ACS, 2014).
Jane and her employer should provide sensible evaluations to
the shoe manufacturing company for the inventory software
project they are handling.
1.2.4(e) Advise your stakeholders when you believe a proposed
project, product or service is not in their best interest (ACS,
2014).
Jane and her employer should intimate the client about the
defect in the inventory system software, how the damage is
posed and should suggest an appropriate solution to resolve it.
Australian Legislation:
In this case study since the Jane’s company has already passed
the required tests that are in agreement with the client company,
there are no legal issues arising according to the Australian
Legislation.
Thomas whites approach of resolving an ethical dilemma:
Step 1: Analyse the consequences (Whites. T, 1993):
Case 1: If she signs the document:

9. · Who will be helped?
The employer, since his company reputation sustains due to in
time project delivery.
· Who is affected?
The client, since his company operations may be affected due to
flaw in the software.
· Long term hurts
The client’s operations may be affected by the defects present
in the inventory system in future. In such case it damages the
reputation of Jane’s company for not intimating these flaws
prior to the delivery.
· Short term gains:
The employer of Jane’s company may receive good appreciation
and reputation for delivering the project on time.
Case 2: If she does not sign the document:
· Who will be helped?
The client company, they are able to know the flaws in the
inventory system prior to its implementation.
· Who is affected?
The employer of Jane, may lose his reputation for raising the
flaws in the software during the point of delivery.
Jane may be at risk of losing her job if she disobeys her
employer.
· Long term hurts:
Jane’s employer loses his reputation for delaying the project
delivery.
Jane may lose her job for not obeying the employer.
· Short term gains:
The client may be happy with the ethics of Jane and her
company and letting know before integration of the software
with flaws into their operations.
Step 2: Analyse the actions (Whites. T, 1993):
· Jane could simply sign the document as per her employer’s
instruction which obeys the moral principle like respecting

10. others dignity, but it is against the honesty principle.
· Jane could reject to sign the document which means she is
disobeying her employer but being honest to her ethics.
· Jane and her employer could come to an agreement where they
can raise this issue straight in front of the client and let him
know the situation and the corresponding consequences.
Step 3: Make A Decision (Whites. T, 1993):
· Jane could convince her employer to consider the damage that
happens to the reputation of the company in long run. The
employer should propose the situation and suggest to implement
the project on time but to give certain period of time to fix the
pending issue.

11. References
Australian Computer Society (2014). ACS code of professional
conduct. Retrieved from:
https://www.acs.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/4901/Code-
of-Professional-Conduct_v2.1.pdf
White.T (1993). Resolving an ethical dilemma. Retrieved from:
http://bourbon.usc.edu/engr102-f09/ethics.pdf
Australian Computer Society (n.d). Managing Ethical dilemma.
Retrieved from:
http://learn2.acseducation.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=35056
&chapterid=24253
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