Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T04:34:03.867Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ethics, Technology Development, and Innovation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Vincent di Norcia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

The aim of this essay is to present a model of ethical technology management which assumes that elites who make the system design and development decisions should minimize the risks to stakeholders rather than maximize gains for their organizations. Given the unsettled state in ehical theory a familiar substantive Social, Economic, Environmental and Rights value set or ‘SEER’ ethic is presented. To enable foresight of the negative SEER effects of innovations a technology life cycle is introduced. A cognate issue life cycle is presented to facilitate the ethical resolution of SEER issues associated with such effects. The resultant problem of increased front end load delays and costs, due to ongoing system redesign and stakeholder discussions is found to preferable to high ‘rear end load’ crisis costs, e.g., of the Ford Pinto, Exxon Valdez, Dalkon IUD Shield, and the Union Carbide Bhopal plant. Furthermore the model promises improved returns on the capital investments involved, indications for further research in ethics, economics and organizational theory are noted.

“Technology is not preordained. There are choices to be made.”

—Ursula Franklin, The Real World of Technology

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , July 1994 , pp. 235 - 252
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ball, N.R., Sinclair, B. and Petersen, J.O., eds. 1973. Let us be Honest and Modest. Technology and Society in Canadian History. University of Toronto, Toronto.Google Scholar
Beauchamp, T., ed. 1989. Case Studies in Business, Society and ethics. Prentice Hall, N.J.Google Scholar
Betz, F. 1987. Managing Technology. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.Google Scholar
Burgelman, R., and Maidique, M. 1988. Strategic Management Of Technology and Innovation. Irwin, New York.Google Scholar
Campbell, M. 1985. Profiting from Pollution Prevention. Pollution Probe, Toronto.Google Scholar
Carson, Patrick. 1991. Green is Gold. Harper, NY.Google Scholar
Corn, J. 1986. Imagining Tomorrow: History, Technology and America’s Future. MIT, New York.Google Scholar
di Norcia, Vincent. 1986. Of Stone, Books and Freedom. Visible Language XX:3; Summer., 344–54.Google Scholar
di Norcia, Vincent. 1990. Communications, Power and Time. Canadian Journal of Political Science XXIII:2; June., 335–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dublin, M. 1989. FutureHype. Viking, Toronto.Google Scholar
Dunford, R. 1987. The Suppression of Technology as a Strategy for Controlling Resource Dependence. Administrative Science Quarterly. 32:512–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellul, J. 1964. The Technological Society. Random House.Google Scholar
Fiol, C.M. and Lyles, M.A. 1985. Organizational Learning. Academy of Management Review, 10, 803–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forester, T., ed. 1989. Computers in the Human Context. MIT, Boston.Google Scholar
Franklin, U. 1990. The Real World of Technology CBC, Toronto.Google Scholar
Freeman, R. E. 1984. Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. Pitman, Boston.Google Scholar
Freeman, C. 1986. The Economics of Industrial Innovation. MIT, Boston.Google Scholar
Habermas, J. 1971. Knowledge and Human Interests. Beacon, Boston.Google Scholar
Hauser, J.R. and Clausing, D. 1988. The House of Quality. Harvard Business Review. 88:3, 63–73.Google Scholar
Heath, R.L. and Nelson, R.A. 1988. Issues Management. Sage, Beverly Hills.Google Scholar
Holusha, J. 1991. At 3M cleaning up pollution has become the corporate ethics. New York Times. 3 Feb.Google Scholar
Innis, H. A. 1972. Empire and Communications. University of Toronto, Toronto.Google Scholar
Janis, I. and Mann, L. 1977. Decision Making. Free Press, New York.Google ScholarPubMed
Johnson, D. 1985. Computer Ethics. Prentice Hall, N.J.Google Scholar
Killman, R. and Mitroff, I. 1984. Corporate Tragedies. Praeger, New York.Google Scholar
Krimsky, S. and Plough, A. 1988. Environmental Hazards. Communicating Risks as a Social Process. Auburn House, Mass.Google Scholar
Layton, E. 1986. The Revolt of the Engineers, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore.Google Scholar
Lyon, D. 1988. The Information Society. Polity, London.Google Scholar
Maclntyre, A. 1988. Whose Justice? Which Rationality? University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame.Google Scholar
Martin, M. and Schinzinger, R. 1989. Ethics in Engineering. 2d edition. McGraw-Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Matthews, J.B., Goodpaster, K. and Nash, L.. 1991. Policies and Persons: a Casebook in Business Ethics. 2d ed. McGraw-Hill, New York.Google Scholar
McLuhan, H. M. 1963. The Gutenberg Galaxy. University of Toronto Press, Toronto.Google Scholar
Meehan, R. 1984. The Atom and the Fault. MIT, Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
OTA, Office of Technology Assessment. 1987. From Pollution to Prevention. National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA.Google Scholar
Papanek, V. 1985. Design for the Real World. 2d edition. Academy, New York.Google Scholar
Perrow, C. 1984. Normal Accidents. Living with High Risk Technologies. Basic, New YorkGoogle Scholar
Poff, D. and Waluchow, W.. 1991. Business Ethics In Canada. 2d ed. Prentice Hall, Toronto.Google Scholar
Regush, N. 1991, April. Health and Welfare’s National Disgrace. Saturday Night, 9–20.Google Scholar
Reich, R. 1988. Tales of a New America. Random House, New York.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. B. 1988. Unlearning and Backcasting: Rethinking some of the Questions we ask about the Future. Technological Forecasting and Social Change. 33, 325–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schrage, M. 1989. Innovation and Applied Failure. Harvard Business Review. 89:6, 42–51.Google Scholar
Schon, D. 1963. The Displacement of Concepts. Tavistock, London.Google Scholar
Schon, D. 1982. The Reflective Practitioner. Basic, New York.Google Scholar
Sethi, S. Prakash. 1987, Spring. Inhuman Errors and Industrial Crises. Columbia Journal of World Business, 101–10.Google Scholar
Stanbury, W.T. 1986. Business-Government Relations in Canada. Methuen, Toronto.Google Scholar
Trist, Eric. 1981. The Evolution of Socio-Technical Systems. Ontario Quality of Working Life Centre Paper No. 2. Ontario Ministry of Labour, Toronto.Google Scholar
Turkle, Sherry. 1984. The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit. Simon and Shuster, New York.Google Scholar
Tushman, M.L. and Anderson, P. 1990. Technological Discontinuities and Dominant Designs: A Cyclical Model of Technological Change. Administrative Science Quarterly. 35:604–33.Google Scholar
Tushman, M.L. and Rosenkopf, L.. 1992. Organizational Determinants Of Technological Change. Research in Organizational Behavior. JAI, Conn. 14:311–47.Google Scholar
Vaughan, D. 1990. Autonomy, Interdependence and Social Control: NASA and the Space Shuttle Challenger. Administrative Science Quarterly. 35:225–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wack, Pierre. 1985. Scenarios: Uncharted Waters Ahead. Harvard Business Review. 85:4, 72–89.Google Scholar
Williams, B. 1985. Ethics And The Limits Of Philosophy. Harvard UP, Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Wood, Donna. 1991.Google Scholar