Small Engieering Homework, need help asap, due 10 pm today

ENGR 111HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT #10

1. State the differences between a profession and a trade.

2. Is a professional sport (i.e. National Basketball Association) a profession?  Why or why not?

3. The first part of the definition of a professional said that professions involve the use of sophisticated skills.  Do you think that these skills are primarily physical or intellectual skills?  Give examples from professions such as law, medicine, and engineering.

4. Your company urgently needs a new manager in another division, and you have been invited to apply for the position.  However, one of the job requirements is competence in the use of some sophisticated CAD (computer aided design) software.  Currently you do not have that competence, but you are enrolled in a CAD course, so eventually you will have that competence (but not before the deadline for filling for the job).  The application from for the job requires you to state whether or not you have the necessary CAD software competence.  Is it ethically permissible to claim that you have (in order to get the job for which otherwise you are well qualified), even though strictly speaking this is not true?  Would your answer be any different if your current boss informally (off the record) advised you to misrepresent your qualifications in this way, giving as his/her reason that you are overall the best qualified person for the new managerial position?

5. Your automotive company is expanding into off-road and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs).  As a design engineer you are considering two alternative design concepts for a new vehicle, one having three wheels and another four.  Engineering research has shown that three-wheeled vehicles are considerably less stable and safe overall than four-wheeled ones.  Nevertheless, both designs would satisfy the existing safety standards for the sale of each class of vehicles, so either design could be chosen without any legal problems for the company.  However, there is another factor to consider.  Market research has shown that a three-wheeled version would be easier to design and produce, and would sell many more vehicles at higher profit margins than would a four-wheeled version.  Is it ethically acceptable for you as an engineer to recommend that your company should produce the three-wheeled version, in spite of its greater potential safety risks?  Or do engineers have an ethical obligation always to recommend the safest possible design for any new product?

(Extra info)

• Trade

• Perform skilled work

• Licensed

• Usually serve apprenticeship

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• Profession

• Formal education

• Serves the public good

• Professional organizations and technical societies

• Obligation to act responsibly

• Ascribed authority and prestige by society