Unethical Software Development Practices

Topic area Responsibility and Liability
Target audience Undergraduate and graduate level IS/CS/CE/EE majors.
Activity type Writing assignment, homework sheet, role playing
Time required 2-3 hours out of class to read the article and answer questions on the worksheet.
one, 50 minute, class period
some time out of class for development of a personal ethics code on honesty
Attachments Worksheet
Additional materials A copy of the article "When Professional Standards are Lax, The CONFIRM Failure and its Lessons", by Effy Oz, Communications of the ACM, October 1994/Vol. 37, No. 10.
Background needed to complete the assignment It is helpful to have an understanding of the software engineering process, including the basic ideas of requirement documents, specification documents, planning documents, and software validation.
References "Travel Industry to Get Single Reservation System", by Torrey Byles, in Journal of Commerce, Inc., December 22, 1988.
"Reservations project hurts AMR", by Doug Carroll, in USA TODAY, May, 14, 1992, Thursday FINAL EDITION, page 2B.
"Airline Sues 3 Ex-Partners", by Bloomberg Business News, in The New York Times, September 29, 1992, Tuesday, Late Edition, Section D; Page 14; Column 6.
"Confirm?-Conform!", by Adam Donlin (http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/~adamd/essays/confirm.html)
Last modified August 12, 1999
Abstract:
The CONFIRM project was to be a new, state-of-the-art, reservation system that combined all aspects of travel including airline, hotel, and car reservations. It was proposed and funded by three major corporations and developed by a subsidiary of American Airlines who had already developed the industry standard, airline reservation system. . The project development was a huge failure that resulted in law suites for potential damages of more than $500 million dollars. This case study is beneficial to students because it documents what happens when unethical software engineering practices are followed. Issues of who is responsible for inadequate specification documents, poor system design and unrealistic planning can be explored. Liability issues of project failure can be examined along with the lack of whistle blowers who might have minimized losses of the project at earlier stages of its development.

Goals for the activity:
Students who go into system development will invariably be faced with situations similar to the CONFIRM project. This activity encourages them to weigh the consequences and repercussions of their actions when project deadlines are missed, when cost overruns inflate prices, and when they are asked to withhold information or communicate false information to a client.

Knowledge / skills / attitudes to be developed (behavioral objectives):
Students will hopefully make personal commitments to themselves concerning how they will respond to situations involving dishonesty.

Procedure:
(5 minutes at the end of a class period.) Hand out photocopies of the article and the worksheet. Ask the students to read the article and submit written answers to the questions on the worksheet.

(30 minutes at the beginning of the next class period.) Have a class discussion about the article. Create a combined list of AMRIS's unethical practices discovered by the students. Discuss possible outcomes of the CONFIRM project if any of the following had happened:

(15 minutes) Have the instructor role play the position of a manager at AMRIS. Select 1 or more students to play the role of employees. Simulate a meeting between a manager and his/her employees. The manager informs the employees that their clients will be making a site visit tomorrow. The employees are instructed on how important it is to create a positive impression of the project's status. Any mention of missed deadlines or malfunctioning components will result in job termination. The manager asks for questions from the employees? If the students role play well, all of the class time will be used up. If they do not ask questions of the manager, ask them to simulate a conversation among themselves after leaving the manager's office.

(5 minutes at the end of the class period) Assign them the task of writing their own personal code of ethics dealing with honesty. Provide some examples for them to follow.

Assessing outcomes:
Grade the submitted written answers to the worksheet questions. Assign class participation points based on class time discussion. Give a pass/fail grade to the personal ethics code on dishonesty they develop.

Additional remarks:
There is no evidence to support the claim that ethical behavior during the CONFIRM development would have saved the project. The transaction cost target of $1.05 per transaction might have been impossible to reach. The goal is not to imply that ethical behavior makes projects more successful. The goal is to show how ethical behavior can minimize the loss of money and reputation in the face of unrealistic designs and constraints.

Author contact information:
Wayne Brown
Computer Science Department
University of Central Arkansas
Conway, AR  72035
Email: Wayne.Brown@usafa.af.mil
Phone: 501-450-5674

Page maintained by: kwb@csee.usf.edu