It Project Failures, Case Study
IT Failure and Professional Ethics: The One.Tel Case
David Avison and David N. Wilson
David Avison, ESSEC Business School, Cergy-Pontoise, France avison@essec.fr David Wilson, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. davidw@it.uts.edu.au
For correspondence: Associate Professor David Wilson Associate Dean (Education) Faculty of Information Technology University of Technology, Sydney PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007
IT Failure and Professional Ethics: The One.Tel Case
Abstract Information technology practitioners are required to make calls of judgement in both a technical and a professional capacity. Professional codes of conduct and codes of ethics are intended to provide guidance in making such calls of judgement. This paper looks at the Australian Computer Society code of ethics in the light of the information technology strategies employed by the Australian telecommunications company One.Tel Limited. The failure of the company can be seen at least partly as an information systems failure, in particular the failure of its billing system, and we examine where IT practice at One.Tel might have deviated from the ACS code of ethics and discuss issues concerning this deviance.
Key words: professional ethics, IT failure Classification: K.7.4
1.
Introduction
We previously examined (Avison and Wilson, 2002) the information technology strategies employed by the Australian telecommunications company One.Tel Limited and assessed the extent to which a failure of those strategies may have contributed to, or precipitated, the downfall of the business. However, this case also raises issues of the professional behaviour and ethics of information technology personnel and management at One.Tel Limited.
The One.Tel company was founded in 1995, and ceased trading in 2001. During its relatively brief existence, One.Tel occupied a position in the second rank of Australian telecommunication companies. The notoriety that it gained probably exceeded its
David Avison and David N. Wilson
David Avison, ESSEC Business School, Cergy-Pontoise, France avison@essec.fr David Wilson, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. davidw@it.uts.edu.au
For correspondence: Associate Professor David Wilson Associate Dean (Education) Faculty of Information Technology University of Technology, Sydney PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007
IT Failure and Professional Ethics: The One.Tel Case
Abstract Information technology practitioners are required to make calls of judgement in both a technical and a professional capacity. Professional codes of conduct and codes of ethics are intended to provide guidance in making such calls of judgement. This paper looks at the Australian Computer Society code of ethics in the light of the information technology strategies employed by the Australian telecommunications company One.Tel Limited. The failure of the company can be seen at least partly as an information systems failure, in particular the failure of its billing system, and we examine where IT practice at One.Tel might have deviated from the ACS code of ethics and discuss issues concerning this deviance.
Key words: professional ethics, IT failure Classification: K.7.4
1.
Introduction
We previously examined (Avison and Wilson, 2002) the information technology strategies employed by the Australian telecommunications company One.Tel Limited and assessed the extent to which a failure of those strategies may have contributed to, or precipitated, the downfall of the business. However, this case also raises issues of the professional behaviour and ethics of information technology personnel and management at One.Tel Limited.
The One.Tel company was founded in 1995, and ceased trading in 2001. During its relatively brief existence, One.Tel occupied a position in the second rank of Australian telecommunication companies. The notoriety that it gained probably exceeded its
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