{"id":30912,"date":"2020-02-21T14:17:21","date_gmt":"2020-02-21T14:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/?p=30912"},"modified":"2020-07-08T18:43:01","modified_gmt":"2020-07-08T17:43:01","slug":"ethical-tech-making-ethics-a-priority-in-todays-digital-organization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/ethical-tech-making-ethics-a-priority-in-todays-digital-organization\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethical tech: Making ethics a priority in today\u2019s digital organization"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beyond simply understanding the ethical issues that technology may raise, using technology responsibly requires organizations to apply a consistent method for identifying ethical courses of action.<\/p>\n

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YES<\/span>, disruptive technologies enable tremendous opportunity for organizations to become smarter, more agile, more flexible, and more responsive. But technologies are becoming integral to organizational processes before many people have fully considered the ramifications of their usage. As some leaders are learning, some applications, devices, and systems raise ethical dilemmas each time employees use them. Stories of organizations encountering new challenges related to privacy, algorithmic bias, and a range of other technology-related ethical issues illustrate the reputational and even financial risks for organizations.<\/p>\n

But organizations and their leaders seldom develop an overall approach to the ethical impacts of technology use\u2014at least not at the start of a digital transformation. Further, companies that don\u2019t consider technology to be their core business may simply assume that these considerations are largely irrelevant, even as they increasingly rely on advanced digital and physical technologies to run their day-to-day operations.<\/p>\n

For most organizational leaders, it\u2019s no longer possible to\u00a0not<\/i>\u00a0be enmeshed in technology, no matter the industry or sector. Leaders and their organizations simply can\u2019t call themselves technologically savvy if they\u2019re not thinking about the ethical implications of how their employees, customers, and others within their ecosystems are using technologies.<\/p>\n

In fact, the ethical use of technology, or\u00a0ethical tech<\/i>, is inextricably linked to, and an extension of, tech-savviness. Being tech-savvy means more than being able to define use cases for cloud or artificial intelligence (AI)\u2014it extends to understanding some of the potential ethical dilemmas that designing or using these technologies can present. Indeed, to be truly savvy in the age of advanced, connected, and autonomous technologies, leaders should think beyond designing and implementing technologically driven capabilities. They should consider how to do so responsibly from the start.<\/p>\n

Over the past year, Deloitte has conducted multiple global quantitative studies examining broader questions around\u00a0digital transformation<\/a>,1<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0attitudes toward the Fourth Industrial Revolution<\/a>,2<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0and the development of specific\u00a0technologies such as AI<\/a>.3<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Each of these studies asked at least a few questions about leaders\u2019 thinking around ethical uses of technology. As authors of and contributors to those studies, we were curious if there were common themes emerging from the respective data sets that could provide insight into not only technological progress but progress with respect to ethical tech.<\/p>\n

Looking across this data, we see a relationship between a company\u2019s digital and technological progress\u2014in other words, its tech savviness\u2014and its focus on various ethical issues related to technology. Our research suggests that companies that are more advanced digitally tend to be more concerned with and focused on technology-related ethics than companies still early in their digital journey. But it is not this technological maturity alone that appears to drive their focus on ethical tech. These companies are also typically supported by leaders committed to exploring and considering the intended and unintended impacts of technology disruptors, surrounding themselves with input from a diverse and inclusive set of stakeholders, and fostering an organizational culture of continuous learning, debate, transparency, and open dialogue.<\/p>\n

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What do we mean when we talk about ethical tech?<\/h3>\n

When we consider the question of ethics, it is critical to draw the distinction between\u00a0corporate and professional ethics<\/i>\u2014ethics related to questions of business, professional conduct, humane treatment of workers, and\/or corporate and social responsibility\u2014and\u00a0ethics of technology<\/i>. What do we mean when we use the latter term?<\/p>\n

The World Economic Forum argues that \u201ctechnologies have a clear moral dimension\u2014that is to say, a fundamental aspect that relates to values, ethics, and norms. Technologies reflect the interests, behaviors, and desires of their creators, and shape how the people using them can realize their potential, identities, relationships, and goals.\u201d4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Ethical tech is, at its heart, a conversation focused on the relationship between technology and human values, the decisions we make toward technological advances, and the impacts they can have. The notion of ethical tech refers to a set of values governing the organization\u2019s approach to its use of technologies as a whole, and the ways in which workers at all levels deploy those technologies to drive business strategy and operations. It is a multifaceted concept that can encompass a wide variety of issues, from data privacy to bias in algorithms, from replacing humans with machines to a commitment to not manipulating data or human responses. And just because organizations may not have developed ethical tech frameworks doesn\u2019t mean leaders are ignoring issues: Deloitte\u2019s research suggests that leaders\u2019 biggest social and ethical concerns brought about by digital innovation apart from privacy are related to cybersecurity risks, job replacement, and the unethical use of data.5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

As we examine what ethical tech\u00a0is<\/i>, it is also important to specify what it is\u00a0not<\/i>. It is not limited to general compliance-related issues or questions of legality; it is neither a stand-alone, siloed effort nor a black-and-white set of blanket policies that dictate strict\u00a0right<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0wrong<\/i>\u00a0answers to every scenario. Ethical situations are unique and varied, and a robust ethical tech program allows leaders and employees to apply a decision framework to each situation to make the most appropriate judgment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What lessons can leaders and their organizations take from these findings as they consider their own approaches to technology? And given the pace of change around advanced technology today, how can leaders continue to build their organizations\u2019 digital maturity and tech savviness while creating an overarching approach to ethical tech that can remain relevant in the future?<\/p>\n

Here, we seek to answer these questions by drawing on insights from the surveys and analysis from our recent global studies, as well as lessons drawn from our work on tech-savvy leadership. Indeed, ethical tech can be thought of as an enabler of growth on an organization\u2019s digital journey and a natural extension of tech-savviness rather than just one more compliance requirement.<\/p>\n

Organizations turning an ethical lens on technology<\/h2>\n

Organizations of all ages, sizes, and sectors pay attention to corporate and professional ethics. Most companies have a code of conduct, and most, if not all, HR leaders consider ethics integral to their work and their organization. However, the ethical use of technology is less understood for many organizations and their leaders. In a 2019 study, fewer than a third (30 percent) of respondents completely agree that their leaders are highly concerned with ethically using Industry 4.0 technologies.6<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Similarly, another recent study found that just 35 percent of respondents believe their organization\u2019s leaders spend enough time thinking about and communicating the impact of digital initiatives on society.7<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

While it may make sense to see ethical tech as a yet-to-be-explored discipline given that many organizations are still learning to be \u201ctech organizations,\u201d we found in our research that some companies\u2014both technology-based digital native companies and non-digital natives\u2014are<\/i>\u00a0engaging in ethical decision-making in the design and adoption of disruptive technologies from the start. Which organizations are these, and more importantly, why are their leaders more focused on the ethical use of technology than others?<\/p>\n

The link between digital maturity and tech-savviness<\/h3>\n

One reason why some organizations pay more attention to ethical tech may have to do with their level of digital success. Companies that are more digitally advanced appear to be more committed to understanding the implications of the technologies with which they work. Approximately 57 percent of respondents from organizations considered to be \u201cdigitally maturing\u201d say their organization\u2019s leaders spend adequate time thinking about and communicating digital initiatives\u2019 societal impact, compared with only 16 percent of respondents from companies in the early stages of their digital transformation (figure 1). Further, nearly 80 percent of the digitally maturing companies surveyed have explicit policies in place to support their ethical standards with respect to digital initiatives, versus only 43 percent of early-stage companies.8<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0And these digitally maturing companies are not limited to digital natives.<\/p>\n

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<\/i><\/a><\/i>\"Leaders<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Indeed, digital maturity may breed a rise in ethical awareness. With respect to specific technologies, for example, the continued growth of AI has led to increased concern about the ethical implications of implementing a technology capable of \u201chigher thought\u201d and decision-making. As with digital maturity in general, recent global AI research suggests that those companies with more experience in leveraging AI specifically are also more likely to be concerned with its ethical risks: As the number of AI production systems undertaken by a company increases, respondents\u2019 stated concern about the ethical risks of AI grows as well.9<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Early on, as a company begins to implement AI systems, leaders\u2019 primary concern is likely learning how best to leverage the technology and how to acquire the skills needed to implement new AI systems\u2014rather than, say, consciously building in responsible approaches from the start. As a company gains experience implementing these initiatives, awareness and understanding of potential ethical challenges such as algorithmic bias or the potentially significant effects of inaccurate data sets on autonomous decision-making\u2014both ethically and financially\u2014may start to become evident. At this point, leaders can hardly avoid contemplating ways to anticipate and address potential ethical issues.<\/p>\n

The connection between being tech-savvy and a focus on responsible use of technology can be understood in several additional ways. First, given their position further along the digital journey, those organizations that are more advanced digitally have the benefit of experiencing firsthand the ripple effects of a disruptive technology, whether in their product or service offerings or in their business processes. They may also find they need to care more about ethics as a matter of both practicality and necessity: They have more at risk if an issue or ethical breach arises and, given the relative pervasiveness of technology across their operations, a higher likelihood that related ethical questions will arise.<\/p>\n

In contrast, companies still in the early stages of digital transformation may not be focused on ethical tech because they may still be trying to determine what their digital strategy is, including which technologies will be involved. Due to their relative lack of experience, leaders also may not fully appreciate particular technologies\u2019 potential implications or downstream effects.<\/p>\n

The impact of a culture of responsibility on ethical tech<\/h2>\n

On a deeper level, leaders and organizations reporting a higher concern about ethical tech demonstrate several additional characteristics that may further explain why they pay attention to this topic more than others. While any one organization may not display all of these characteristics, taken together they point to something noteworthy: The notion that leaders and organizations that possess cultures focused on a bigger picture\u2014one beyond their own sphere of responsibility\u2014may also be more likely to consider the implications of new technologies on their community, society, and the future.<\/p>\n

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A deeper commitment to social impact.\u00a0<\/b>Companies that are more concerned with the ethical implications of technology may be predisposed to think about potential ethical challenges in general. For example, we find in our Industry 4.0 research that leaders in organizations that aim to ethically use Industry 4.0 technologies are more likely to report developing socially conscious products or services. Fully 62 percent of respondents who \u201ccompletely agree\u201d that their organization is highly concerned with ethically using Industry 4.0 technologies report that their organization generated new revenue streams from socially conscious products\/services in the most recent fiscal year, compared with 50 percent of those who report lower levels of concern.10<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

More likely to support inclusion and diversity.<\/b>\u00a0Most leaders understand the need for diversity and inclusion for numerous reasons related to business and ethics, but the degree to which they apply their values to day-to-day decision-making varies. Organizations should cultivate a diverse set of voices and experiences to explore and mitigate for potential consequences of technology. Such diversity can also generate trust between an organization and its stakeholders, critical to generating broad commitment and engagement for ethical tech. Our Industry 4.0 research suggests that companies more focused on ethical tech are more than twice as likely to make strategic technology decisions based on the input of a diverse and inclusive set of stakeholders (32 percent) as those less concerned with tech ethics (15 percent).<\/p>\n

Ready to embrace\u2014and lead\u2014times of change.<\/b>\u00a0Leaders who report that their organization is highly concerned with ethics are also far likelier to note that they feel ready to lead their organization through the changes associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with 48 percent noting this compared with 28 percent of those whose organizations are less concerned about ethics. This general feeling of readiness may go hand-in-hand with tech savviness, as our research has also shown that leaders with the most experience and familiarity with advanced technology are also far more likely to feel prepared to lead, hire, and train their talent.11<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Structured decision-making behaviors embedded in the culture.<\/b>\u00a0Leaders who follow an orderly process or framework when making strategic technology decisions provide clarity and structure for organizations to advance digitally. In addition, a structured approach to making technology decisions may provide greater visibility into potential ethical issues and how to manage them. The Industry 4.0 study notes that only three in 10 leaders completely agree their organizations have clearly defined decision-making processes to support Industry 4.0 development. And those organizations with a clear approach to decisions also appear to be more concerned with ethical tech: Nearly half (47 percent) of respondents whose organizations are concerned follow clearly defined decision-making processes; among those who are less ethically concerned, only 21 percent say the same (figure 2).<\/p>\n

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<\/i><\/a><\/i>\"Those<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Beyond culture: The role of leadership<\/h2>\n

When it comes to setting expectations, leaders typically play a critical role in creating a culture that ensures both their organizations and the people within them consider technology\u2019s implications for their stakeholders and make decisions with those potential effects in mind.12<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Leaders, in particular, are in a position to help their organizations look at the bigger picture and adopt the sense of responsibility necessary for supporting ethical decision-making. They should not only clearly communicate their own positions on the importance of ethical behavior but set the tone to help their teams develop an ethical mindset that they can infuse into their roles and daily decisions.13<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Some organizations are signaling that their leaders recognize this mandate by appointing chief ethics officers to deal with general questions of corporate and professional ethics. In fact, leaders who have long worked to instill an ethical mindset in general business practices can use that attitude to inform not only their companies\u2019 use of specific technologies but also their technology strategy as a whole\u2014positioning them, in many cases, as industry leaders. Indeed, questions around the social and ethical implications of technology use are giving rise to new types of ethics leaders focused specifically on these topics.14<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

For example, Salesforce has appointed a chief ethical and humane use officer to guide the company\u2019s use of technology. The function aims to ensure that the company has a clear framework in place to guide technological decisions, with the executive bringing together internal and external stakeholders and experts to ensure the framework is flexible enough to account for emerging technology use cases and transparently communicated throughout the organization.15<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0For their part, leaders at Microsoft recently created an AI and Ethics in Engineering and Research Committee, composed of senior leaders from across the company working together to proactively monitor and address issues that may arise as the company advances development of its AI platform and related solutions. Examples of areas on which the committee has focused include addressing bias in AI systems and implementing requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation.16<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

The board\u2019s role is another important component in helping business leadership sense and anticipate the risks and opportunity of technology, and create a culture that embraces ethical technology decision-making. Not only can the board help the organization develop a \u201cholistic\u201d understanding of technology and strategy\u2014board members can use their own unique leadership experiences to provide additional perspective on the ethical implications of technology design and use. While leaders should consider having at least one technologist on the board, directors need not all be experts in technologies such as AI and blockchain. Bringing strategic and operational expertise to bear, and taking steps to be more collectively tech savvy, are ways boards can support and guide the organization with an awareness of ethical tech considerations.17<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Finally, just because leaders may not be making ethical tech an express area of focus doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not a concern. Even if they have no specific program or initiative in place, tech-savvy leaders may be more concerned about ethics and advanced technology than they think they are. For example, data from Deloitte\u2019s global AI study demonstrates that leaders are concerned about a variety of factors related to AI. While 32 percent of respondents rate \u201cethics\u201d in general as a top-three area of concern, many of the other areas of concern also map closely to ethical concerns: fear of making the wrong decisions, a technology or algorithmic failure in a life-and-death context, being held legally responsible for failures, and technological failures that erode consumer trust.18<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0These concerns can, in turn, filter into more ethically driven policies or practices, even if there is no overarching, formalized approach to responsible use of technology. Indeed, prioritizing responsible tech use at the leadership level can motivate organizations to create a broader set of resources, assets, and tools to help people recognize ethical dilemmas, evaluate alternatives, and make technology decisions.<\/p>\n

Next steps for leaders and their organizations: Embrace an ethical technology mindset<\/h2>\n

It is becoming increasingly important for tech-savvy leaders and their organizations to be aware of ethical decision-making\u2019s role with respect to technology disruptors. It\u2019s not enough to adopt the vocabulary and syntax of technology disruption. Organizations also need to learn to recognize the ethical issues those disruptors may introduce and build the muscle memory to apply a consistent method for identifying ethical courses of action. Leaders and employees can build this muscle memory through their commitment to ethical decision-making and by promoting a culture that supports it. The\u00a0ethical tech mindset<\/i>\u00a0reflects the cultural characteristics that leaders and their employees can embrace to support their efforts (figure 3).<\/p>\n

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<\/i><\/a><\/i>\"The<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n