This essay paper aims to introduce the term Datafication and the concerns involved in the usage of data by different organizations in this digital age. The essay will discuss the focus, argument, and background properly in different sections and then conclude in the conclusion section with the findings or outcomes of the essay. The focus section of the essay will provide the main focus of the study regarding data and its concerns. In other words, the focus section can be termed as an overview of the essay as it will discuss different terms related to the essay and the sections on which the study will be based. The argument section of the essay paper will provide articles related to the topic and then discuss them comprehensively. It will further argue with counter-thinking against the available articles. The background section of the essay paper will discuss different elements which will help the essay to build upon. Different elements discussed in the background section are the ethical implication associated with the use of data, and challenges available within the organization regarding the topic, and then it will propose solutions to eliminate the challenges. The essay will then conclude by discussing the principles and transparency of the topic and then lastly by discussing different findings and outcomes of the topic. 

Datafication can be termed as a way of transforming different parts such as subjects, objects, and processes into the form of data. In other words, Datafication can be termed as the transforming of the physical range of information into machine-readable and quantifiable data for evaluation and analysis by an organization which helps the organization to use these data in its business. The process of Datafication sees everything in the world as a source of data that can be molded into a form that will be later used by organizations.                     

Discussion

Focus 

The main focus of this essay paper is going to be able to analyze the different concerns involved with the use of data and its formulation from the basic physical information. This paper is ready to answer the questions of the use of data and different terms related to it by organizations. The main focus of the essay is to provide a detailed glimpse of the concerns associated with the use of data especially the data which are acquired without the consent of the individual. In this list, social media will be at the top for providing data that is acquired without the consent of the owners (Bag and Kayikci, et al., 2020). There are various organizations that acquired data or information from individual owners without their consent such as their preferences, favors, and many others. Therefore, this essay will question the issue of this unethical use of data. 

The essay paper is mainly focused on the concerns associated with the use of data in organizations. There are various concerns associated with a topic however the main concerns are related to the ethical implications, social implications, and institutional implications of data. These issues and their impacts on the use of data might differ with the use of the data by organizations and the main reasons which are why the data is being used. The concerns which are correlated with the ethical implications of data in organizations are consent, privacy, ownership, algorithm, and division. The main concern of ethical implications is consent. Consent is the sense of informing the people before acquiring their data. The data is also termed as the Big data which is further used by organizations, therefore, asking for consent from the individuals and consent related to the usage of the acquired data (Martí, 2019). Privacy mainly deals with the private data which are acquired by different organizations for their organizational use however there are some instances that provided understanding related to the use of private data for other uses without the consent of the owner. This takes the essay to the next segment of ownership, ethically the sole owner of the data is the individual however market sees the organization as the owner but sometimes the organizations sell them to other organizations too. This practice brings the ethical concern into context and these ethical concerns impact society in various forms. All these concerns are correlated with each other and then impact the course effect of these implications.

              

Argument  

 

Bunders and Varró, (2019), in their article, published that there are various questions that arise from the unethical implications of the acquired data by different organizations. The article mainly focused on the factor of establishing a Smart City and designing it. While keeping the focus on this factor the article then discussed the use of data in building a smart city and then aligned the same use of data with the establishment of other products or services. They mainly argued against the unethical use of data and then claimed the importance of the data in the establishment especially the establishment of a smart city.

Navalta and Lyons, (2019) in their articles raised concerns over the unethical use of data in scientific discoveries which provided a different view regarding the use, sourcing, and implications of data. This article claimed that there are various positive sides associated with the use of data if it gets implicated properly or ethically however there are several negative issues or concerns that are a reality today and might be even worse to handle by every individual and organization too. As per the article provided by Hesse and Sachs, et al., (2019), there are various things or benefits that can be acquired with the use of data especially unethically. However, the article argued that one can do something that does not mean one should or must do it. With this statement, the article claimed that the use of data without the consent of the owner is totally unethical and the practice should be questioned. Martin, (2020), in an article related to strategic information management described Big Data as a combination of diverse information which gets created due to the better use of knowledge, predictions, and tailor services. The article later analyzed Big Data further and claimed it is an industry, not just a technology. However, while standing firmly with the claim, the article also identified several ethical issues that are faced by organizations. There are several issues that get arise due to the reselling of consumers’ data to the secondary market. The article also proposed different solutions or remedies to achieve the goal of developing a sustainable Big Data industry. Martin, (2019), in an article, provided a proper knowledge or understanding of the implications of the algorithm and how it is shaping the lives of every people. The article also discussed the benefits of big data for every organization and why the concerns can not be eliminated totally from the course of the market. Ghani and Ahmed, et al., (2019),  in an article discussed how social media and other means of the internet emerged as an essential part of the research and the advent of the popularity of the internet. The article mainly argued the purification process of the information available on the internet and the challenges as well as the opportunities correlated with the adoption of social media platforms. There are various articles available that suggest and claim that there are various institutional concerns associated with the use of data. 

After analyzing all these available articles regarding the topic it is undeniable that there are several opportunities and challenges available in the market regarding the use of data. Opportunities are mainly associated with the organizations whereas the challenges are mainly associated with the individuals. However, the topic and analyze it properly one must assess every edge related to it. Opportunities which gets associated with the use of data can be discussed in two different ways one is organizational and one is individual. Opportunities associated with organizations are mainly related to the business as the use of data helps the organizations to expand their business and help to reach more audiences (Martí, 2019). The use of data also helps organizations to connect with consumers according to the consumers’ choices. Individuals also benefit from the use of data as they become able to get their products and services according to their requirements which is beneficial in many ways. In this period where time is defined as equal to money, being able to fulfill requirements within the time limit and in a cost-effective way is not less than best. However, as discussed there are various challenges too which come with the use of data. The challenges which are faced by individuals are related to the ethical, social, and institutional implications of the data. There are various solutions that are implemented to eliminate the issues or to address the challenges however most of these remedies are proven ineffective and were unable to deal with the issue. Therefore the best remedy to deal with the issues regarding the use of data will be individual. Individually attempting some processes to deal with is the most effective process. Technology must be considered the best process to eliminate the challenges.

    

Background

Ethical Implications

The study has been conducted to understand the ethical, social, and other institutional concerns which are associated with the use of data. Previously there are various case studies or incidents that can be considered here as a part of data protection. The principles of data protection include the data ethics related to the business professional, and every business organization needs to follow them accordingly. Regarding the ethical implications the principles have been discussed below:

Ownership: The first principle of data ethics is the main principle which includes personal information, which does not belong to the organization. In that case, it is unlawful and unethical for the organization to share someone's personal data with other places (Martin et al., 2022). However, because of the digital privacy policy, the loss of personal data has been reduced to some extent. There are some of terms and conditions that need to be maintained by the organization so that the ethical and legal dilemmas regarding data protection can be maintained.

Transparency: In addition to ownership transparency is also an important principle of using data as maintaining transparency is necessary while collecting the customers' datasets. However, there are companies like TESCO, who have problems with maintaining the information of the suppliers and it gets public as well. In that case, the organization needs to implement an algorithm for the suppliers that provide personalized features and privacy protection. On the other hand, the user behavior also needs to be maintained by the organization, and according to that cookies need to be selected.

The ethical algorithms need to be selected using the training of the employees, and code feedback, and based on that the outcomes of the ethical dilemmas can be understood. Here the evolution of big data also included the creation of social and ethical implications regarding data. According to the social implications, there are three different terms of big data which includes the outcomes such as volume, variety, and velocity of the big data (Carter et al., 2020). However, using these particular elements artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things are analyzing personal datasets faster, so that negative social implications can be avoided. There are two different ways of data transferring and in both processes, the ethical implications can arise. In that case, conscious data transfer and non-conscious data transfer is the process where real-time data can be taken or not. As a part of the ethics of big data, the things which are mostly matter are the informed consent of the participants, privacy and so forth. These are the places where most organizations face ethical implications. For example, in the case of Byju’s, there are various incidents that support the fact that data breach-related incidents have happened in the social platform as well.

Challenges within organization

As mentioned earlier, organizations have faced legal and ethical issues regarding data breaches, and higher exposure to the data breach has been noticed. In spite of having various data protection guidelines, the companies still face challenges. Some of the examples of the organizations that faced issues regarding this have been discussed below:

Amazon: Firstly, the organization has faced tax avoidance issues as the reserved datasets has shown the different figures which were not supposed to be reflected. Not only this regarding the use of minerals and the supply chain management of the organization, but Amazon has also faced issues with the social implication as well. For the instance of online shopping it has also been noticed that regarding the personal information of the buyers the organization has failed to protect the privacy as well. It can be certainly said that Amazon has faced all the different types of implications regarding the datasets, as data protection has become the major concern.

Nestle: as mentioned earlier regarding data protection there are social implications as well, that sometimes needs to be faced by the organizations. In that case, Nestle has faced criticism regarding their business practices as they were not using their ethical practices for the organization. The company also gets stuck in making their products using the resources as they were using some of the products as raw materials which has serious social implications.

As mentioned by Regan (2019), data ownership is one of the important things that determine how the data of the organization will get protected. This implies the fact that in the case of risk mitigation, the main challenge the organizations face is having skillful employees who will manage the entire data sources. The organization does not have a clear idea about the risk related to the datasets, and because of that necessary program policies are not being made by the organization which creates further challenges. In the case of using the personal customers' contact information, the compliances created severe challenges regarding business value creation. As a negative result, companies face a serious decline in the case of competitive advantage in the market and based on the ethical regulations the organization does not succeed (Regan et al., 2019). On the other hand, in order to establish the right data ethics, the organization also faced challenges, as there are various complications such as legal, operational, and C Suite problems as well. In that case, the organization needs to establish the data -risk control policies regarding data management. Data management is one of the major issues that is currently faced by every alternative organization, as data standards have been different. In that case, it is certainly said that all the challenges that are being faced by the organizations currently are discussed effectively in a certain manner using the examples of the organizations. 

Proposed solution

There are various solutions that can be taken into counter while reducing or addressing the above-mentioned issues. Some solutions are discussed below:

• Establishing a Strong Foundation: There are many elements that can be evaluated to establish a strong foundation for the sole purpose of reducing ethical issues faced by organizations. These elements are maintaining written standards, providing resources by the companies regarding ethics, providing means to report violations anonymously, evaluating ethical performance, and maintaining a system to deal with the violators. 
• Analyzing Government Policies: As discussed in the above section there are various social concerns available associated with the use of data. The main social issue is the policies of the government which are mostly designed after analyzing the people and issues of different sectors of society (Lobe and Hoffman, 2020). Therefore, analyzing the government policies regarding the use of data and maintaining the organizational policies of data according to them will be proven beneficial and help to reduce social issues. 
• Safeguard of Right to Privacy: To safeguard the right to privacy of every human government and laws of the constitution must be implemented properly. However, some concerns regarding the effectiveness of the government and laws on the issue stay there always. Therefore, every person must take the initiatives to eliminate or address the issue on their individual level (Glenna and Sachs, et al., 2019). Technology by far helped every human being in different ways and it can be used in this situation as well. Encryption is mainly the best or most effective technique that can be used for privacy protection by individuals.     

Conclusion 

This essay mainly focused on the introduction of Datafication to the mass audience through proper assessment and justification with the use of different available information. The Focus section of the essay paper provided the elements which were focused on in the study. In simple words, the focus section can be termed as an overview of the essay paper. It discussed the formulation and the main claim of the topic. It provided a detailed analysis of the main claim and questions of the essay. The argument section of the essay discussed different articles available and the main argument these articles provide. The essay paper analyzed these articles and their different claims. This essay paper, later on, provided a counter-argument to these claims of the articles. It also evaluated the counter-argument or claims comprehensively. The background section of the essay is divided itself into three parts ethical implications, and challenges in organizations, and then these parts are subdivided into ownerships and transparency. To provide a detailed view of the challenges in organizations in practice the study discussed the case study of Amazon and Nestle. The essay later provided recommendations or proposed solutions to reduce or address differently visible concerns associated with the use of data. The recommendations covered every visible concern in the aspect of social, ethical, and institutional as to maintain the right to privacy of every individual all these aspects are important. Later the essay paper is concluded with the findings or outcomes of every section of the paper such as the way various organizations are unethically using data from the owners without their consent and the means such as social media being used regularly to fulfill the purpose.   

 

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