Engineering Ethics

Ethics are of a special importance to practicing professionals. Professions such as lawyers, teachers, doctors and engineers have a bigger responsibility as to making sure there jobs are done right and ethically. Though in order to achieve this goal individuals must understand what ethics really means. Ethics is basically the rules of conduct which is recognized in respect to a particular group, culture, or class of human actions. The decision to behave ethically is a moral one.

the “engineers have a forest and a tree problem”, making it difficult for them to see beyond the issue in

Look around you, anything from the chair that you are sitting on to the phone in your pocket existed thanks to an engineer. We currently live in a world sculpted by the work of technologic professionals. As the significance of the choices made by engineers increases, it has become more and more important to ensure that these choices are ethically correct.Through analysis of Eric Katz’s Nazi Engineers, it is clear that societies ethics ultimately determine the direction in which society moves.

Ethics are defined as “a set of moral principles and perceptions about right versus wrong and the resulting philosophy of conduct that is practiced by an individual, group, profession, or culture” (Barker, 2001, p. 159). In the field

Ethics is a branch of philosophy that involves the study of good and bad, of right and wrong. It includes theories such as relativism and universalism. Virtue, Categorical Imperative, and the principle of utility are three ethical standards. Environmental ethics is the application of ethical standards to relationships between humans and nonhuman entities.

Although many things about engineering are positive there is a dark side. We depend on them and while engineers are making innovations for us, and maintaining life as the way we know it they also struggle with ethical issues such as plagiarism, confidentiality, and whistleblowing. Just like the list of golden rules we learned as young children, engineers uphold a list of ethical rules to guide them to make the ethically correct decision when one of these situations arise. Bribery the act of receiving or giving a gift with something required in return is another example of an ethical issue that can entice engineers to break the code (“Gifts and Bribes”, 2006). Unfortunately this was the case for a former manager of the Army Corps of Engineers whose greed caused him to break the ethical canons to “avoid deceptive acts”, to “conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, and lawfully as to enhance the honor, reputation, and usefulness of the profession”, and finally to “hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public” (“Code of Ethics”). His misconduct is an example of the unethical decisions some engineers make.

The defense industry is one of the largest recruiters of STEM graduates in the nation. Thousands of engineering students enter this industry and must justify the morality of their work. These engineers work on projects that affect themselves, the engineering profession, and the entire world population. This paper will look into some of the facts surrounding engineering in the defense industry, its intended and unintended consequences, and judge the work of these engineers by applying Egoism, Utilitarianism, and Kantian ethical theories.

Ethics refers to the normal standards or right and wrong that shows what humans should do in society. Ethics is a shown in the story "Flowers for Algernon" with the doctors who help Charlie. Charlie Gordon is a middle-aged man that is not very bright, but he is willing to get a surgery to make him smarter. He has very kind doctors to help him. They gave him a job and made checked up on him fluently. Their still is some ways the doctors do not act ethically, but the positives out way the negatives. This is only a little evidence that Charlie Gordon's doctors acted ethically when they performed the surgery to make him smarter.

Ethics are a set of well found principles that control the doings of businesses or humans whether morally acceptable or not. One should consistently attempt to keep a check on their own ethical values and maintain their standards in order to be well reputed for the work they are engaged in. The values followed by them will affect the companies they are working for and based on them will the businesses have a downfall or progress.

First adopted in 1914, the code of ethics for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is the model for professional conduct for all ASCE members. The code of ethics is an excellent model as it is broken down into eight canons for further understanding. The purpose of each canon is to serve as a guide and reminder for professional engineers that they are to have the moral and ethical integrity the profession calls for at all times while holding safety paramount. The ASCE code of ethics is very informative and insightful because although each canon does not go into great depth, the canons leave room for interpretation under different situations.

In Canada, individual regulating bodies are in place to licence and regulate practitioners in their respective professions. It is in the public’s best interest that these professionals are knowledgeable and driven to progress society in a responsible manner. This includes acting in an ethical manner that aligns with the personal and corporate standards expected of members in a particular profession. The Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO) is in place to regulate such behavior among engineers and protect the common interest of the Ontario community. At the end of this paper it will be evident that public welfare is paramount. This will be shown by how it ought to be enforced under the PEO, and how failure of the Ford Pinto was fueled by

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.

Ethical dilemmas are virtually impossible to avoid if you are a participant in the workforce. The definition of an ethical dilemma stands as a situation that challenges two or more “right” values that arise in a conflict (Treviño & Nelson, 2014). As ethical persons, how may we overcome ethical dilemmas and finish on the “right” side? The research mentioned in Trevino’s and Nelson’s book, “Managing Business Ethics: Straight Talk About How to Do It Right,” suggests that preparing for specific ethical challenges before a situation occurs can adequately prepare the workforce to better handle real-world applications when an ethical situation transpires. The notion that ethics is teachable inspires the following case analysis. The case analysis involving chemical safety will discuss the facts and issues, stakeholders, decision alternatives, and real-work constraints. Focusing on each of the previously mentioned topics, I will describe the applications using Utilitarian, Kantian Ethics, and Rawlsian Justice Analysis’s.

When talking about engineering, people would probably have pictures in their mind of engineers using machines producing parts, drawing and sketching designs, or even doing some mathematical calculations. A more general answer to what engineers actually do would be that they solve social problems through the use of machines, devices, systems, materials and processes. They are all absolutely correct. But in reality, both the job and the role of an engineer are more complicated. They do not only have to work with machines and designs. Engineers are often involved in communications and negotiations. They have to work with different people and the responsibility that they have is massive. Important decisions are made by them and they have to use their own judgement. And very often, ethical considerations are already built into the decisions they make. In order to make the best decisions, they have to be understood in the context of their role in society and, moreover, they need to develop good ethical awareness and be able to deal with the dilemmas that they have to face every day.

There are many ethical dilemmas that an industrial engineer may face throughout their career. One major dilemma would be having to lay someone off because of a change you may have made to a process to make it more efficient. Industrial engineers are always trying to find a more efficient way of doing something, whether it’s in a factory, in an office, or the route of a delivery driver. Sometimes these things aren’t always as simple as they may seem. There are often consequences to these seemingly simple changes. People can and do get laid off because of a change to a process.