ENGINEERING AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

What is a profession?

A profession refers to an occupation that requires specialized education, knowledge, training and ethics.

A Sociological Analysis of Professionalism 1. Extensive training .2. Vital knowledge and skills .3. Control of services .4. Autonomy in the workplace .5. Claim to ethical regulation .

Professions as Social Practices

A practice may also produce other goods, such as money, social prestige, and power.

Philosopher Michael Davis has proposed a dialogue approach to the issue of defining “professional.’

• A profession cannot be composed of only one person .

• A profession involves a public element .

• A profession is still an occupation (a way of earning a living) .

• A profession is something that people enter into voluntarily and that they can leave voluntarily.

• Professionals must pursue a morally praiseworthy goal by morally permissible means.

• Ethical standards in a profession should obligate professionals to act in some way that goes beyond what law, market, morality and public opinion would otherwise require.

To what extent does engineering qualify as a profession? ………

•Engineers have extensive training and possess knowledge and skills that are vital to the public.

•Engineers who work in large organizations and are subject to the authority of managers and employers may have limited autonomy.

• Engineering serves a morally good end, namely the production of technology for the benefit of mankind .

Types of Ethics

• Ethics is not religion, though most religions do advocate high ethical standards.

• Ethics is not just following the law.

• Ethics is not following culturally accepted norms.

• Ethics is not science though social and natural science can provide an important tool to enable in better ethical choices.

Ethics

•from utilization point of view, is the maximum balance of good over bad,

•from rights point of view, protects and respects the moral rights of those concerned,

•from legal point of view means all equals are treated equally and

•from service to community point of view, contributes to the common good of the community life.

Common Morality

Common morality is the set of moral beliefs shared by almost everyone. It is the basis, or at least the reference point

Personal Morality

Personal ethics or personal morality is the set of moral beliefs that a person holds

Professional Ethics and Ethics in Various Professions.

•Professional ethics is the set of standards adopted by professionals in so far as they view themselves acting as professionals.

•Every profession has its professional ethics: medicine, law, architecture, pharmacy, and so forth. Engineering ethics is that set of ethical standards that applies to the profession of engineering.

•There are several important characteristics of professional ethics.

They are:

•Code of professional responsibility

•The professional codes of ethics of a given profession focus on the issues that are important in that profession.

•When one is in a professional relationship, professional ethics is supposed to take precedence over personal morality—at least ordinarily. This characteristic of professional ethics has an important advantage, but it can also produce complications .

•Professional ethics, like ethics generally, has a negative and a positive dimension. Being ethical has two aspects: preventing and avoiding evil and doing or promoting good.

•Let us call this dimension of professional ethics preventive ethics because of its focus on preventing professional misconduct and harm to the public.

•Let us call this more positive dimension of professional ethics aspirational ethics because it encourages aspirations or ideals in professionals to promote the welfare of the public.

The Good Engineer

•An engineer has a considerable degree of freedom in how he or she promotes public welfare .

•“What type of person, professionally speaking, will be most likely to promote the welfare of the public through his or her engineering work?”( Let us use the term professional character ).

•The “good engineer” is the engineer who has those traits of professional character that make him or her the best or ideal engineer.

•The first professional character trait is professional pride, particularly pride in technical excellence .

•The second professional character trait is social awareness .

•A third professional character trait that can support aspirational ethics is an environmental consciousness .

Ethics and their General Principles in Various Professions

•There is a basic concept that is especially important to keep in mind in answering these questions. This is the idea of universalizability .

•In the next sections, we shall consider two general ways of thinking about moral issues that make use of the idea of universalizability .

•The first appeals to the utilitarian ideal of maximizing good consequences and minimizing bad consequences .

•The second appeals to the ideal of respect for persons. Both these approaches can be helpful in framing much of our moral thinking about ethical issues in engineering.

•In its broadest sense, taking a utilitarian approach in addressing moral problems requires us to focus on the idea of bringing about "the greatest good for the greatest number."

Respect for Persons

•Those actions or rules are right that regard each person as worthy of respect as a moral agent .

Research Involving Humans

•To be ethically and professionally responsible, an engineer should spend a considerable amount of time thinking about his options .

•He must "brainstorm" to find a number of possible solutions to his problem.

Ethics in Engineering and Design

•It is also completely legitimate for the engineer to try to protect and promote his own career, insofar as he can while still protecting the public. •Only after this fails is he justified in turning to less satisfactory options.

Professional Codes of Conduct

•In ancient times in India there were about 18 major ‘Smritis’ or codes of conduct .

•These codes were created or proposed and implemented at various points of time and mostly they reflected the then existing social environment.

•A code of professional ethics is important in advising engineers how to conduct themselves and to judge their conduct and ultimately to understand engineering as a profession.

•In case of engineers it can be explained as a group who wish to serve the ideal of efficient design, construction and maintenance of safe and useful objects .

•Code of Ethics: It prescribes how professionals are to pursue their common ideal so that each may do the best at minimal cost to the profession and to those whom the profession cares about.

The need for a code of ethics is justified for the following reasons.

•Perform duties with objectivity, due diligence and professional care in accordance with professional standards and best practices.• •Serve the interest of the stake holders in a lawful and honest manner, while maintaining high standards conduct and character and not engage in acts discreditable to the profession.

•Maintain the privacy and confidentiality of information obtained in the course of their duties unless disclosure was requires by legal authority.

•Such an information shall not be used for personal benefit or released to inappropriate parties.

•Maintain competency in their respective fields and agree to undertake only those activities which they can reasonably expect to complete with professional competence.

•Support the implementation of all the rules and the regulations of the institution.

•All significant information be revealed to the appropriate parties.

The Code of Ethics for Engineers:

The Fundamental Principles •Engineers should uphold and advance integrity honor and dignity of engineering profession by using their knowledge and skills for the enhancement of human welfare.

•Be honest and impartial and serving with fidelity the public, their employers and clients.

•Strive to increase the competence and prestige of the engineering profession supporting the professional and technical societies of their disciplines.

The Fundamental Canons

•Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public in the performance of their professional duties.

•Engineers shall perform services only in the areas of their competence.

•Engineers shall issue public statements only in objective and truthful manner.

•Engineers shall act in professional matters for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees and shall avoid conflicts of interest.

•Engineers shall build their professional reputation on the merit of their services and shall not compete unfairly with others.

•Engineers shall act in such a manner as to uphold and enhance the honor, integrity and dignity of the profession.

•Cont…

•Engineers shall continue their professional development through out their career and shall provide opportunities for the professional development of those engineers under their supervision.

•The fundamental principles describe in general an ideal of service. The fundamental canons lay down general duties.

•A code is not a stone tablet inscribed with Divine wisdom.

•No code will be immoral.

• Professional responsibilities go even beyond the code.

The Importance of Organizational Culture

This knowledge helps engineers to understand

• How they and their managers tend to frame issues under the influence of the organization and

• How one can act in the organization effectively, safely, and in a morally responsible way.

Three Types of Organizational Culture

• Engineer-Oriented Companies

• Customer-Oriented Companies

• Finance-Oriented Companies

• Acting in an ethical manner and with little harm to oneself is generally easier in engineer-oriented and customer-oriented companies than in finance-oriented companies

Acting Ethically without Having to Make Difficult Choices

•First, engineers and other employees should be encouraged to report bad news

•Second, companies and their employees should adopt a position of “critical” loyalty rather than uncritical or blind loyalty

•Third, when making criticisms and suggestions, employees should focus on issues rather than personalities

•Fourth, written records should be kept of suggestions and especially of complaints

•Fifth, complaints should be kept as confidential as possible for the protection of both the individuals involved and the firm.

•Sixth, provisions should be made for neutral participants from outside the organization when the dispute requires it

Engineering Standards

•Safety & Quality Issue

• Design Standards

Social and Global Requirements of each Stream/ Discipline

Ethics and Environment