1 - An Overview of Socially Responsible Information Technology Management

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of socially responsible information technology management. The rapid growth in the numbers of organizations and people using computers, combined with global connectivity, brought with it many new information technology management challenges. Most organizations in the world now depend on information technology, and that dependency will only increase in the future. The chapter emphasizes that exercising greater social responsibility can help control the potential negative impact of information technology on society and help organizations avoid the many potential liabilities that are emerging as people move further into the digital age. The ten principles of socially responsible information technology management are—appropriately staffing information technology (IT) departments, fairly compensating IT workers, adequately training computer users, providing ergonomic user environments, maintaining secure and virus-flee computer systems, safeguarding the privacy of information, ethically managing intellectual property, utilizing energy-efficient technology, properly recycling used computer equipment, and supporting efforts to reduce the digital divide. These ten principles are elucidated in this chapter in detail.