The nature of Trust

A synopsys from the Ethics Smethics Point of Vue and other reasons why I'll never work with Michael Schrage 

http://www.cio.com.au/article/185611/ethics_shmethics/

Do the right thing or implement the system correctly. Well this statement is clearly flawed. If your IT department cannot implement a system correctly than you as the CIO have failed at developing a team with the right skills, Wilcox et al have cited that team composition and dynamic are of prime importance on ERP and CRM development. (Willcocks, Sykes, 2000)ⁱ If such difficulties arise you might be better off seeking employment as a used car salesmen or tax collector or some other business where a lack of ethics is a good fit. 

If you believe that withholding layoff information will help get your projects completed, it’s probably going to be your last project as CIO since the company will have serious issues gaining customer confidence once employee confidence and trust is lost. ; Issues of customer confidence include those experienced by Enron, MCI World Com, Nortel, Arthur Anderson and others. (Patasuris, 2002)ⁱⁱ

The truth is simple, the bright ones will see the writing on the wall and leave before the layoffs occur, those deer in the  headlights will expect a golden handshake for their woes but beyond that is the prime consideration involving the why; Why bother hiring developers if you only need a software tool? Simply buy the tool and it's rights. Microsoft bought the rights to it's first software platform; this still happens every day.

Senario:

CRM Development – Outsourced Support and Administration there after.

Utilitarian –

If you have a development department that is capable of developing a good valuable CRM solution that will function as desired and you plan to outsource support and administration, then you may consider engaging in business with this software house as a means to generate real revenue for your company. If you cannot create a new and profitable business venture than your company should have also outsourced the development as you had no intention of maintaining these employees after the project was completed, if you plain to fail then you fail to plan. The moral good of the collective of the employees would be best suited by ensuring their long term employment over considerations of profit; one such consideration would be that the organization owes these people work, just as this human capital owes the organization productive efforts. As Economics (Samuelson, Nordhaus, 2004)ⁱⁱⁱ states all production requires Factors that include Human Capitol and Land.

Nomative –

The moral facts of the situation as sited by Schrage are both simplistic and narrow minded. Yes IT is a business, but it’s up to the sales people and directors to ensure that it functions in a sustainable manner. In 2008 the software industry added $280 billion in value to the U.S. Economy alone (BSA, 2008)^iv, If the sales department of this organization cannot capitolize on such a large market than they should be the first to be replaced; The above scenario would not exist if they outsourced all development of the platform, or if they hired developers in a cautious manner. Full time gainful employment as a developer in an economy means that you as an individual have already made the choice to devote 100% of their time and effort to your company, to assume that these people are expendable just because the company cannot find a means to sell their talents is wrong in both the utilitarian and nominative philosophical sense. The prima-face (W.D. Ross, 1930)^v duties in the nominative sense would be that the benefice, fidelity and justice of the organization are co-dependent upon those received by their respective employees and those experienced by their customers. Henry ford once stated, Take aw

Short Term Losses

The short term losses of this organization would include a lack in skills and ability for the organization to product any software product, not to mention a loss in production and morale. Losses to corporate morale can kill a company; if your entire workforce is apathetic then your companies production may grind to a standstill.

Long Term Gains

The long term gains of this company or organization may be that instead of going bankrupt they exist in some form their than they used to. Current examples that include ones like this include “Research in Motion” where they have recently gutted their workforce in an effort to combat a downturn in sales.(Yin, 2011)^vi By reducing 11 percent of their programmers; one such strategic move would have been to refocus efforts on Android development of a blackberry compatible mailer client to further expand on a client base on an exponentially growing client base, thus no longer depending on their own hardware business and leveraging the strength of the mobile marketplace from Samsung, Motorola, Nokia and any other Android based phone manufacturer: however weather or not Rim will survive into the new year remains to be seen.

Good Ethics or Financial Benefits

The example above is just one example, however if all organizations were to invest as heavily into their employees as their employees invest in their organizations than the returns would include competitive advantages as well as financial ones, the best examples include sponsorship of an executive MBa as a means to capitalize on leadership within the ranks of an organization as opposed to purchasing or poaching an executive. Good Ethics lead to a good reputation, a good reputation directly increases sales and revenues regardless of the product or service being sold. 

iWillcooks Leslie P., Sykes, Richard (ACM, 2000) Enterprise resource planning: the role of the CIO and it function in ERP [Online] PDF Document Available from: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=332051.332065 (Accessed on October 23^rd 2011)

iiPatasuris, Penelopie (Forbes, August 26^th 2002) The croproate Scandal Sheet [Online] World Wide Web, Available From: http://www.forbes.com/2002/07/25/accountingtracker.html (Accessed on October 24^th 2011)

iiiSamuelson, Paul A; Nordhaus, Paul D (McGraw Hill, 2010) Economoic 19^th ed P.295. ISBN: 978-0-07-070071-0

ivn.a. (Business Software Alliance, 2008) Software Industry Facts and Figures [Online] PDF Document, Available from: http://www.bsa.org/country/Public%20Policy/~/media/Files/Policy/Security/General/sw_factsfigures.ashx (Accessed on October 24^th 2011)

vW. D. Ross (Oxford University Press, 1930, Reprinted 2002) The Right and Good ISBN 0-1-992-526-53

viYin, Sarah (PCMag, 2011) Rim Cuts 2000 Jobs, Reshuffles Management [Online] World Wide Web, Available From: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2389071,00.asp (Accessed on October 24^th 2011)