Responsible Management of Information Systems

Bernd Carsten Stahl
De Montfort University, UK

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Stahl, Bernd, 1968-
Responsible management of information systems / Bernd Stahl.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1-59140-172-0 (hardcover) ” ISBN 1-59140-282-4 (softcover) “
ISBN 1-59140-173-9 (ebook)
1. Information technology ”Management. 2. Information technology ”Moral and ethical aspects. 3. Information resources management ”Moral and ethical aspects. 4. Business ethics. 5. Social responsibility of business. I. Title.

HD30.2.S77 2004 658.4 028 ”dc21

2003008877

British Cataloguing in Publication Data A Cataloguing in Publication record for this book is available from the British Library.

All work contributed to this book is new, previously-unpublished material. The views expressed in this book are those of the authors, but not necessarily of the publisher.

Acknowledgements

This book started out as an attempt to clarify what it means to be responsible, to act responsibly, to have responsibility. While this is a complex endeavour in itself, it was further complicated by the concentration on the concept of responsibility in business on the one hand, and in information and communication technology on the other. As is probably the case in most academic endeavours, this one became more complicated the more research I did. Most of us seem to assume that certain people should act responsibly, that responsibility is necessary and that the world at large suffers from a lack of responsibility. But the more closely one looks at these statements, the less clear they become. An additional difficulty was that the topic of this book covers several academic disciplines or sub-disciplines and touches on a large number of academic and practical areas and topics. Furthermore, the popularity of the subject, the fact that everybody knows something about responsibility, made it hard to delimit the content of the book.

I would therefore like to thank Birger Priddat, whose research assistant I was at the time when I started work on this project, for helping me focus and for showing me some of the more interesting and worthwhile aspects of economic theory. The interaction with my colleagues at the University Witten/ Herdecke, as well as with other researchers engaged in the German discourse on business ethics, helped me appreciate the prevalent topics and also recognise their limitations. Furthermore, I would like to thank Dirk Rustemeyer for keeping me on the track of philosophical thinking and for showing me the dangers of becoming overly prescriptive.

The theory of responsibility developed in this book had taken on a somewhat-manifest form when I started to work in the Department of MIS of University College Dublin. It was there that I recognised the value of applying the theory to the area of information systems. On the one hand this allowed a concentration on manifest questions. On the other hand it required incorporating another body of literature on computer ethics, information ethics, Internet ethics, etc. However, it turned out that these writings were in fact quite well compatible with my idea of responsibility and provided a great field of application. During my time in Dublin, I was also put back into closer contact with the academic field of information systems. I would like to thank my colleagues in the MIS Department as well as my colleagues in the German Department for their support and guidance. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) deserves my gratitude for facilitating the three-year stay in Dublin. My particular appreciation has to be extended to Anita Mangan, whose efforts and comments not only enriched the content of this book, but who has played a central part in rendering it understandable.

Furthermore, I want to thank my parents for their continuing moral and financial support, which allowed me to undertake the travels and adventures which led to this book. My wife Barbara, who moved with me from country to country, accepted the fact that academics do not always work the same hours as most other people, and still extended her loving encouragement, which helped me through this work. Finally, there is my son Carl Alexander, who, at this stage in life, does not yet know the difference between good and bad. I hope that when the time comes when he, too, wonders what it means to be responsible, this book will guide him part of the way.

About the Author

Bernd Carsten Stahl (Dr. rer. pol., Dipl.-Wi.-Ing., M.A., D.E.A.) studied mechanical engineering, business, economics and philosophy in Hamburg, Hagen, Bordeaux and Witten. From 1987-1997 he was an officer of the German Armed Forces. From 2000-2003 he lectured in the Department of MIS and the German Department of University College Dublin, Ireland. Since 2003 he has been working as a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Computer Sciences and Engineering and as a research associate at the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility of De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. His area of research consists of philosophical, more specifically of normative, questions arising from the use of information and communication technology. The emphasis in this area is on the notion of responsibility. He researches the application of such normative questions in economic organisations, but also education and governmental institutions. His second area of interest consists of epistemological questions in Information Systems research.