Ethics for Engineering Practice
 Codes of Ethics
 Ethical Systems and Decision Strategies
 Building Blocks of Trust
 Situation Dynamics and Ethical Decisions
Ethical Systems and Decision Strategies
 End-result Ethics: determined by considering its
consequences. Strategy: Test for results.
 Rule Ethics: determined by laws and standards.
Strategy: Test for policy and procedures.
 Social Contract Ethics: determined by the customs and
norms of a particular community. Strategy: Test for
organizational values.
 Personalistic Ethics: determined by one’s conscience.
Strategy: Test for personal conviction.
Building Blocks of Trust
 Be direct
 Remain accessible
 Be inclusive
 Act with integrity
 Be candid
 Be accountable
 Avoid blaming
 Keep promises
 Listen intently
 Share praise
 Seek to clarify
 Value diversity
Schedule versus Health and Safety
As manager of production in a manufacturing plant, you
have promised your best customer that a large order of
parts would be ready for shipment by a certain date.
Making schedule is much more important than minimizing
costs, so you have had people on overtime for the past
three months. But you are now faced with a dilemma:
several accidents have occurred during the past week--with the apparent cause being worker fatigue.
What would be your course of action?
Confidentiality Versus Safety
Jean works for a university extension service that provides
advice to manufacturers on how they can meet EPA
requirements in dealing with hazardous materials. Her
program signs a confidentiality agreement with each client
so that she has access to the plant site. Upon visiting the
plant, she discovers a process used by the manufacturer
that is unsafe to the workers in the plant. She notifies the
owners but they take no action to correct the problem.
What should be her course of action?
Owners versus Community
As a plant manager who has studied the facts, you now
believe that you have a social obligation to the local
community to install a pollution control system in your
plant. This will be a very costly investment. And if your
plant is the only plant to take such action, you will not be
competitive price-wise, because your competitors in the
community have not installed such systems.
What would be your plan of action?
Copyright Violation
Dick makes it a practice to include a copy of all of his
research publications on the Web so that others in the field
will have immediate access to his work. His work is also
published in refereed journals and conference proceedings.
The societies or organizations that publish the journals and
proceedings hold copyright to all of the material published.
Is Dick in violation of copyright laws and if he is -
Should he continue to put his publications on the Web?
Conflicts and Cover-ups
Abe, an electrical engineer working on the control system
for a locomotive, finds that the system fails the test
provided by the client. His project manager,Susan, says
Abe didn’t get passing results because he didn’t understand
the tests. Susan gives the tests to other engineers with less
experience on the project. These engineers are pressured
to and do in fact sign off that the system passes all but the
most blatantly failed tests. When representatives from the
client come on site, Abe is asked to demonstrate how the
system passes the tests.
What ethics have been violated? What should have
happened?
Sales Promotion
Bill is the managing partner of an engineering consulting
firm. The firm designs mechanical and electrical systems
for new buildings. In the design, products are specified
and many times with direct reference to a particular
manufacturer. Bill has been invited to view some new
products from ABC Fan Company and to hear a
presentation. The location of the presentation is in
Hawaii and all expenses are paid by the manufacturer.
Of course Bill is under no obligation to specify the
product after the presentation.
What would be your course of action?
Ethical Conflict of Interest
Martha, a mechanical design engineer who works to
develop semiconductor manufacturing and inspection
equipment, is given two tickets to a baseball game by a
vendor. She is concerned that there might be a conflict of
interest if she accepts the tickets and goes to the game.
How should she respond to the offer?