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Professional ethics
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Professional Ethics for Engineers: A Discussion on
Engineering Ethics
SATYA SUNDAR SETHY, Ph.D.Dept. of Humanities & Social SciencesIndian Institute of Technology Madras
Chennai-600 036, India
What is Ethics?
Morality encompasses the first-order beliefs and practices about good and evil by which we guide our behaviour.Ethics is the second-order, reflective consideration of our moral beliefs and practices (Hinman, 2003; Baura, 2006)Meta-ethics: What is the meaning of ‘good’?Normative Ethics: It develops theories and models for how we ought to treat each other.Applied Ethics: It centers on the resolution of scientific ethical problems.
Ethics
MetaethicsNormative
Ethics Applied Ethics
What is Applied Ethics?
Ethics
MetaethicsNormative
Ethics Applied Ethics
Professional Ethics
Environment Ethics
Bioethics
Etc.
Business ethics
Legal ethics
Medical ethics Accounting ethics
Engineering ethics
What is Engineering Ethics?
Engineering ethics is the study of the moral values, issues, and decisions involved in engineering practice (Schinzinger & Martin, 2000)
Engineering ethics as much a part of what engineers in particularly know as factors of safety, testing procedures, or ways to design for reliability, durability, or economy (Harris, C.E., et al, 1996,p.93).
Engineering practices revolve around 03 variables; cost, schedule, and quality. A little compromise in one component affect others.
Occupation Vs. ProfessionCarpenters
GoldsmithsBuildersHandicraft workersTailors??Bank officers??Television anchors?? Etc.Individual choiceNot having code of ethics
EngineersDoctorsLawyers, etc.Professors??Social recognitionA member of a profession is expected/ anticipated others’ behaviour on a certain situation.
Morally permissible standards
Who is a Professional?Criteria to consider someone as a professional (Sociological)
-- Extensive training
-- Vital knowledge and skills
-- Control of services
-- Autonomy in the workplace
-- Know the ethical regulations (Harris, C., et al., 2003, pp.2-3)Professional responsibilities for engineers
*** Concern for public safety
*** Technical Competence
*** Timely communication of positive and negative results to management
Ethics Vs. Professional Ethics
Each and every rational person
Don’t lieDon’t kill, steal, cheat to others, so on
Exception of these moral rules and standards
Self-defense (may kill others)
Moral permissible standards of conduct that ideally every member of a profession wants every other member to follow, even if that would mean having to do the same (Harris, C.E., et al, 1996).
Engineering ethics as much a part of what engineers in particularly know as factors of safety, testing procedures, or ways to design for reliability, durability, or economy (p.93).
Objectives of Engineer Ethics EducationStimulate the ethical imagination of studentsAssist students to recognize ethical issuesHelp students to analyze key ethical concepts & principles
Help students to deal with ambiguityEncourage students to take ethics seriouslyEnhance student sensitivity on ethical issuesEscalate student knowledge of relevant standardsImprove ethical judgment powerProliferate ethical will power (Harris, et al,1996)
Continue..All these objectives can be brought under three categories.
Emotional engagementIntellectual engagementParticular engagement
---Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ethics code-1946
--- National Institute of Engineering Ethics (NIEE)
--- National Society of Professional Engineers-1912
--These ethical codes may serve as the formal basis for investigating unethical behaviour.
Who is an Engineer?Operating diesel locomotive???Received degree in mechanical engineering and got license to work on diesel engines.
Genetic engineers???Physicists do some works as engineers do???Scientists??What is engineering?—Engineering will be what engineers at the time in question typically do that members of other occupation don’t (Davis, 2001, p.386)
Engineering Ethics & Some Ethical Theories
UtilitarianismDuty EthicsRights EthicsVirtue EthicsA fictional Situation:
-- A company, 01 CEO, 04 VPs (Executive Committee)
-- The VP of Engineering: manages the design and testing of new product (Mr. Hariprasad)
-- The VP of Operation: is responsible for managing the manufacture and delivery of products
Continue.. -- Mr. Vivek (hardware manager-cum-engineer) and Mr. Chandran (software manager-cum-engineer) need to report to Mr. Hariprasad
-- Mr. Vivek is responsible for designing and testing the electronic circuits along with his engineering staff.
-- Mr. Chandran has assigned the task of designing and testing the software along with his engineering staff.
-- Mr. Vivek gave 03 information to the CEO
i) the email announcement of transfer was false
ii) the product is still not ready to transfer
iii) A product recall may occur unless adequate testing is completed.
Utilitarianism• The morality of an action is decided based on the
assessment of its consequences.• Jerry Bentham: maximized pleasure and minimized pain• J.S.Mill: to maximize happiness & to minimize pain.• Utilitarian Decision:• Mr. Vivek needs to pay a huge price for telling the CEO
that Mr. Hariprasad is wrong in his announcement.• This may ruin the relationship between Mr.Vivek and
Mr.Hariprasad. It may also affect the relationship between the CEO and Mr. Hariprasad.
• However, suppressing the information and not telling to the CEO may cost the company to bear a huge amount of money as a compensation fee. Further, the customer will get affected by it.
Continue..• Using utilitarianism, Mr. Vivek is obliged to tell the CEO that
the product is not ready to transfer to the manufacturing department.
• Duty Ethics:• Immanuel Kant is propounded this theory.• On his view, an action is moral:• If it is conducted for the sake of duty• If its maxim can be willed as a universal law• If it treats human beings respectfully.
--- Kant said that we need to treat others as an end, but never simply as a means to an end.
--- For a maxim to be considered universal, it must be consistent, impartial, and fair
Continue..• Duty Ethics Decision:• Mr. Vivek is bound by duty to protect the quality of the
products his company produces• The maxim of producing high quality products that are not
recalled may be considered universal.• Company customers deserve to receive high quality products
as it is advertised.
--- Using duty ethics, Mr. Vivek is obliged to tell the CEO that the product is not ready to transfer to manufacturing unit. The consequences of this action are immaterial.
Rights Ethics:• Rights and duties are inalienably related with each other.• One can claim his/her rights only when (s)he does his/her
duties.
Continue..• Negative duty (Misuse of right to free speech act)• Positive duty (Right to get the basic health care)• Natural rights (The supreme reality sanctions- comes with our
birth, e.g. ability to think, reflecting on our decisions, etc.)• Human rights (consciously earned by performing duties)
Rights Ethics Decisions:• Mr. Vivek has the rights to tell the CEO that Mr. Hariprasad is
wrong about the product, much as Mr. Hariprasad had the rights to announce product completion by e-mail. The concept of product recall is immaterial to this discussion. Using rights ethics, Mr. Vivek is obliged to tell the CEO that the product is not ready to transfer to the manufacturing unit.
Continue..Virtue Ethics:•Aristotle advocates this theory.•It says morality is not related to action, but to virtue.•Virtue is a quality of soul involving both feeling and action to seek the mean in all the things related to us. •Virtue leads to happiness.
Virtue Ethics Decision:•Mr. Vivek’s concern were about the faulty product and the consequences after its use by public•His courage(virtue) requires to tell the CEO about Mr. Hariprasad’s decision (otherwise, it will be like RAY-Yamaha)•He seeks the mean between Mr. Hariprasad underestimation of the danger of a recall and overestimation of this danger.
Five Questions about Engineering ethicsWhat is engineering ethics?Why should it be emphasized in engineering education?
How should it be taught?When should it appear in the students’ education?
Teaching engineering ethics is part of teaching engineering.
Why should it be emphasized in engineering education?Long list of disasters, tragedies, scandalsSomething should be done to protect all these bad things
to happen- eruption of engineering ethicsConscience is not enough to practice engineering and
take a decisionEngineering code of ethicsLearning from some of the unfortunate mistakesDespite a few engineers misfortune immoral decisions,
national surveys usually place engineers near the top of the list in regard to the public confidence in the ethics of profession (The Gallup Poll Monthly, 1992, p.3).
---- LIC building of Chennai, India
What should be the common goals of engineering ethics education?To stimulate the ethical imagination of studentsTo assist students to recognise ethical issues
Conflict of interest vs. conflict of commitment
conflicting roles vs. conflicting obligationsTo help students to analyze the key ethical concepts and
principles that are relevant to the particular profession
Public health & safety, usefulness, efficiency, quality, cost-risk-benefit analysis, damaging the environment, truthfulness, etc.
To help students to deal with ethical disagreement, ambiguity, and vagueness.
To encourage students to take ethical responsibility seriously
Significance of teaching engineering ethics (EE)Make the engineers understood that ethical responsibility
should be a central concern of engineering profession and practices.
Teaching EE can increase student knowledge of relevant standards.
Knowledge of standards includes more than just knowing what is written in codes or handbooks.
Danger of partial knowledge on codes of ethicsTeaching EE helps students to improve their ethical
judgmentsTeaching EE can accelerate the students’ ethical will-
power.
How should it be taught?
By using case studiesBy adopting different modes of ethical analysis
-- Drawing the line (Gift giving and bribery)
--Conflict of interest (obligation towards employee & public safety and welfare)
--Trade secrets and Industrial Espionage By analyzing different concepts those found recursively in
EE.
When should it be taught?Before earning a particular degreeBefore granting license to an engineerEtc..
The Challenger DisasterJanuary 27, 1986 (the day before the space shuttle
explosion)Robert Lund: Vice-president of Engineering at Morton
Thiokol Jerald Mason (Boss of Robert Lund)Jerald Mason– communicated to –space centreExpecting the postponement – the space center’s safety
record was goodGood: needs the approval of all technical peopleLund did not agree for its launch
The reasons for its denialThe temperature at the launch site was freezingThe ice was forming on the boostersThe worry– “O-Rings” sealing on the booster segmentsO-rings were not perfect.The technical explanation says, “at a certain temperature,
the rings could lose so much resiliency that one could fail to seal properly. If a ring failed in flight the shuttle could explode”.
07 astronauts’ lives were at stakeLund was surprised- notice for the launch of shuttleThe committee did not say anything to Lund, and why
should they?
Continue..It was understood that- president will take the credit,
earned name and fame through media, good publicity, etc.The ethical dilemma was the space center wanted to
launch the shuttle but they need engineers’ approval.Joseph Kilminster (Vice-PRESIDENT) – requested Jerald
Mason to reconsider his decision (agreed later)Mason--- Lund to reexamine the issue. It is so because
the vice president is ready to sign besides he needs the Lund’s approval.
Think like a manager rather than an engineerLund changed his mind and signed the document.In the next day the shuttle was exploded during the lift-off
time and 07 astronauts killed.
Moral QuestionsShould Lund have reserved his decision and approved
the launch?Should it be rational for an engineer to think like a
manager when public is at stake?Manager vs. EngineerM: trained to handle peopleE: trained to handle thingsLund was advised to focus on people rather than thingsHow best to handle his boss, the space center, and his
own engineers?He was to act much as he would have acted had he
never earned a degree in engineering.
Why do we obey the professional code?Oath, Vow, Pledge, etc.Quasi-contract (against violation, there will be legal
action)It is an obligation for a professional to abide the codes of
professional ethics while doing the professional tasks.Interpreting the code of ethics Does public include the 07 astronauts? Some case studies for you to reflect upon them.
Real World ProblemsInfants Under Pressure (Sam Wilson & MedTech company)
Using Other People’s Software (Jim Warren & NewSoft company)
Not Lighting Up (Will Morgan & a state university of USA)
Air Bags (Bob Baines & an automobile company)Flight is also Risky (Ralph Sims & SuperCom company)
For next class.Can one be considered as “rational” by knowing just a few information about his/her professional code of ethics?
Can one be treated as “moral being” by virtue of his/her mere understanding of good and bad actions?
Reading MaterialsBaura, G.D. (2006). Engineering Ethics: An Industrial
Perspective. London: Elsevier Publication.Davis, M. (2001). The Professional Approach to
Engineering Ethics: Five Research Questions. Science and Engineering Ethics.
Davis, M. (1991).Thinking Like an Engineer: The Place of a Code of Ethics in the Practice of a Profession. Philosophy and Public Affairs.
Harris Jr. C.E. et al. (1996). Engineering Ethics: What? Why? How? And When?. Journal of Engineering Education.
Unger, S.H.(2000). Examples of Real World Engineering Ethics Problems. Sci. & Eng. Ethics
