Ethics in the Design and Use of “Best Practice” Incorporated in Enterprise Information Systems

This paper deploys case study research to examine the ethical issues arising from the design and use of “best practice” incorporated in enterprise packaged software, specifically a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. CRM like other Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) e.g. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) are global phenomena, increasingly influencing the strategic direction of a diverse range of organisations. Whilst the research on EIS continues to grow in a number of specific areas, there have been relatively few studies to examine the ethical issues associated with the design and use of such Information Systems (IS). This research reflects on MacIntyre’s ideas in virtue ethics (MacIntyre A. After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (2/e). 1985: Duckworth, London), particularly his notion of “practice” to assess how such issues affect individuals in organisational life? For the purposes of scope we restrict our focus to the ethical issues arising from changes in task allocation and autonomy, and some of the associated issues in performance setting, monitoring and surveillance.