2.3 Power Space and Ethics

Power: 

6 sides of power

Coercive 
- The power to punish or penalize someone for not obeying
Reward
- The power to reward someone in exchange for their performance
Legitimate
- The power that comes with someone’s position or status
Expert
- The power that comes from someone’s knowledge, skills, or experience
Respect
- The power that comes from someone’s charisma, personality, or reputation
Information
- The power that comes from having access to valuable or important information

Positives and negatives of power

Positive

• Motivation
• Change bad social standards

Negatives

• Can result in the person becoming inconsiderate
• Potential for misuse
• Glamorization of negative issues

Space:

Purpose of space

• Different spaces serve unique functions for people and communities
• People live and operate in different spaces
• Spaces are constructed and used for all different functions,
  • We cannot operate without space
• Ex. reddit forums

Different types of spaces

• Local
  • Ex. library, classroom, local Starbucks
• Regional
  • UBC, Metro Vancouver, Whistler
• National
  • Parliament building in Montreal, Royal BC museum
• Global
  • ISS, earth, China
• Virtual
  • Tiktok, Instagram, COD lobby

Systems

Systems thinking

• Looks at connected wholes instead of separate parts
• Aka looking at the whole process rather than separate steps

Reasons to use system thinking

• To not repeat the same mistake
• To seek for a better solution
• To compare and contrast
• To ensure you are making the best decisions

Values and ethics:

What are values and ethics

• The difference between right and wrong / fair and unfair / just and unjust / legal and illegal / proper and improper

Values:

• Something we hold into consideration when making a decision
• Something that motivate people to act one way or the other

Ethics:

• What is generally considered humanely correct
• Civil code of conduct and moral principles

Where are our sources of value or ethics

• Parents, family, culture
• Societal standards
• Patriarchy
• Life experience
• Religion

Note that all the above can change your values and ethics as you go through different experiences

Values and ethics in society and their purpose

• If stealing is allowed without ethics, society becomes order-less
• Values help us grow and take steps toward what we want to accomplish
• Is it ethical to mace someone if they follow you home?
  • Perhaps, for self-defence?
  • Reasonable limits on one’s freedom to travel/follow people around

At the end of the day, no conclusion

Three different ethical frameworks

• Virtue / character based ethics
  • Decision about right and wrong based on the stakeholders and their perspectives
• Deontological / rule based ethics
  • Decision based on the action itself
  • Focuses on the following moral rules and principles
• Utilitarian / consequential based ethics
  • Decision based on overall consequence of the action
  • Focuses on whether the action leads to the best overall results or consequences for everyone affected by it

Scenario A

Scenario A

A company has developed a new software that can accurately predict when employees are likely to leave their jobs.

The software analyzes various data points, including employees’ age, gender, job title, salary, performance ratings, and time with the company.

The company is considering whether to use the software to proactively offer employees retention incentives or to keep the information confidential to avoid any of intrusive monitoring.

Character-Based

The company may want to cultivate virtues such as honesty, fairness, and respect for employees’ privacy.

• Using the software to proactively offer retention incentives may align with these virtues, as it shows a commitment to retaining employees and valuing their contributions.
• On the other hand, keeping the information confidential may also align with the virtue of respect for privacy.

Rule-Based

Ethical principle that may apply is duty to employees’ privacy.

• If using the software to proactively offer retention incentives risks violating employees’ privacy, the company may have a duty to keep the information confidential.
  Another ethical principle that may apply
  is the duty to act in the best interests of
  employees.
• If the company believes that offering retention incentives will benefit employees, it may have a duty to use the software to proactively offer the incentives.

Responsibility vs accountability

Responsibility:

• Something that you are responsible for
• You acknowledge it before taking action

Accountability

• Accepting the consequences of the actions
• The obligation to answer for the task or the outcome of that duty

Digital citizenship netiquette, netizen

• Digital citizenship
  • The responsible use of digital technology and includes both personal and business use of tech
    • Ex. use of technology only for research purposes, emergency, search people online
• Netiquette 
  • Rules that apply to your online behaviour to ensure proper use of data, apps, and programs
    • Ex. not purposely leaking legal documents to win an online argument
• Netizen
  • People that use the internet in a socially responsible way
    • Ex. the RHS admin team
• Examples of netiquette
  • 15 Rules of Netiquette for Online Discussion Boards [INFOGRAPHIC]**