COURSE
ARCHITECTURE ETHICS (RA 141382)
CLASS C
ASSIGNMENT 1
“ETHICAL DILEMMA SITUATIONS: GENERAL ETHICS”
Dewi Putriana Desinta 3214100701
Mahfuz Hadi 3214100062
M Ridha Tantowi 3214100070
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
FACULTY OF CIVIL ENGINEERING AND PLANNING
SEPULUH NOPEMBER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
2017
I. Ethics
Ethics is a set of moral principle that guides individual and group behaviour. There
are four fundamental ethical principles:
Respect : to respect other’s choices
Beneficence : to bring about good in all actions
Justice : to treat others fairly
Nonmaleficence : to cause no harm
5 Major Ethical Theories
1. Deontology : to adhere to duties and obligations in an ethical dilemma.
2. Utilitarianism : choosing the action which provides the greatest benefit to the
majority of people
3. Rights : the rights set forth by society are ethically correct and should be high
priority
4. Casuist : previous ethical dilemmas to judge the possible outcome
5. Virtue : judges a person by his/her character rather than a single act that may
deviate from his/her normal behaviour. It takes the person’s moral, reputation
and motivation into account when rating an unusual and irregular behaviour that
is considered unethical.
II. Dilemma
Dilemma is a very difficult situation that probably/obviously will end up hurting one
side.
III. The Case
INFORMATION ACCESS
Tony, a data analyst for a major casino, is working after normal business hours to
finish an important project. He realizes that he is missing data that had been sent
to his coworker Robert. Tony had inadvertently observed Robert typing his
password several days ago and decides to log into Robert’s computer and resend
the data to himself. Upon doing so, Tony sees an open email regarding gambling
bets Robert placed over the last several days with a local sports book. All employees
of the casino are forbidden to engage in gambling activities to avoid any hint of
conflict of interest.
Tony knows he should report this but would have to admit to violating the
company’s information technology regulations by logging into Robert’s computer.
If he warns Robert to stop his betting, he would also have to reveal the source of
his information. What does Tony do in this situation?
IV. The problems that can be listed from this case are:
1. Tony missed the data that had been sent to his coworker Robert.
2. Tony decides to log into Robert’s computer (Tony had inadvertently observed
Robert typing his passwords before), and send the data to himself.
3. Tony sees an open email regarding Robert’s gambling bets.
4. All employees within the company are forbidden to engage in gambling.
5. Tony has violated the company”s regulation by logging into someone else’s
computer.
V. What does Tony do in this situation?
1. Report Robert and have to admit to violate someone else’s privacy.
Deontology is one of the 5 major ethical theories that requires one to adhere to
duties and obligations in an ethical way. If we go by this theory then we must
choose the first option.
“Report Robert and have to admit to violate someone else’s privacy.”
Tony could report Robert involvement in gambling as long as he gets the
whistleblower protection. Tony will learn about respecting others privacy while
Robert will learn about respecting company’s policies. If Tony gets the
whistleblowing rights Robert doesn’t have to know that Tony is the one who
logged into his computer, and the company just has to ask Robert to change his
computer password. This solution works if only the company has a good
whistleblowing division.
2. Warn Robert himself but also have to reveal the source of information.
Virtue is the ethical theory that judges a person by his/her character rather than
an action that may deviate from his/her normal behaviour. The second option
offer a solution that may work between friends.
“Warn Robert himself but also have to reveal the source of information.”
Tony and Roberts are friends (by assuming both work in the same place). Tony
can just warn Robert himself and tell him not to do it again and also admit to
have logged into Robert’s computer. Chances are Robert will probably forgive
Tony for his wrongdoing. Because it’s not like Tony want to invade Robert’s
privacy in the first place. By doing this both of them are in benefit because they
don’t have to report each other’s mistake to the company as long as they
committ to do well and fairly toward the regulation in the future.
VI. Conclusion
In our minds after giving two possible things Tony can do, we cannot jump into one
clear solution. Because everything we do depends from a lot of factor that only Tony
himself who know which one is good for his future career, friendship, and in the
same time he need to help the company’s whistleblowing division for Robert’s
interference in gambling.
