Examples of Ethics as an Employee
Hi and سلام to All
In this post, the use of the male ‘him/he‘ is used for easy reading and can be replaced by ‘her/she‘ depending on who is reading the post. For the ladies out there, I make a profuse apology.
I have been asked by reader to give examples of situations I have been in that have or may have impacted upon my ethics.
I must comment here that not all of you will have experienced all of them but I am sure you have experienced at least one.
The first example goes back to my time in the military where I was a corporal; I was in charge of a platoon and was responsible for their health and well being as well as their discipline. During an inspection by the commanding officer, he noted that the one toilet bowl was a bit 'grey'. I checked it and the bowl was stained but not dirty, so, the toilet bowl would never be 'white'. I informed him about this to which our Lieutenant took exception to. After the inspection was over, the commanding officer said that it was good and to continue. The Lieutenant on the other hand, must have thought it had cost him his name 'good' versus 'excellent'. He told me to punish the platoon by taking them for a forced march (20 Kms) and to drill them for at least 2 hours after the march. I disagreed with him and told him so, I even refused to do it and ended up in front of the commanding officer who stated; 'Ferreiro you are an un-commissioned officer who will take orders from officers and carry them out EVEN if you do not agree with them.' I again refused to do it and asked for a transfer to another unit (32 Battalion) which was approved. I left the unit 3 days later. I actually saw the Lieutenant a few years later to his surprise when I was a sergeant, he lost this time as we were working with mature soldiers aged 25 and up which you treat differently to soldiers who are 16 thru 18 years. He tried the same stunt, telling his platoon sergeant to punish the platoon, again the sergeant refused and took it to the Regimental Sergeant Major who agreed with him, the end result is that the officer ended up doing a lot of extra duties to teach him about leadership. I do not believe to this day that he did.
The second example skips a few years ahead when I worked for a supplier. I was responsible for a security tool called ESM from Axent Technologies (who were later bought by Symantec). We were tasked by the client to perform a comparison test between 3 products which measured baseline security compliance to a standard, these being; Axent, Computer Associates and Digital. In the review following a testing methodology, it was found that the CA product was not up to scratch and may meet 30% of the client’s requirement. The Axent and Digital products were very much the same mainly due them both being created by Raxco which developed tools for VAX VMS. Both products would meet at least 90% of the client’s requirement. The sales person who was responsible for the account, told me to bias the report to show that the Axent product was better. In doing so, he could make the sale. I disagreed and he went to the MD who also told me to do it. Again I refused and told them I would give them the report and that they could change it to suit their requirements. Needless to say, the client had actually expected me to bias the report and when they received the report were pleasantly surprised that it was not. The MD had chosen not to change the report as his name would have had to be put on the report. We got the sale as the opposition were tasked to do the same investigation and they biased their reports. We received other work from the client and the company made money. I resigned from the company and cited the experience as one of the reasons. The MD promised me that it would not occur again, but once bitten twice shy.
The third example skips a few years ahead to when I was a manager at a big company. The company made a great deal of money so I thought they would have a feeling of better responsibility for compliance. In this instance, I found that some people are motivated only by money and not what is ‘right’. ‘Right’ in this sense being the fact that you do not contravene laws such as Intellectual Property and Copyright or report back to management about instances that are cannot be proved. In this case, I was told not to answer a vendor’s request for licensing information on their product. Along the same lines, I was told not to tell management about a report that I compiled showing the serious lack of licence management and the associated cost to ensure licence compliance. I was also told by management that I was to do an investigation into an employee to prove that they had done ‘something’ wrong. After doing all the checks and verifying the balances, it actually identified that the manager’s ‘friend’ had planted the evidence against the employee. When I reported this with facts and figures, the manager told me that I must have been wrong and that his ‘friend’ would not do anything of the sort even thought the evidence showed differently. I was moved to another division so had nothing else to do with the manager again other than to audit his operations and raise comments and associated risks. I have since left the company after understanding that even in a large company ‘ethics’ is based on how much money ends up in your back pocket. I have since heard that the company is under investigation by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and that they face legal litigation both civil and criminal.
The last comes from a project that I was involved in where the client was informed that the contractors knew what they required and to accept the deliverables. When prompted by the lead consultant and myself about best practices and frameworks such as 27001, eTOM, COBIT and TOGAF we were told to keep quiet and do the work which we were tasked to deliver. When asked to design a solution which following all practices requires the client’s input, we were told to ‘just deliver’ and not to trust the client. Again, this is against all principles of client engagements for each of the multi-nationals involved in the project with perhaps one not even having one. The lead consultant was removed from the project for I quote ‘bringing the consortium into disrepute’. In a later meeting, I was informed that the solution must meet the client’s requirements of a 360 degree Information Security view. When I prompted the consortium of what was required to deliver this, I was told by the multi-national that this could be discussed and that they would ‘HACK’ their product to deliver a 360 degree view even though it was not able to do it. I have since left the project.
There are many other examples that I could use but I believe that highlight what I have been saying in my posts.
Cheers and Wa Alaikum As-Salam until next time,
Enjoy the rest of the week and may you and yours travel safely.
I just cleaned my desktop from dust
سلام عليكم جميعا 
توي مخلص الحين من عملية تنظيف الدسك توب حقي من الغبار (طلعت اوادم من الدسك توب موب غبار) وحبيت اشارككم بنتيجه التنظيف الا وهي درجات الحرارة قبل وبعد.. طبعا التنظيف اللي سويته شامل للدسك توب كله يعني المراوح اللي فيه وهي 6 مراوح بالاظافه الى المعالج ومروحه المعالج واخيرا وليس اخرااا المذربورد وكرت الشاشه الا وهو انفيديا 8800 جي تي اكس .. طبعا انا انظف جهازي تقريبا كل سنه وعمر الجهاز تقريبا 3 سنوات
Windows 7 NOW ON MSDN\Technet, GO Get it!!
Go Get it, What You Waiting For
I already activated my desktop, laptop & netbook copies
Ethics as an employee
Hi and سلام to All
‘In this post, the use of the male ‘him/he‘ is used for easy reading and can be replaced by ‘her/she‘ depending on who is reading the post. For the ladies out there, I make a profuse apology.
The subject I am posting today is what I have experienced in my careers in the Military and into IT then management and finally GRC.
As all of you know, when you work for a company, you get to know many people both in your department and outside. You can also see how they react to circumstances whether good or bad and how they handle themselves under stress and finally what their values in life are.
If we look at people who work in IT, the majority of us want stability and routine and to be in the know of what will be happening in the company. When I was in the Military, our primary focus was to look after our 'buddies' and ourselves and to follow 'reasonable' orders. How you differentiated them I still don't know, but we survived, some didn't but most did. The amazing thing was, we had things we would do and things we would not. We learnt very quickly to treat others right and to learn from our mistakes, why? One of your buddies could die if you did not. I believe that the Military has not changed in the past 20 years or so. You can see what the soldiers of all nations are saying, maybe not through their words, but through their deeds. And no, I do not mean the soldiers and officers who abuse their positions of trust with civilians and prisoners alike.
When we look at life out of the military, you see different scenarios in different professions. Take a lwayer for instance, he is legally bound to protect his client whether he is guilty or not. If the lawyer knows his client is guilty of the crime, the lawyer must go to reasonable means to get his client found not guilty/the case thrown out of court or remove himself from the trial.
Now look at directors of companies, their 'only' contract with the company they work for/with is to increase revenue and/or profitability. Why do I say this? They have a legal obligation to make sure that the company performs, failure to do this could result in them being prosecuted either criminally or civil (a great motivator if not the only). Another motivation is the nice 'bonus' they get at the end of the year based on the performance of the company. Look at the current Credit crisis and you should see what I mean. Watch the documentary 'The-greed-game' from www.freedocumetaries.org (http://www.freedocumentaries.org/film.php?id=275) to see how this could happen.
As mentioned previously, a person gets their ethics from more than one place, the foundation is laid by our parents and as we go through life, we either add to or remove from it depending on the situation. One of the entities that we learn 'business' ethics from is management in the company you work for. Why? Simple, they are the people who pay you and give you your bonus and/or can hire/fire you. So, everything you do at work should be focussed on what management want you to do, or rather, what the company requires. Failure to do this WILL have an impact on your family, finances, career and personal outlook on life.
So, where does the ethics come in, you work for a company as an employee or contractor/consultant and are bound by the company's rules and regulations. This is both good and bad, good because you are earning money to support your family, bad because you are being sucked into the corporate (company's) culture and everything that goes with it. You may be called upon to do a task that you do not agree with or don't like. What do you not like about the task? Is it personal or professional or both? If it is personal, is it against your principles, ethics or religion? If professional, is it against your ethics or 'professionalism'. As previously mentioned, ethics is relevant to the position you are in and the situation you find youself in. What are your options? Do the task and shrug it off (Nuremberg comes to mind), or tell management that you would prefer not to do the task for reasons a,b,c?
Having been in this situation many times in the past and I am sure to be there in the future, it is difficult to make the decision. As a consultant, the choice is easier, as an employee NOT. As a soldier it was easy as well, we were clothed and fed and the worst that could happen is to be court martialled and go to military jail. Not so in the civilian job market, failure to do the task could impact on your (amongst others);
- Name,
- Family,
- Job status,
- Future earning potential and
- Career progression.
You could move from been employed to unemployed quite quickly especially if you annoy your management by saying you will not.
There is a way out of this, unless the task is against your religion. Mainly, make management aware of your concerns (in writing) and request that they agree in writing. This takes you out of the hot seat and puts them in it. As a manager, they need to then either confirm your concerns and tell you to continue or taking into account you concerns, tell you to continue. Remember, no one may tell you to do something that is illegal under the laws of the land, not even the police. So, with this piece of paper in hand, you do the task. I do not believe that you have lost or forgotten your ethics but rather have placed the ethical decision on the person who pays your salary and allows you to eat every day and have proof of their decision.
In my humble opinion, as an employee, you can keep your ethics and your job by transferring the ethical decision to a higher authority. Believe me, management starts thinking when they are presented with the concerns of their staff about a task.
REMEMBER: A religious decision is another thing that is personal to yourself and NOT management, they employed you (maybe knowing your religion) but it was not the deciding factor (or was it?). How you handle this, I don't know and can not give you any advice other than to think it through and find someone to talk to who has been in the same situation or has helped others make a decision along the same lines.
Another decision you will need to make; knowing the ethics of the company you work with/for. Are you willing to continue working for them or to seek alternative employment. The decision does, as always, rest with you and your family.
Just a parting note, a few weeks ago, my daughter asked me why I was not going to work everyday like I used to (which has impacted my family to the extent that I will again have to leave my home country [ZA] and seek employment overseas), I asked her 'how can I teach you about ethics if I did not live them?'. Even at 7.5 years, she said I could not.
My next post will be about 'Is there ethics in business?'
Cheers and Wa Alaikum As-Salam until next time,
Enjoy the rest of the week and may you and yours travel safely.
- The primary function of a supplier,
- The primary function of a consultant,
- The differences between client and supplier,
- The differences between supplier and consultant,
- The differences between client and consultant,
- Ethics as a consultant,
- Ethics as an employee and
- Is there ethics in business.
Ethics as a consultant
Hi and سلام to All
'In this post, the use of the male 'him/he' is used for easy reading and can be replaced by 'her/she' depending on who is reading the post. For the ladies out there, I make a profuse apology.
If you have read my previous posts you would have (hopefully) seen a trend of the need for ethical professional behaviour in consultants. The reason for this is that consultants only have their 'name' to market their services. Not like a 'resource' (refer to previous post), that can hide behind the name of the company they work for. For example; You contract a company (lets say 'X') to run your IT infrastructure, the company has said all the right words and make themselves shine in the area of service delivery. When they start running your infrastructure you notice that something has gone wrong or is faulty resulting in a problem for your company. What do you do? Call in the account manager. You tell him to sort the problem out and you use the term; 'Company X really messed up' when anyone asks you about Company X or in general discussions.
Now take the same scenario for a 'consultant' (lets say 'Y'), you have contracted him to do a job based on your requirements, understanding and expectations for the deliverable. Now, being a good customer, you have adopted the principles of 'Project Management' and have project planned the deliverables (SCOPE and CHARTER). The project is hopefully a 'fixed cost' project and NOT 'Time and Material'! Yes, there is a difference. The consultant starts working on the deliverable and for some or other reason is sidetracked by some other work either at your or another company. The end result is that the project is not delivered on time OR the deliverable does not meet your expectations. The consultant tells you that the deliverables are not what is expected due to 'unforseen' circumstances. Now, when you are asked about the work that was done, what do you say? 'Y does not know what he is doing, he does not deliver what was expected'. Is this true? Look what has happened in your company in the past and you will see that it is, EVEN if the consultant is contracted through a third party.
So, what do I say about the ethical behaviour of the consultant? Remember, the consultant must make money in order to eat and drive that smart car of his. Taking into account that the consultant only has his name to get more work he has to do the honourable thing and 'not lie or tell untruths'. Take my word for it; this is difficult when an employee is making your life hell and preventing you from delivering what was agreed upon. Does the consultant make the concious decision to remove himself from the project due to 'non performance' or 'loss of name'? Yes or No? I say no, unless there is evidence of 'fraudulent activity' that could result in him going to jail in the event that he does not bring it to the authority's attention and meeting 'Baba' (been in this situation many times) or if management has alterior motives and they use him to build a fictitious (not real or true; imaginary or invented) case against another person. The consultant must tell the truth as he sees it or what he has observed. To do anything else is, in my humble opinion, unethical.
Hopefully, your company has demanded that the consultant has certification from international bodies, these bodies have a 'code of conduct'. While each one seems different, they are, in principle, not. He must give the client the best advice based on knowledge and expertise, this includes the naming of the person who has prevented him from doing his work. Why? It informs management that there is a person in the company that is not bothered with management's decision to employ the consultant. The end result is, in my experience, management's approval for identifying another problem and bringing it to their attention. The downside is that the person will always tell everyone that you did not do your work.
So, what does the consultant do in reality? He MUST determine how management think as they will determine whether he gets paid or not. His decision on what he tells management is based on the way they think. Trust me, this is not easy. He should also have a project closure/handover meeting with a report that indicates to management the responses he received from the employees. Why you ask? Easy, the report is not 'official' and can be used by management for whatever purpose.
Another one is; if the consultant must deliver a 'findings report' as part of the deliverables, he should (MUST?) indicate the facts as identified. The 'tone' of the report is however different and is based on the audience; Auditors want the truth (as it is), management want it to indicate what they are doing well and minimise what they are not doing although the consultant should put this in the report. The one is a basic cake, the other is a cake with icing sugar which makes it easier to swallow. By doing this, I believe that the consultant has acted 'ethically', failure to do this is an indication that the consultant is primarily concerned with getting paid and not 'rocking' the boat. This usually ends up with a report that has content (?) but is NOT applicable or is of no value to the customer.
The question I ask the consultant out there, does the product you deliver add to the client's knowledge or is it toilet paper/shelf ware? If it adds value, the job has been done ethically else? You decide!
Please, to all the people that are making comments, make sure that your email address is valid, I can not respond to you if the mail bounces with 'Account does not exist'.
Comments are as always, appreciated.
Cheers and Wa Alaikum As-Salam until next time,
Enjoy the rest of the week and may you travel safely.
- The primary function of a supplier,
- The primary function of a consultant,
- The differences between client and supplier,
- The differences between supplier and consultant,
- The differences between client and consultant,
- Ethics as a consultant,
- Ethics as an employee and
- Is there ethics in business.
Windows 7 RTM announcement at MGX
Windows 7 Sneak-Peak from MGX (Video)
Windows 7 will be available for all MSDN\Technet subscribers on
6-8-2009
Windows 7 Released To Manufacture (RTM)
YES! NO
Build: 7600.16384.090710-1945
Just wait for a leak :)
Update: July 14, 2009 12:30AM
SIZE: 3,224,717,312 bytes
CRC: 1EE7DC6F
MD5: E6CE9644D0C7A8E1C950D257A7B2C8A4
SHA1: 31849B315290EFABFD81F967ED3C553D82925E4C
Update: July 14, 2009 01:15AM
Microsoft blogger Brandon LeBlanc has provided an official update on the Windows 7 release to manufacturing (RTM).
In a blog posting to the Windows Team blog, LeBlanc admits "there have been many rumors surrounding RTM" over the past week and notes "we are close, but have not yet signed off on Windows 7. When we RTM you will most certainly hear it here. As we've said all along, we will RTM Windows 7 when it's ready. As previously stated, we expect Windows 7 to RTM in the 2nd half of July."
CRC: 1EE7DC6F
MD5: E6CE9644D0C7A8E1C950D257A7B2C8A4
SHA1: 31849B315290EFABFD81F967ED3C553D82925E4C
The differences between client and consultant
Hi and Salam to All,
I sometimes get asked by people at conferences when I tell them that I'm a consultant what I do. Some usually pass the comment(s) 'Do as I say, not as I do', 'Give me the money' or the latest, 'do you go to a company, get the information, deliver a report with recommendations that will not work?'. Well, there is a sense of truth in all the comments and observations, Consultants bring to a company their knowledge and experience which has been 'gained' from numerous clients or from a knowledgebase (see wiki as an example). They also try to fit their knowledge to what they know about the client and what the client expects. The consultant also knows (or should) that every client is different even if they offer the same service to their customers.
The client on the other hand, knows (?) what his buisness is, mainly, making money. The main question is, the IT consultant usually only sees the IT management and staff and never the business. In an IT Risk Management consultation exercise, the consultant may meet business people but only related to the use of IT systems and solutions.
A business consultant on the other hand, usually sees the buisness andhardly ever IT unless it is for a new system that business has asked for a business person as the project manager. The Auditor on the other hand will meet with IT and business and (usually) has the ear of the Financial Director and the Board.
So, back to the comments the people made to me, The role of the consultant is based on what type of engagement it is; Business, Technical and/or Audit. Yes, a consultant can also be an auditor especially with regards to compliance to International Standards.
In my previous posts I mentioned the role of a professional consultant, where they had the best interest of the client at heart but would also like to make some money. I also mentioned the role of a client where they had to find a solution at the best possible price. Based on this, the consultant may require more time to get in-depth knowledge of the client, which is not usually accepted by the client as it costs money. The in-depth knowledge may be gained by interviews, questionnaires and/or Workshops after all, who knows the business better, the consultant or the client and how may the consultant make meaningful or valid implementable recommendations if there is no knowledge?
This is where the diffence is, the client must understand that in order for the consultant to deliver a meaningful document, they need to know the client (Who, What, Where, When, Why and How) this could be solved in one workshop (the cheapest?) from a consultancy cost point of view or through multiple interviews (more expensive?).
These requirements could be resolved in the Project Scoping meeting which unfortunately only occurs after the client has accepted the initial cost based on their 'expectations'.
In essence, there should be no difference between an employee of the client and the consultant, they should both have the 'interest' of the company at heart (?) and understand the business. Unfortunately, in todays world, this is often not true as the requirement for 'profit' exceeds the requirement for 'governance' which certain individuals in a certain country across the waters showed the rest of the world and in my honest opinion started the global recession.
Comments are as always, appreciated.
Cheers and Wa Alaikum As-Salam until next time,
Enjoy the rest of the week and may you travel safely.
- The primary function of a supplier,
- The primary function of a consultant,
- The differences between client and supplier,
- The differences between supplier and consultant,
- The differences between client and consultant,
- Ethics as a consultant,
- Ethics as an employee and
- Is there ethics in business.
HITBSecCont2009kl – Opened for Registration
in case you are wondering if i'm going or not, i don't think i'll go this year but i'll try
Software Protects You From ‘Shoulder Surfers’
Some guy has developed software that allows only an authorized person to see what is on the screen, everyone else just sees gibberish. Sounds interesting, I’d like to see it in action though.
Chameleon uses gaze-tracking software and camera equipment to track an authorized reader's eyes to show only that one person the correct text. After a 15-second calibration period where the software essentially "learns" the viewer's gaze patterns, anyone looking over that user's shoulder just sees dummy text that randomly and constantly changes.
source:hardocp
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