CSGE4963

Professional Practices
Spring 2023

Sections: A, B, C, D, E, F
 Professional Practices
Credit Hours: 3
Professional Practices is a very interesting course in which
you will be introduced to Professional practices being
followed in different organizations.

Objective of this course is to provide you an insight about

working environment of organizations, your future
destination.

In this course, you will learn everything about

organizational Practices ranging from Employee's
perspective to organizational strategies in an organization.
Week # 01 Plan:

Week # Lecture # Topics Covered Evaluation

Instrument Used
Introduction
Introduction to Professional Practices
Professional Responsibilities
1 Traits of a Profession.
Applying profession on scenarios
What are the characteristics of a
professional?
1
What is ethics?
Definition of ethics
Importance of integrity
2 The difference between Morals,
Ethics, and Laws
Ethics In Information Technology
Today’s Agenda

• Get to Know Each Other

• Course Contents

• Grading Policy

• Introduction to Professional Practices

 Course Outline
• Introduction
• Ethics
• Privacy
• Intellectual property
• SE/ACM codes
• Crimes
• Errors failures and risks
• Ethics of IT organizations
Marks Distribution

Mid Term (25%)

4 Assignments (10%)
6 Quizzes (10 %)
Final Exam (40%)
Project Presentation (10%)
Class Participation (5%)
Assignments & Quizzes
Before Midterm

A1 Q1

A2 Q2

Q3

After Midterm

A3 Q4

A4 Q5

Q6
 Introduction
• Profession:

A paid occupation, especially one that involves prolonged training and a formal
qualification.

• Professional:

A professional is a member of a profession or any person who earns their living

from a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of
education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular
knowledge and skills necessary to perform their specific role within that
profession.
 The Professionalism

• A profession isn’t just what you do, it’s who you are.

• Professionalism is a way of thinking and living rather than an

accumulation of learning.
Professional Practices
Professional Practices is partly comprised of
what a professional should or should not do in
the work-place.

 If a professional is to have ethics then that

person needs to adopt that conduct in all of his
dealings.

 Another aspect is the enhancement of the

profession and the industry within which the
professional works.
Professional Practices
• Professional Practices is a discipline aimed
at: -

• Understanding the moral values that ought

to guide engineering profession or practice.
• Resolving moral issue in engineering.
• Justifying the moral judgment in
engineering.
Professional Practices

• It deals with moral problems and issues

connected with engineering.
• Another important goal is to discover the
set of justified moral principles or
obligations, rights and ideals and apply
them to concrete situations.
 Traits of a Profession

Four Traits of Profession

1. Varied activities requiring special skills
2. Society-centric motivation
3. Personal standards of excellence
4. Giving back to society
 A professional behaves ethically
• Ethics means something more than ‘law’ and ‘morals’.
• It carries an additional connotation of ‘rightness’.
 Breaking the law: can earn a fine or jail time
 Breaking a moral: can ruin your reputation
 Breaking an ethic: can ruin your conscience
It’s possible to break all three, simultaneously!
 Traits of a Professional
• Being a professional means that there are certain traits which are expected from
you.

• We will go through Each of them

 Trait # 1 of a professional: Seriousness

• Serious about job

• The job is only a job. A means to an end
 Trait # 2 of a professional: Wanting
to do better

• Exhibit a never-ending quest to improve their performance in every variable, every

project, every relationship, and every detail.
 Trait # 3 of a professional: Dealing
with the Unexpected

• Stuff happens, things change, and the true professional rises to the occasion
 Trait # 4 of a professional: Communication
Skills

• Clear
• Concise
• Confident
 Trait # 5 of a professional: Enthusiasm

• Attitude is everything. Those who exhibit enthusiasm for what they do and greet
each day with a positive attitude inevitably become a leader
 Trait # 6 of a professional: Helpfulness

• Understand that real success in the workplace requires teamwork

• Always ready to lend a hand
• Make a suggestion
• Offer a compliment when it’s deserved
 Trait # 7 of a professional: Taking
the Initiative

• Takes the initiative to get things done

 Trait # 8 of a professional: Cool under Pressure

• Level headed and calm

• Cheerful demeanor-even under stressful times
 Trait # 9 of a professional: Remains Focused

• Stay focused on the task at hand and the goal ahead

• Navigate through obstacles or setbacks but never lose sight of where they headed
 Trait # 10 of a professional: Don’t Follow, Lead

• True Professionals aren’t faint of heart

• Analyze the situation and willing to take new paths and try new solutions
• That’s why they call it LEADERSHIP!
 Applying Professionalism in Real
Life
Scenario #1
• You are the owner of a software engineering company. Your employees (engineers)
want you to pay for them to attend training.
• How would you respond in a way that is legal, moral, and ethical?
 Scenario #2
• You are the owner of a software engineering company. Your employees (engineers)
want you to let them do pro bono work for a local non-profit organization on
company time.
• How would you respond in a way that is legal, moral, and ethical?
 Scenario #3
• You are a software engineer at a company where management routinely encourages
you and your colleagues to use pirated software.
• How would you respond in a way that is legal, moral, and ethical?
What are the characteristics of a professional?
True professionals possess a number of important characteristics that can apply to virtually any
type of business.

• Appearance. [Dress for Success]

• Demeanor. [manner, air, attitude, appearance, look]

• Reliability.

• Competence.

• Ethics.

• Maintaining Your Poise.[balance · equilibrium · control · grace · gracefulness · presence]

• Written Correspondence.

• Organizational Skills

• Accountability
ETHICS FIRST
Wrong is wrong even if everyone is
doing it. Right is right even if no one is
doing it.
Dictionary meaning
Ethics

The branch of knowledge that deals with

moral principles.
Moral

• Concerned with the principles of right and wrong

behavior and the goodness or badness of human character.
• Holding or manifesting high principles for proper
conduct.
 Definition of Ethics
• Ethics is a set of beliefs about right and wrong behavior within a society.
• Virtues
 Habits that incline people to do what is acceptable

• Vices
 Habits of unacceptable behavior

• Virtues and vices define a personal value system

 Scheme of moral values

Fairness, generosity, and loyalty are examples of virtues,

while vanity, greed, envy, and anger are considered vices.
The Difference Between Morals,
Ethics, and Laws
• Morals: one’s personal beliefs about right and wrong
• Ethics: standards or codes of behavior expected of an individual
by a group(nation, organization, profession).
• Law: system of rules that tells us what we can and cannot do
 Laws are enforced by a set of institutions
 Legal acts conform to the law
 Moral acts conform to what an individual believes is the right belief of
right and wrong.
Comparison
 Code of Ethics
• Established by various professional organizations
 Produce a positive effect on judgment.
 Establishes responsibility of professionals to act ethically according to the policies and
procedures of their employers, professional organizations, and laws of society.
 Organizations assume responsibility to develop, disseminate, and enforce policies.
 Code of Ethics’ Goals
Provides an aid to individual decision making, presentation addresses nine different
cases (with some overlap).

• Intellectual property
• Privacy
• Confidentiality
• Professional quality
• Fairness or discrimination
• Liability
• Software risks
• Conflicts of interest
• Unauthorized access to computer systems
The Importance of Integrity
• Integrity is a cornerstone of ethical behaviour
• People with integrity:
 Act in accordance with a personal code of principles
 Extend to all the same respect and consideration
 Apply the same moral standards in all situations

• Lack of integrity emerges if you apply moral standards

differently according to situation or people involved
• Many ethical dilemmas are not as simple as right versus wrong
Immoral or Unethical ??
• If the son of a big politician has committed a crime and he uses
his powers to free his son from legal consequences.

• A very close friend or relative of an interviewer comes for an

interview and without asking a single question, he selects him.

• A grocer sells adulterated products to his customers to earn more

profit.
Workplace Ethics
• Punctuality
• Responsibility
• Integrity
• Loyalty
• Positive attitude
• Teamwork
• Showing respect
• Courtesy
• Productivity
• Taking care of office equipment
• Minding Language
• For example, Jon Huntsman, Sr. is a multibillionaire who started
a chemical company from scratch and grew it into a $12 billion
enterprise. His book, Winners Never Cheat, is filled with stories
taken from his own experience in which he steadfastly refused to
compromise his principles. Huntsman says that integrity is the
reason that he has been as successful as he is.

“There are no moral shortcuts in the game of business or life,” he

writes. “There are, basically, three kinds of people, the
unsuccessful, the temporarily successful, and those who become
and remain successful. The difference is character.”
Leaders with Integrity
• Aren’t Afraid Of The Truth
 seeing the world as it really is, not as you wish it to be
 open to the idea that they could be wrong

• Good at giving And Keeping Promises

• Do The Right Thing Because It’s The Right Thing To Do
• Never Compromise Their Honesty And Integrity By Cheating
The Quran reminded man of a number of basic
moral and ethical values

You are the best nation that has been raised up for mankind; You enjoin right
conduct, forbid evil and believe in Allah. (3:110)

ِ ‫ُكْنُت ْم َخ ْي َر ُأَّمٍة ُأْخ ِر َج ْت ِللَّن اِس َت ْأُمُر وَن ِباْل َم ْع ُر وِف َو َت ْن َه ْو َن َع ِن اْل ُم ْن َك ِر َو ُت ْؤ ِم ُن وَن ِباهَّلل‬

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 Cont. Ethics from Islamic Perspective
The Quran addresses the Prophet. “Thou has been created with an
excellent character”

‫وانه لعلى خلق عظيم‬

The Prophet highlighted one of his main objective is to perfecting good

morals

“I have been sent for the purpose of perfecting good morals”.

‫بعثت التمم مكارم االخالق‬

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HADITH
• “He
who has a good nature will
have the reward of those who
observe fasting in days and keep
awake praying at nights.”
Why Professional Ethics?
• The success or the expected results depend on how the workers
deal with the situations. Whether ethically or unethically. If they
are dealt ethically, the chances are positive for growth and
development.