SEMINAR REPORT ON TECHNOLOGY IN BUSINESS ETHICS

SUBMITTED BY
GOWTHAM K

SUBMITTED TO
VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY,
BELAGAVI

In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Under the guidance of

INTERNAL GUIDE

Prof. ARPITHA M P
Department of Management Studies
NMIT, Bengaluru

NITTE MEENAKSHI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Department of Management Studies
BENGALURU-56006

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 NITTE MEENAKSHI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Department of Management Studies
BENGALURU-560064

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. Gowtham K being USN 23272 is a bonafide student of
Master of Business Administration, 2nd semester NMIT, Bengaluru, affiliated to
Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belagavi. Seminar report on “Technology
in Business Ethics” is prepared by him under the guidance of Prof. ARPITHA MP
in partial fulfilment of requirement for the award of the degree of Master of
business administration.

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 CONTENTS

SL Particulars Page
No. No.

1. ABSTRACT 4

2. INTRODUCTION 4

3. Scope of the Study 5

4. Types of Technology ethics 5-6

5 Benefits of Technology 7

6. Conclusion 9

7. Reference 10

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Abstract:

While the ethics of technology is analyzed across disciplines from science and technology
studies (STS), engineering, computer science, critical management studies, and law, less
attention is paid to the role that firms and managers play in the design, development, and
dissemination of technology across communities and within their firm. Although firms play an
important role in the development of technology, and make associated value judgments around
its use, it remains open how we should understand the contours of what firms owe society as the
rate of technological development accelerates. We focus here on digital technologies: devices
that rely on rapidly accelerating digital sensing, storage, and transmission capabilities to
intervene in human processes.

Introduction:

Businesses today are technology and innovation driven. There is huge competition in the sphere
and therefore like other industry or business function ethics is essential here also. Specially
because ethics by itself is only a tool to create and doesn’t know ethics or morals!

Every day we have innovative products and services that announce their arrival in the market
place and others that go obsolete. It is this technology and innovation that leads to ethical issues,
considering the competition to stay ahead by innovating is immense. Issues like data mining,
invasion to privacy, data theft and workplace monitoring are common and critical.

In technology we speak of ethics in two contexts; one is whether the pace of technological
innovation is benefiting the humankind or not, the other is either severely empowering people

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while choking others for the same. Technology, for example, has drastically replaced people at
work.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY:

For some it may seem self-evident that the use and application of digital technology is value-
laden in that how technology is commercialized conveys a range of commitments on values
ranging from freedom and individual autonomy, to transparency and fairness. Each of the
contributions to this special issue discusses elements of this starting point. They also—implicitly
and explicitly—encourage readers to explore the extent to which technology firms are the proper
locus of scrutiny when we think about how technology can be developed in a more ethically
grounded fashion.

Types of Technology Ethics

Technology ethics are principles that can be used to govern technology including factors like risk
management and individual rights. They are basically used to understand and resolve moral
issues that have to do with the development and application of technology of different types. 

There are many types of technology ethics:

 Access rights: access to empowering technology as a right. 

 Accountability: decisions made for who is responsible when considering success or harm
in technological advancements.
 Digital Rights: protecting intellectual property rights and privacy rights.
 Environment: how to produce technology that could harm the environment.
 Existential Risk: technologies that represent a threat to the global quality of life
pertaining to extinction.
 Freedom: technology that is used to control a society raising questions related to freedom
and independence.
 Health & Safety: health and safety risks that are increased and imposed by technologies.

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 Human Enhancement: human genetic engineering and human-machine integration.
 Privacy: protection of privacy rights.
 Technology Transparency: clearly explaining how a technology works and what its
intentions are.
 Terms of Service: ethics related to legal agreements.

Why Technology is important in business:

Technology has important effects on business operations. No matter the size of your enterprise,
technology has both tangible and intangible benefits that will help you make money and produce
the results your customers demand. Technological infrastructure affects the culture, efficiency
and relationships of a business. It also affects the security of confidential information and trade
advantages.

 Communication with customers.

 Efficiency of operations.
 Business culture and class relation.
 Security.
 Research capacity.

Corporate Responsibility for the Ethical Challenges of Technology:

It is becoming increasingly accepted that the firms who design and implement technology have
moral obligations to proactively address problematic assumptions behind, and outcomes of, new
digital technologies. There are two general reasons why this responsibility rests with the firms
that develop and commercialize digital technologies. First, in a nascent regulatory environment,
the social costs and ethical problems associated with new technologies are not addressed through
other institutions. We do not yet have agencies of oversight, independent methods of assessment
or third parties that can examine how new digital technologies are designed and applied. This

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may change, but in the interim, the non-ideal case of responsible technological Business
and the Ethical Implications of Technology development is internal restraint, not external
oversight. An obvious example of this is the numerous efforts put forth by large firms, such as
Microsoft and Google, focused on developing principles or standards for the responsible use of
artificial intelligence (AI). There are voices of skepticism that such industry efforts will
genuinely focus on the public’s interest; however, it is safe to say that the rate of technological
development carries an expectation that firms responsible for innovation are also responsible for
showing restraint and judgment in how technology is developed and applied.

Benefits of Business Technology

Technological advances enable small businesses to work more efficiently in a number of

different ways. Whether that means collaborating with remote colleagues using video-
conferencing software or texting customers to request a Google review, technology allows
businesses to more effectively reach their goals. Team collaboration software and apps have
changed the way many businesses operate. Companies no longer need to save multiple versions
of documents and spreadsheets, and email them to each other in order to get feedback from their
colleagues. With online authoring tools such as Google Docs, businesses can enable multiple
team members to work on and review documents simultaneously, saving time.

Teams can collaborate using messaging solutions such as Slack, which allows businesses to
separate conversations into channels for easier organization and reference. Project management
solutions such as Base camp and Teamwork let companies effectively organize their projects,
assign tasks, track progress and maintain schedules.

 Meeting Customer needs.

 Targeting Audience Segments Effectively.

 Improving Work life balance.

 Doing Business Online.

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Barriers to technology:

In today’s market, it is no secret that companies of all sizes rely on technology as a part of
their day-to-day operations. Still, implementing new technologies is not easy, especially for
small businesses.

 Lack of Budget.
 Lack of Leadership Support
 Disruption
 User Acceptance

How Business Ethics Informs Technology Ethics:

Business ethics can place current technology challenges into perspective by considering the
history of business and markets behaving outside the norms, and the corrections made over time.
For example, the online content industry’s claim that changes to the digital marketing ecosystem
will kill the industry echoes claims made by steel companies fghting environmental regulation in
the 1970s (IAB 2017; Lomas 2019). Complaints that privacy regulation would curtail Business
and the Ethical Implications of Technology: Introduction to the Symposium 311 1 3 innovation
echo the automobile industry’s complaints about safety regulation in the 1970s. Here we
highlight two areas where business ethics’ understanding of the historical balance between
industry desires and pro-social regulation can ofer insights on the ethical analysis of technology.

Stakeholder Relations:

Technology firms face difficult ethical choices in their supply chain and how products should be
developed and sold to customers. For example, technology firms such as Google and Microsoft
are openly struggling with whether to create technology for immigration and law enforcement
agencies and U.S and international militaries. Search engines and social networks must decide
the type of relationship to have with foreign governments. Device companies must decide where

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gadgets will be manufactured, under what working conditions, and where components will be
mined and recycled. Business ethics offers a robust discussion about whether and how to
prioritize the interests of various stakeholders. For example, oil companies debate whether and

how to include the claims of environmental groups. Auto companies face claims from unions,
suppliers, and shareholders and must navigate all three simultaneously. Clothing manufacturers
decide who to partner with for outsourcing. So when cyber security firms consider whether to
take on foreign governments as clients, their analysis need not be completely new. An ethically
attuned approach to cyber security will inevitably face the difficult choice of how technology, if
at all, should be limited in development, scope, and sale. Similarly, firms developing facial
recognition technologies have difficult questions to ask about the viability of those products, if
they take seriously the perspective of stakeholders who may find those products an affront to
privacy. More research in the ethics of new digital technology should utilize existing work on the
ethics of managing stakeholder interests to shed light on the manner in which technology firms
should appropriately balance the interests of suppliers, employees, and customers.

Conclusion:

As long as there is technological progress, technology ethics is not going to go away; in fact,
questions surrounding technology and ethics will only grow in importance. As we travel this path
into the future together, we will choose the kind of future we create. Given our growing
technological power, we need to put more and more attention towards ethics if we want to live in
a better future and not a worse one.

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Reference:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics_of_technology#See_also
2. https://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/Technology-Ethics
3. Carey, Robert. “The ethics challenge.” Successful Meetings, April 1998, p. 57.
4. Luppicini, R. (2010). Technoethics and the evolving knowledge society. Hershey: Idea
Group Publishing.
5. Al-Rodhan, Nayef. "The Many Ethical Implications of Emerging Technologies"

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