B.E.

Semester – 3
Effective Technical Communication
Unit – 4

Ethics in Engineering
 Introduction to Engineering Ethics
• The term ‘Ethics’ is derived from the Greek word
‘ethos’ that means custom, habit, or character
• A study of moral principles that governs a person’s
behavior or conducting an activity
• It is systematic approach to understanding, analyzing
and distinguishing matters of right and wrong or good
and bad

• Engineering Ethics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KZx81crb48

Dhwani Vaishnav – ETC – Unit – 4

 Scope of Engineering Ethics
• Ability as well as responsibility of an engineer to judge his decisions
from the context of the general well being of the society
• The study of moral issues that confront engineers and engineering
organizations when some crucial decisions are taken
• Professional engineering bodies like IEEE, ASME, IEI etc. have
prepared comprehensive ethics code relevant to their respective
professions based on experiences of the engineers
• Code of Engineering Ethics:
https://www.nspe.org/sites/default/files/resources/pdfs/Ethics/Co
deofEthics/NSPECodeofEthicsforEngineers.pdf
• By studying engineering ethics, students will develop awareness
and assessment skill of the likely impact of their future decisions on
moral and ethical grounds

Dhwani Vaishnav – ETC – Unit – 4

 Factors of Influence on
Engineering Ethics
• Engineering as an experimentation for the good of
mankind is a notable factor involving far reaching
consequence
• Ethical dilemmas make engineering decisions relatively
difficult to make
• Risk and safety of citizens as a social responsibility is a
prime concern of an engineer
• Technological advancement can be very demanding on
the engineering skill in the global context
• Moral values and responsible conduct will play a crucial
role in decision making
Dhwani Vaishnav – ETC – Unit – 4
 Activities for Engineering Ethics
• Engineering as a social experimentation
• Engineer’s responsibility for safety
• Role of engineers, managers, consultants etc.
• Rights of engineers
• Moral reasoning and ethical theories
• Responsibility to employers
• Global issues and concerns
• For e.g. Fire in Coaching Class due to insufficient
safety measures at Surat in May, 2019 in which 22
people died
Dhwani Vaishnav – ETC – Unit – 4
 Accepting and Sharing Responsibility
• Responsibility is the moral or ethical sense which is based on the ends to be
achieved rather than the acts to be performed. It typically requires the application
of the specialized knowledge that characterizes a profession
• Responsibility is used as a synonym for being accountable/answerable. e.g. the
CEO is responsible to the board
• Acceptance of the responsibility means commitment of duties and sharing
responsibility means cooperation, help and assistance
• Deciding what is appropriate moral standard and who is morally responsible for
upholding that standard is a part of ethical reasoning and deciding ethical
correctness of a behavior or action
• Signals how team is responsible and share their responsibility
- maintaining or increasing quality
- reaching or exceeding production targets
- decreasing complaints from team members
- limited conflict between team members
- fewer workplace injuries
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4duPBWzf46E

Dhwani Vaishnav – ETC – Unit – 4

 Attitudes towards Responsibility
1. Minimalist view: engineers are responsible to confirm to the standard
procedures of their profession and fulfill the basic duties defined by the terms of
their employment, if any failure, then only they are held responsible, generally
about doing one’s written duties and not going beyond that, it is limited to
avoidance and blame, and the main concern is “staying out of trouble”
2. Reasonable care: the professional follows all standard procedure but evaluates
the situations for any possible harm and then works to prevent it, depends on
moral basis of an individual, aim is to avoid harm
3. Beyond one’s duty: professional strives to do whatever it takes to make their
work better and meeting standards but others take these efforts as taken for
granted and discourage due to shortage of time, limited resources and other
priorities
• Whistle blowing: an act by an employee of informing the public or higher
management of unethical or illegal behaviour by an employer or supervisor. It
can be internal (informing highest authority) and external (informing media or
law-enforcement authorities), a responsibility of an engineer for betterment of
lager group, but it should be done when a person knows complete facts about
unethical practice and your immediate authority has not considered your
complain/observation about such malpractices

Dhwani Vaishnav – ETC – Unit – 4

 Impediments to Responsibility
• Self-interest – self-interest may prevent from looking at interest of others and may even tempt to
work contrary to their responsibilities
• Fear – if it is one’s fault, one might be afraid of loosing job or reputation, whistle blowing may lead
to opposition from colleagues or loss of job
• Self-deception – self-deceptive excuses like “I am doing this for my organization” or “it works this
way only” may prevent from fulfilling the responsibility
• Ignorance – lack of knowledge, at times due to lack of willingness to go through the challenge one
might have to face in solving the problem and sometimes due to lack of time due to pressure of
deadlines
• Different perspectives – failure of understanding various perspectives may lead to not being able to
see a problem that is otherwise very clear, it may not be intentional but as we tend to think with
our perspectives, we may not be able to analyze from different point of view and fail to recognize
the problem
• Lack of acceptance of authority – there should be professional autonomy for engineers but most
engineers work in supervision of their superiors and thus it is difficult for them to work with
independent and objective judgment resulting in inability to exercise their responsibility as
engineers
• Groupthink – when a collective decision has to be taken, usually the members of the group agree
even if they do not want to. First, there is less fear of failure as it is a collective decision, second,
they are not ready to be the reason of disturbance in what is already going on, finally the major role
of groupthink is the pressure from the top leader to agree with the decision. Thus groupthink poses
a challenge in thinking critically and members go with the flow even if they find there is a flaw

Dhwani Vaishnav – ETC – Unit – 4

 Benefits of Sharing Responsibility
• Increases team morale
• Make your team members feel important and
appreciated
• Helps you do more and faster
• Lets you focus on the big picture
• Prepares your successors for leadership
• Contributes to the success of your entire organization
• Helps you maintain your health by avoiding overwork
• Gives you more experience

Dhwani Vaishnav – ETC – Unit – 4

 Responsible Professionals & Ethical
Corporations
• Needs sophisticated skills, the use of judgment and the exercise of
discretion
• Professional responsibility requires both competence and concern
• Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional duties shall:
- hold paramount of the safety, health, and welfare of the public
- perform services only in areas of their competence
- issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner
- act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees
- avoid deceptive acts
- conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and lawfully so as
to enhance the honor, reputation and usefulness of the profession

Dhwani Vaishnav – ETC – Unit – 4

 Professional Responsibilities
1. Confidentiality – part of profession in interest of the
organization and customers, mainly depends on the moral
values of the individual
2. Conflict of interest – it can be between engineer and
organization or public, engineer may compromise the need
of the public for one’s own interest and this may result in
various accidents
3. Environmental ethics – to carry out these responsibilities,
engineers must take help of physicians, biologist and public
health experts and benefit the whole society
4. Computer ethics – while using computers in profession, all
have to attempt to save organizations from unethical use of
technology and by following ethical codes of conduct

Dhwani Vaishnav – ETC – Unit – 4

 Ethical Corporations
• Corporations have a moral and social responsibility
towards society so they are responsible to check their
values, practices and assumptions
• They have to pay back in terms of payment of total
taxes in time, follow the laws of the land, make sure for
a clean and healthy atmosphere, follow safety rules
and help in energy and resource conservation
• Ethical corporations are expected to generate
employment for the welfare of the society and
improvement in the living standards of the public

Dhwani Vaishnav – ETC – Unit – 4

Importance of Ethical Corporations
• Generate goodwill in the market
• Develop customer’s reliance and satisfaction
• Survival of business
• Shields employees and shareholders
• Smooth functioning
• Generates employment
• Prevent malpractices

Dhwani Vaishnav – ETC – Unit – 4

 Resolving Ethical Dilemmas
• An ethical dilemma is a moral situation in which a choice has to be made
between two equally undesirable alternatives. They may arise out of
various sources of behavior or attitude like failure of personal character,
conflict of personal values and organizational goals, organizational
decision maker faces a choice between two or more options that will have
various impacts on the organization’s profitability and competitiveness
• Though there are laws governing the conduct and action of an engineer
and there are clear morally right and wrong decisions, often engineers
face situations where there is a dilemma of what is right and wrong.
• Thinking well and deep before making decisions and taking responsibility
for such decisions may help in dealing with such ethical dilemmas
• Analyzing Ethical Dilemma
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-_cKp7XxG4

Dhwani Vaishnav – ETC – Unit – 4

 Techniques for Resolving
Ethical Dilemmas
• Increasingly complex situations at work place can make decision making
complex. Several companies have ethics programs which help in making
employees aware of the ethical values they stand for. To a great extent,
this awareness reduces ethical dilemmas
1. Analyze the consequences – one must analyze consequences beneficial
or harmful before taking any action because a few good or bad can be
mixed and made it best choice for decision
2. Analyze the actions – once the best possible option is identified, find out
proposed actions measure against moral principles, basic decency and
general ethical principles and conflicts between principles and the rights
of different people involved in the process of choice of the options that
have to be considered and answered in one’s mind
3. Make a decision – dilemma can arise due to failure of personal character,
conflict of personal values, organizational goals versus social values and
hazardous but popular products, while facing one can think of aspects if
it is legal, balanced and right which may clear dilemma

Dhwani Vaishnav – ETC – Unit – 4

 Making Moral Choices
• Professional ethics majority depends on personal
ethical or moral values
• Making good ethical decisions requires a trained
sensitivity to ethical issues and a practiced
method for exploring the ethical aspects of a
decision and considerations that should impact
choice for course of action
• The more novel and difficult the ethical choice we
face, the more we need to rely on discussion and
dialogue with others about the dilemma
Dhwani Vaishnav – ETC – Unit – 4
Frameworks for Making Moral Choices
1. The Consequentialist Framework – focus on the future effects of the
possible course of action, considering who will directly or indirectly be
affected, the person using this framework desires to produce the most
good, it is a pragmatic approach, helps in situations involving many
people, some of whom may benefit from the action while others may
not, at times results turn out to be different or people may react
differently, so consequences can not be announced with certainty
2. The Duty Framework – focus on duties and obligations, and dos and
donts of the things, all in the condition are to be treated equally which
provides equal dignity and respect.
Benefit: it also motivates to follow moral regardless of outcomes, so one
can believe that a person would have followed morals irrespective of
outcome.
Limitation: it can appear cold and impersonal, does not provide a way to
determine which duty we should follow if we are presented with a
situation in which two or more duties conflict, can also be rigid in
applying the notion of duty to everyone regardless of personal situation

Dhwani Vaishnav – ETC – Unit – 4

 Frameworks for Making
Moral Choices - II
3. The Virtue Framework – concerned with what kind of a
person one should be and what one’s actions indicate
about one’s character. We define ethical behavior as
whatever a virtuous person would do in the situation,
and we seek to develop similar virtues.
This framework is useful in situations that ask what
sort of person one should be, it takes in account all
parts of human experience and their role in ethical
deliberation, as it believes that all of one’s experiences,
emotions, and thoughts can influence the
development of one’s character

Dhwani Vaishnav – ETC – Unit – 4

 Ethical Decision-Making Process
• Take time to define the problem
• Consult resources and seek assistance
• Think about the lasting effect
• Consider regulations in other industries
• Decide on a decision
• Implement and evaluate
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDZuhgK
M_G0

Dhwani Vaishnav – ETC – Unit – 4

 Lawrence Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral
Development
• Pre-conventional level
- avoid punishments
- self-interest
• Conventional level
- getting people to like them
- maintain functioning in society
• Post-convention level
- reject rigidity of laws
- sense of justice

Dhwani Vaishnav – ETC – Unit – 4