Engineering Ethics Essay

Katz next explains a term Jack Sammons, a legal scholar, uses to explain what a technical professional must do to be ethical. This term is known as rebellious ethics, which is when one rebels “against the expectations and practices of one’s profession” (56). The expectation for engineers being that one must solely focus on efficiency and not let moral interests interfere. Sammons continues to say that to be good at your profession you have to take into consideration the needs of the people your project is meant for. Katz used this to transition from the idea of doubling to the idea of Nazi ideology.

Some things change, some things stay the same. The National Education Association (NEA) adopted a code of ethics in 1975 (Strike & Soltis 2009, p. viii). While this code still upholds many concerns that educators face today, it is important to make sure that a code of ethics is a breathing document. It must adapt and change with the changing of time. Strike and Soltis (2009) reference the code of ethics quite regularly throughout the entire book. It is first introduced in full at the beginning of the book. Looking over the code, it is important to remember that much has changed since it was first adopted. While all of the code still applies, it is necessary to add to the code to make it acceptable for the twenty-first century.

Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, first introduced virtue ethics as a method to describe how a good person should act. As such, virtues play a major role in every profession including engineering. Virtuous engineers make better decisions throughout the design and analysis of any component, item, or system. This paper begins with a description of Aristotelian virtue ethics followed by a discussion on the virtues I have gained while at Texas A&M University, virtues needed as a mechanical engineer, and methods of expanding these virtues.

The paper contains an analysis of the film “Incident at Morale”. The film in question follows Fred, a chemical engineer who is a professional engineer currently working for Phaust Chemicals to design a chemical plant. Fred faces many ethical dilemmas during the construction of the chemical plant. The following sections will analyze an ethical issue that occurred when Fred decided to use connectors that barely met the QC specs and was a danger to the employees. The method used to analyze the situation will contain nine steps used in assessing an ethical situation.

In learning unit 1 I was educated about Ethics, Politics, and Diversity. This unit discussed whether or not actions are ethical. Ethics is a moral standard of right and wrong. For example, one time I noticed someone cheating on an exam and I didn’t know if it was right or not to let my substitute teacher know that the student was cheating. I didn’t want to be called names if the cheater found out. So, I messaged my dad and asked for his advice whether or not I should tell. My dad told me that I should leave it alone unless I was certain that the student was cheating. Therefore, I didn’t let my teacher know. This furthered my knowledge by applying ethics to this situation because now I know that personal values and morals impact my ethical behavior. If I didn’t have strong personal values and morals then I wouldn’t of cared if the student cheated or not. Furthermore, attitude in learning unit 1 changed my perspective on situations. For example, I value scrapbooking and scrapbooking costs a lot of money for all the materials

He then goes on to discuss professionalism. Many engineers have a concern for their social status, and seek to be on par with doctors and lawyers, and to do this, they must show more social responsibility. Layton quickly discusses autonomy, and then goes on to explain the pros of professionalism, and that it prevents engineers from becoming cogs in the industrial machine.

One thing that has changed in my approach to ethics since the beginning of the semester is I am now adamant that it is impossible to arrive at a final answer to ethical questions. Learning about the different approaches to ethics has caused me to see that there can be more than one “right” solution to ethical dilemmas. Therefore, if an ethical question is raised, everyone will arrive at a different solution depending on which approach they take.

When being an engineer problems present themself on a daily basis. Some are math problems which are to be expected, but some are ethical problems that can be even more difficult to solve. Fortunately for us we have the utilitarianism and respect for persons model which in most cases can either help or completely solve the ethical dilemma at hand.

“I would rather be a good man than a great king” said the character Thor in Thor: The Dark World. In these words we find a frightening tension. Almost everyone agrees that it is good to be ethical; this is an easy affirmation. It is much more difficult, though, when ethics is in direct opposition to success. This dichotomy- between ethics and success- will no doubt confront an engineer during a professional career of any substantial length. Can you say that you would rather be a good man than rich? Or popular? Or a successful engineer? What should happen when an engineer faces this question? One real world example that can shed some light on this problem is what is known as bid shopping. This essay will provide a thorough definition of the problem of bid shopping and the ethical dilemma surrounding it. It will then apply the ethical theories of Duty Ethics and Virtue Ethics to the question. And seek to show that bid shopping is unethical according to both ethical theories.

Industrial Engineers often face the ethical dilemma of attempting to balance costs with quality and safety. Company management pressures Industrial systems engineers to design processes that are cost efficient, time constrained, and produce a high quality output. This puts the engineer in a tricky balancing act in which they are trying to make every stakeholder happy. Taking risks in order to create cost efficient solutions is not specific to only industrial engineers but applies to all disciplines of engineering, making this topic a relevant discussion. However, this conflict is especially true in a manufacturing setting where industrial engineers thrive, machine operators are often overworked, companies make products in high stakes, large batches, and the range of quality acceptance is growing ever smaller. A relevant example is the engineer who was designing a chemical plant in Mexico. In order to achieve the correct viscosity of the paint stripper, the engineer asked the plant operator to babysit the chemical mixture and manually release the valve when necessary. Engineering management’s decision puts the plant worker at a safety risk in order to achieve a tighter quality and standardization of the chemical stripper production process. Ultimately, this resulted in the catastrophic death of the plant worker and the destruction of the plant.

Ethics is the moral behavior that guides our actions; it motivates us in our personal behavior and is relevant in a business setting as well. Many organizations have set forth a set of guidelines known as a “Code of Ethics”. The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, being one of these organizations, has set forth their code as a requirement for students and engineer members to adhere to. Heading towards a career in electrical engineering I choose this organization to elaborate on for my ethics project.

Indeed, engineering can be enriched by paying more attention to ethics. This guide uses cases drawn from real engineering situations, in order to allow engineers to practice ethical reasoning as it applies to these situations. However, in terms of developing better ethical awareness and reasoning skills, there is no substitute for dealing with the dilemmas and decisions that each of us faces daily. The first step is recognising these when they arise. Analysing them and responding effectively goes to the heart of personal and professional identity.

The following outline will help me write my essay about how engineers are faced with the ethical and moral issues of bribery in the industry. I chose this issue because it is a topic that speaks close to me. I have been put into many situations at work and during internships where I ask myself whether it is a bribe or if it is just networking. This essay will not only discuss the issue of bribery in the industry but help me further understand how to analyze certain scenarios if I am offered something else in the future.

Ethics by definition are defined as a set of moral rules of conduct that are accepted by general public and should be obeyed by everyone. Ethics are essential to the architecture of a modern dynamic society and play a vital part in engineering or any other businesses. Ethics provide guidance to humans to pursue a course of action correctively in specific situations, and prevent us from the ones that would have negative or drastic consequences. Ethics clarifies what is good and bad on the basis of moral principle or values. Regardless of which particular field the engineer is in (e.g. civil, electrical or mechanical), their main liability and responsibility are to ensure the health, safety, and general welfare of the public are protected to the highest level possible. Since almost the work done by engineers can have great impact on almost all aspects of our daily life, any design schemes or implementations that are made by engineers must meet the highest standard to ensure that no damages or potential damages to any resource, people, organization or environment will exist. Many organizations, like the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) have established a set of code of ethics to

Engineering is a pylon of human development and technology,having a significant impact on people’s daily lives. Engineering has improved humanity in every aspect (e.g. transportation, communication, medicine) and it has the potential to overcome the challenges that mankind still faces. However, engineers have responsibility for their actions and they must learn to follow a set of ethical principles relating to their work. All of which have to be followed to the letter otherwise there can be severe consequences.