ENG 410 Professional and Ethical Practice - Fall 2021 - Lecture6

ENG-410 Professional & Ethical Practice
Fall 2021
Lecture 6
Understanding Ethical Problems

ENG-410 Professional Ethical Practice
Ethical Problem Solving Techniques
Fall 2021 2
Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Imagine:
• Living near electrical power distribution system increases risk of cancer
• Hazard from weak low frequency magnetic fields
• Engineers and electric companies started to figure out design solutions
to reduce the radiation
• “Health and safety” issue
• However, magnetic field is poorly understood how engineers decide if it is

ethical or not to work on these products design??
• We will add on the code of ethics and moral theories and provide more tools
for analysing and resolving ethical dilemmas
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Application of Line Drawing to the

Pentium Chip Case
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Line Drawing (Pentium Chip case):
• In 94/95: Intel chip had flaws
– First, they thought to hide this information
– Later, offer customers fixed chips
• Positive Paradigm: “products should perform as advertised”
• Negative Paradigm: “Knowingly sell products that are defective

and that will negatively affect customers”
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• Examples that could be added to the line:
1. There is a flaw in the chip, but it truly is undetectable and won’t affect any
customer’s applications.
2. There are flaws in the chip, the customer is informed of them, but no help is
offered.
3. A warning label says that the chip should not be used for certain applications.
4. Recall notices are sent out, and all fl awed chips are replaced.
5. Replacement chips are offered only if the customer notices the problem.
Note: Of course, there are many other possible examples
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Where does our situation—there is a flaw, customers aren’t
informed, and the magnitude of the problem is minimized—
fit on this line?
According to this line-drawing analysis, the approach taken

by Intel in this case wasn’t the best ethical choice.
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Flow Charting
Fall 2021 9

Flow Charting:
• Very popular in engineering studies (ex: algorithms,
business process..)
• In ethics:
– Analyse situation with a sequence of events
– Series of consequences for each decision
• Advantages:
– Gives visual picture of the situation
– Allows readily see the consequences of each decision
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Flow Charting:
• Note:
– there is no unique flow chart
– Different flow charts could be applied to emphasize different
aspects
– Must be build following honesty and objectivity (otherwise could
be biased!)
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Flow Charting: Union Carbide’s Plant Case

Study
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Union Carbide’s Plant Case
• Toxic substance was mixed in water
• Decide or not to build the plant at Bhopeal (near
surrounding community)
• Safety issues, several paths?
• For real ethical issues flowcharts, it will be more complex
and larger
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Union Carbide’s
Plant Case
Fall 2021 14

Union Carbide’s Plant Case
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Keys for using flowchart to analyse
situation is:
– To be creative and determine possible
outcomes and scenarios
– Not to be shy to get negative answers
and to stop the project accordingly (do
not be biased!)
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Conflict Problems
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Conflict Problems
Two conflicting morals situation (what to
choose??)
Three solutions:
1. One of them is more significant than the
other
• Ex: protecting health and safety of public is
more important than your duty to your
employer
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Conflict Problems
Three solutions (con’t):
2. “Creative middle way”
– Compromise for everyone
– Creativity to find a middle ground
(diplomacy)
– Ex: rather than dumping a toxic waste into a
local lake
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Conflict Problems
2. “Creative middle way” (con’t)
– Ex: rather than dumping a toxic waste into a local
lake
• Redesign the production process to minimize the
amount of waste
• Find a way to pre-treat the waste
• Offer to pay for and install treatment equipment
(Note: no one will be completely satisfy)
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Conflict Problems
3. Make hard choice
– make the best choice possible with the
available information
– Follow the “gut feelings” for correct choice
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Conflict Problems: Apply on the
Challenger Explosion Case study
– Focus on the dilemma face by the engineering
manager “Bod Lund”
– Conflict:
• unknown probability that shuttle would
explode
• responsibility to his company and co-workers
(consequences of postponing the launch)
– loss of future contracts, loss of jobs, may be
bankruptcy)
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• Is it easy just not to launch??
• Creative middle ground could be:
– Delay the launch until later in the day when
temperature is warmer (could be not easy?)
– Aastronauts to be informed of the
engineering concerns and to make their
choice (push the responsibility away from the
company!)
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• Hard choice was taken by Lund may be:
– Save the future of the program and save jobs
– Data was ambiguous
• However, we know now that this did not work

a lot of death and exploited rocket!!
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Applying problem solving on Bribery/Gift

Acceptance
Fall 2021 25

Bribery/Gift Acceptance
– Fine line between bribery and simple gift
– Bribery: “is something, such as money or a favor,
offered or given to someone in a position of trust
in order to induce him to act dishonestly. It is
something offered or serving to infl uence or
persuade”
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– Why bribery is not ethical:
• Corrupt free-market economic system
• Anticompetitive
• Sellout to the rich (ex: large powerful corporates
will win against start-ups)
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– When is a gift bribe??
– Gifts:
• Nominal value
• Ex: coffee, calendars with the company logo or
may be dinning with a vendor or a supplier and
may be everyone pay for himself/herself
Fall 2021 28

Gifts vs Bribes (Situations Discussion)
During a sales visit, a sales representative offers you a
coffee mug with his company’s name and logo on it.
The value of the mug is five dollars. Can you accept
this item? Does the answer to this question change if
this item is a $350 crystal bowl with the name of the
company engraved on it? How about if there is no
engraving on it?
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Discuss the following situations under (Factual, Conceptual, Moral
Issues)
– Factual:
• Who offer the gift
• What its value was
• What its purpose was
– Conceptual:
• Whether the gift is a suffecient value to influence a
decision
OR
• Whether that influence is the intent of the gift
Fall 2021 30

Your meeting with a sales representative is running
into the lunch hour. She invites you to go out for lunch.
You go to a fast-food restaurant and pay for your
own lunch. Is this practice acceptable? Does the
answer to this question change if you go to an
expensive French restaurant? If she pays for lunch?
Fall 2021 31

A sales representative from whom you often purchase
asks if you would like to play tennis with him this
weekend at one of the local municipal courts. Should
you go? Is the answer to this question different if the
match is at an exclusive local club to which he belongs?
What if he pays the club’s guest fee for you?
Fall 2021 32

A company sales representative would like you to
attend a one-day sales seminar in Cleveland. Your
company will pay for your trip. Should you go? How
about if the meeting is in Maui? What if the sales
representative’s company is going to pay for you to go?
What if your family is invited as well?
Fall 2021 33

A company sales representative would like you to
attend a one-day sales seminar in Cleveland. Your
company will pay for your trip. Should you go? How
about if the meeting is in Maui? What if the sales
representative’s company is going to pay for you to go?
What if your family is invited as well?
Fall 2021 34

ENG 410 Professional and Ethical Practice - Fall 2021 - Lecture6

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ENG-410 Professional & Ethical Practice

Understanding Ethical Problems

Ethical Problem Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

• However, magnetic field is poorly understood how engineers decide if it is

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Application of Line Drawing to the

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

• Positive Paradigm: “products should perform as advertised”

• Negative Paradigm: “Knowingly sell products that are defective

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Note: Of course, there are many other possible examples

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

According to this line-drawing analysis, the approach taken

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Flow Charting: Union Carbide’s Plant Case

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

• However, we know now that this did not work

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Applying problem solving on Bribery/Gift

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques

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