IntroductionThe Business Dictionary defines “ethical issues” as “problems or situations that force a person or organization to choose between alternative courses of action which must be evaluated as good or bad. Managing information technology (IT) projects is a critical issue for all organizations because IT project failure rates are alarming (Whittaker, 1999). A Gartner study suggests that approximately 75% of IT projects based in the United States of America (USA) are considered failures by stakeholders (Waters 2008). Pinto and Selvin (1988) also highlight the problem of many projects being considered successful by stakeholders. those who implement them, but perceived differently by the actual users of the system. Wateridge (1995) then highlights the need for all stakeholders to clearly define how the project's success criteria will be judged. This article aims to uncover and address the ethical issues involved in IT project failures. The 18th-century philosopher Immanuel Kant maintained a golden rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This should be the basis of all ethical approaches and, when applying the rule to IT projects, it suggests carefully analyzing a project from the stakeholders' perspective (Gleason, 1998). Ethical Issues Involved in IT Project Failure Previous studies have suggested that planning is the primary determinant of the success or failure of any IT project (Wateridge, 1995; Whittaker, 1999; Dvir & Lechler 2004) . A classic book on management is Sun Tzu's "Art of War", in which Tzu considers planning as an essential determinant. for the success or failure of a project. Tzu takes a strategic view and writes: "Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go middle of paper...up." (1999). CHAOS: the recipe for success. Available: http://www4.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/lehre/vorlesungen/vse/WS2004/1999_Standish_Chaos.pdf. Last accessed April 19, 2010. Tzu, S. (2006). The art of war. United States: El Paso Norte Press. 9-18. Turner, J., Cochrane, R. (1993). Matrix of objectives and methods: dealing with projects whose objectives and/or methods to achieve them are poorly defined. International Journal of Project Management. 11 (2), 93-102. Wateridge, J. (1995). IT projects: a basis for success. International Journal of Project Management. 13 (3), 169-172. Waters, K. (2008). Most IT projects fail. Yours? Available: http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/most-it-projects-fail-will-yours.html. Last accessed April 26, 2010. Whittaker, B. (1999). What went wrong? Unsuccessful IT projects. Information management and IT security. 7 (1), 23-30.