Module 2 Professional Ethics

ENGINEERING ETHICS
 OVERVIEW
Engineering Ethics is the activity aimed at
Understanding the moral values that ought to
guide engineering profession .
Resolving moral issues in engineering
Justify the moral judgments in engineering. It
deals with set of moral problems and issues
connected with engineering
 Definition
• Engineering ethics is defined by the codes and
standards of conduct endorsed by engineering
(professional societies) with respect to the
particular set of beliefs, attitudes and habits
displayed by the individual or group.
• Engineering is the largest profession and the
decisions and actions of engineering affect all
of us in almost all areas of our lives, namely
public safety,health and welfare
 Scope

Ethics of workplace which involves the co-

workers and employees in an organization.
Ethics related to the product or work which
involves the transportation ,warehousing, and
use, besides the safety of the end product and
the environment outside the factory.
 Approaches
• Micro-ethics: deals with decisions and
problems of individuals, professionals and
companies
• Macro-ethics: deals with the societal
problems on a regional/national level
 Senses of engineering ethics
Senses of engineering ethics are of two
Normative
Descriptive
Normative sense include:
(a)Knowing moral values, finding accurate solutions and
justifying moral judgments in engineering practices,
(b)Study of decisions,policies,and values that are morally
desirable in the engineering practice and research,
(c)Using codes of ethics and standards and applying them
in their transactions by engineers.
• Descriptive sense
It refers to what specific individual or group of
engineers believe and act, without justifying
their beliefs or actions.
 Moral aspects or problems or issue
• Moral reasons are factors which require and involve
other people as well as oneself to care for the good of
everyone involved.
• In his /her activity an engineer may have
To take technical decisions judgment
To develop design and execute product ,service and
projects
To achieve cost effectiveness in manufacturing process
To be an expert and authority in his field
• In performing the functions of an engineer ,one
must adhere to the moral aspects like
Respecting colleagues ,customers and supervisors
Being honest and avoid cheating
Promising and implementing the promise
accordingly
Not violating intellectual property right or
patents law
• Engineers during their professional career may
have to take ethical decisions
• Ethics prevents an engineer from
 designing or manufacturing an unsafe product
 making false claims regarding product performance
 use of incorrect and interior materials in products
manufacture.
 Producing or marketing products deviating from
specifications and standards.
 Micro ethics
• It is concerned with the study of day to day
affairs concerning product related and
organization related ethical problems in the
engineering field.
Macro ethics
• Macro ethics deals with the study of both
technical and social problems arising from
time to time.
 How moral problems arise
1. Resource Crunch
Due to pressure through time limits
Availability of money or budgetary constraints and
technology decay
Pressure from the government to complete the project in
time.
Reduction in budget because of sudden war or natural
calamity
2. Opportunity
Double standard or behavior of the employers
towards the employees and public
Management projecting their own interests more
than that of their employees
Management by objectives ,with out focus on
empowerment and improvement of the infrastructure
Emphasis on result gains at the expense of the
employees.
3. Attitude
Poor attitude of the employees set in due to
Low morale of the employees because of
dissatisfaction and down sizing
Absence of grievance redressal mechanism.
Lack of promotion or career development policies
Lack of transparency
Absence of recognition and reward system
Poor working environment.
 Need for code of ethics
• These codes broadly defines certain rules to be
followed more than that they tend to strengthen
the character of the employees and employer to
do the right thing and to distinguish between
good and bad and right and wrong.
• It also define a set of rules and responsibilities all
the employees emphasizing their commitment to
safety ,health and environ.mental protection
 Professional ideals and virtues
• The spirit of professionalism is exhibited through the
moral ideals to which a profession is dedicated.
• Ideals specify certain virtues which are the desirable
features of character.
• Virtues are the acceptable and desirable ways of
achieving relationships with other individuals ,group
or organizations
• The character of of an organization is determined
by the pattern of virtues
• “being ethical is not an indication of weakness
or being soft hearted or kind. To act ethically,
one requires a very high degree of courage
and integrity”
 Virtues and practices
• All the actions of the professional leads to
public good.
• “professionalism can be thought of as service
to some important aspects of the public good
in addition to the practices of advanced
theoretical and practical knowledge”
 4 VIRTUES
• Self directive virtue: professional is guided by this
basic virtue to exercise responsibility and moral
autonomy
example: self understanding, humble
attitude,courage,self respect, integrity …
• Public spirited virtue: here the focus is on the client
and public
example: promotion of public health ,safety and
welfare, causing no harm to other ,help in preventing or
removing harm to others,protecting environment
• Team work virtues: Team work virtues become
important when one has to work with many others
for successful completion of a professional task
example:
sense of co-operation,leadership,effective
communication, respect for authority…
• Proficiency virtues: also known as intellectual virtues.
example:competence,creativity,alertness to dangers
or harm
 Moral development theories
Kohlberg’s theory

• Lawrence Kohlberg developed a psychological theory of moral

development.
• Moral problems may arise during the course of a professional work.
• A professional will have to develop certain practical skills to
understand the problems and solve them
• One has to think about various moral aspects and come to a
conclusion
 According to Kohlberg there are 3 levels of
moral development
Pre-conventional level:-
-most primitive level
-any conduct ,taken to be right which benefits the
individual
-primary motive of an individual is to satisfy
themselves, to avoid or escape harm or
punishment and obeying implicitly to authority or
power.
-This behavior is seen in children
Conventional level
-individuals try to satisfy others implicitly
obeying the dictates of the family or the group
even at the cost of one’s own self interest
-loyalty and identification are the hallmarks of
this level
-Most adults not cross or think beyond this
stage.
Post conventional level
-The individuals at this level is able to think of principles of right
and right conduct and generally good
-these people do not simply follow customs
-they seek to do what is morally reasonable and maintain
integrity.
-they reason out between right and wrong and analyze in terms
of general good rather than social customs or self interest
 Gilligan’s theory
• Gilligan found that Kohlberg’s theory had a
strong male bias.
• According to Gilligan’s studies ,men had a
tendency to solve problems by applying
abstract moral principles.
• In contrast women gave importance to
preserve personnel relationships with all the
people involved.
 3 levels of moral development
• Pre conventional Level:-
This is almost the same as in Kohlberg’s theory
where the person involved is pre-occupied with self
centered reasoning
• Conventional Level:-
At this level opposite pre-occupation comes into play
Instead of being self –centered one develops in to
thinking about others, not hurting them and willing
to help or nurture others
• Post conventional level:-
The individual at this level is able to find
reasonable balance between caring for others
and establishing their own individual interests
and right
 Roles of code
• Inspiration and guidance
• Support
• Deterrence and discipline
• Education and mutual understanding
• Contributing to the profession’s public image
• Promoting business interests.
 Habit and Moral
• Habit is routine behavior that is repeated
regularly and tends to occur unconsciously.
“a habit from the stand point of psychology is a
more or less fixed way of thinking, willing or feeling
acquired through previous repetition of a mental
experience”
• Habits are sometimes compulsory.
• The process by which new behaviours become
automatic is habit formation.
• Old habits are hard to break and new habits
are hard to form.
• As the habit forming ,it can be analyzed in 3
parts
The cue
The reward
The behaviour
• The cue is the thing that trigger of the habitual
behavior
• The behavior is the actual habit that one
exhibits and the reward ,a positive feeling
;therefore continues the habit loop.
 7 habits of a professional
• Realize you are a business of one
• Always look to gain an advantage in business
dealings.
• Do things well
• Work with people who are smarter than you
• Be in a position to walk away the situation is not
right.
• Realize you need experience and set backs to
move fotward.
 Approach to knowledge in technology

• Techno ethics is an interdisciplinary research area concerned

with all moral and ethical aspects of technology and society.
• It draws on theories and methods from multiple knowledge
domains(such as communication ,social sciences, information
studies, technology studies, applied ethics and philosophy)
• Techno ethics views technology and ethics are socially
embedded enterprises and focuses on discovering the ethical
use of technology, protecting against the misuse of
technology and devising common principles to guide new
advances in technological development and application to
benefit society.
 Technological consciousness
• It is a term that describes the relationships
between humans and technology. Technology
is seen as an integral component of human
consciousness and development
 Techno Ethical Assessment(TEA)
• TEA is an interdisciplinary system based
approach to assessing ethical dilemmas
related to technology
• TEA aims to guide actions related to
technology in ethical direction by advancing
knowledge of technologies and their effects.
 Techno ethical design(TED)
• TED refers to the process of designing technologies in an
ethical manner. It involves the 4 steps
Ensure that the components and relations with in the
technological system are explicitly understood by those in
the design context
Perform a TEA to identify relevant technical knowledge
Optimize the technological system to meet the individual
interests
Consult with representatives of stake holders and affected
groups in order to establish consensus on key design issues.