Project management 1

Ethics And Professionalism presented by: Fazla Rabbi

Lecture 1

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Learning Outcomes

• Understand the scope of engineering ethics.

• Explain what is engineering ethics.

• Discuss the importance of studying engineering ethics.

• Identify the practical skills related to engineering ethics.

• Understand the meaning and types of responsibility.

• Explain the dimensions of engineering.

• Describe professions.

• Explain the social responsibility movement.

• Understand the senses of corporate responsibility. Martin_EE_5e 2

Scope For Engineering Ethics

• Engineering projects are social experiments that generate both new

possibilities and risks, and engineers share responsibility for creating benefits,

preventing harm, and pointing out dangers.

• Moral values permeate all aspects of technological development, and hence

ethics and excellence in engineering go together.

• Personal meaning and commitments matter in engineering ethics, along with

principles of responsibility that are stated in codes of ethics and are incumbent

on all engineers.

• Promoting responsible conduct and advocating good works is even more

important than punishing wrongdoing.

• Ethical dilemmas arise in engineering, as elsewhere, because moral values

are myriad and can conflict.

• Engineering ethics should explore both micro and macro issues, which are

often connected and more ethical issues are arising from the global context of

engineering.

• Technological development especially in the age of artificial intelligence

warrants cautious optimism—optimism, with caution.

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What Is Engineering Ethics?

• The word ethics has several meanings.

• Ethics is synonymous with morality. It refers to moral values

that are sound, actions that are morally required (right) or

morally permissible (all right), policies, and laws that are

desirable.

• Engineering ethics consists of the responsibilities and rights

that ought to be endorsed by those engaged in engineering,

and also of desirable ideals and personal commitments in

engineering.

• Engineering ethics is the study of the decisions, policies, and

values that are morally desirable in engineering practice and

research.

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Why Study Engineering Ethics?

• Engineering ethics should be studied because it is important,

both in contributing to safe and useful technological products

and in giving meaning to engineers’ endeavors.

• The direct aim is to increase one’s ability to deal effectively

with moral complexity in engineering.

• The study of engineering ethics strengthens one’s ability to

reason clearly and carefully about moral questions.

• Improving the ability to reflect carefully on moral issues can

be accomplished by improving various practical skills that will

help produce autonomous thought about moral issues.

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Practical Skills

• Moral awareness.

• Cogent moral reasoning.

• Moral coherence.

• Moral imagination.

• Moral communication.

• Moral reasonableness.

• Respect for persons.

• Tolerance of diversity.

• Moral hope.

• Integrity.

• Moral emotions.

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Accepting And Sharing Responsibility

Meaning of Responsibility:

• Obligations: Responsibilities are obligations.

• Accountable: Being responsible means being accountable.

• Conscientious: Morally admirable engineers accept their

obligations and are conscientious in meeting them.

• Blameworthy/Praiseworthy: If the accountability for wrongdoing is

at issue, “responsible” becomes a synonym for blameworthy. If right

conduct is at issue, “responsible” is a synonym for praiseworthy.

Types of Responsibilities:

• Moral responsibility.

• Causal Responsibility.

• Job Responsibility.

• Legal Responsibility.

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Dimensions of Engineering 1

• Ethical issues arise as a product develops from a mental

concept to physical completion.

• Engineers encounter both moral and technical problems

concerning variability in the materials available to them,

the quality of work by coworkers at all levels, the

pressure imposed by time and the whims of the

marketplace, and relationships of authority within

corporations.

• The dimensions of engineering consist of various tasks

that lead from the concept of a product to its design,

manufacture, sales, use, and ultimate disposal.

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Dimensions of

Engineering 2

Progression of Engineering Tasks

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What are Professions?

A profession is any occupation that provides a means by which to earn

a living.

Professions are the forms of work involving:

• Advanced expertise: Professions require sophisticated skills and

theoretical knowledge in exercising judgment that is not entirely

routine.

• Self-regulation: Well-established societies of professionals are

allowed by the public to play a major role in setting standards for

admission to the profession, drafting codes of ethics, enforcing

standards of conduct, and representing the profession before the

public and the government.

• Public good: The occupation serves some important public good or

aspect of the public good, and it does so by making a concerted effort to maintain high ethical standards throughout the profession

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Social Responsibility Movement

• The social responsibility movement has raised attention to

product quality, the well-being of workers, the wider community,

and the environment.

• Responsible corporations strive to be good neighbors by

supporting local schools, cultural activities, civic groups, and

charities.

• Socially responsible corporations participate in finding

solutions, a task that satisfies even shareholders.

• In order to ensure the confluence of good engineering, good

business, and good ethics, it is essential for engineering and

corporations, in their major dimensions, to be “morally aligned.”

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Senses of Corporate Responsibility

• Just as individuals have responsibilities (obligations), so do

corporations.

• Just as individuals are accountable for meeting their obligations, so

corporations are accountable to the general public, to their

employees and customers, and to their stockholders.

• Just as individuals manifest the virtue of responsibility when they

regularly meet their obligations, so too do corporations manifest the

virtue of responsibility when they routinely meet their obligations.

• In contexts where it is clear that accountability for wrongdoing is at

issue, “responsible” becomes a synonym for blameworthy, and in

contexts where it is clear that right conduct is at issue, “responsible”

is a synonym for praiseworthy. This is as true for corporations as it is

for individuals.

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Overview

• Scope of engineering ethics.

• Engineering ethics.

• Importance of studying engineering ethics.

• Practical skills related to engineering ethics.

• Meaning and types of responsibility.

• Dimensions of engineering.

• Professions.

• Social responsibility movement.

• Senses of corporate responsibility.

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