How we profess

Abstract

Information technology is increasingly being used in systems with potential for societal impacts, such as medicine, or as enabling tools for the changes associated with business process reengineering. A basis and rationale for conducting ethical analysis as part of the information systems development process, utilizing the "soft" systems methodology, is presented here, drawing upon the rich background from ethics theory. A case based on a public community health service is presented to illustrate some of the basic dilemmas that a use of ethical analysis can help to clarify.