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Ethical Case Study

Henry’s Daughters

Synopsis of the Story

Henry is a retired but still well-connected automobile executive and lobbyist. GUIDEME, a client of Henry’s,

is involved in an academia-industry-Department of Transportation smart highway design competition called

SANSHANDS. The project goal is to develop specifications for automated highways and car control

systems so that people won’t have to drive anymore.

Laura, Henry’s oldest daughter, is a professional engineer who works at the Department of

Transportation. She is the project manager, and responsible for compiling and recommending the

specifications for the computer control system.

Julie is Henry’s younger daughter. With her father’s finagling, she is an intern with OUTOCAR, a local start-

up company recently founded by state university engineers in partnership with the University’s Business

Incubator. OUTOCAR is competing with GUIDEME to take the design of SANSHANDS to the next level.

The story intertwines the lives of both young women and their father. They are excited to be involved with a

project that will impact the future of transportation. While most of their discussions focus on technical and

personal challenges, sometimes they unintentionally cross the ethical line by letting proprietary information

slip out.

Ultimately, Laura’s team recommends OUTOCAR but the final award goes to GUIDEME. OUTOCAR

personnel allege that ethical misconduct and possible criminal violations occurred during the

project. Consequently, the state senate ethics commission holds a hearing and calls Laura and Henry to

testify.

Henry’s Daughters highlights ethical issues encountered by the characters, such as professional

relationships, conflicts of interest, favoritism, confidentiality, proprietary information, intellectual property,

gender issues, sexual harassment, and individual privacy.

Issues:

 Professional Issues  Ethics and New Technology  Conflict of Interest  Gender  Intellectual Property  Privacy  Legal, Regulatory & Political  Effective Communications  Safety  Making Decisions  Business Relationships

Professional Issues  What are the ethical implications when Henry, a

lobbyist, hosts a senator on his expensive yacht?

 Is there a legal or ethical limit to the level at which Henry should host the senator? (For example, expensive yacht vs. inexpensive restaurant)

 Is there an accepted code of practice or ethics for lobbyists?

 Was it ethical for Henry to pull strings to get Julie her internship?

 To what extent should engineers consider political factors and social impacts in their engineering work?

Ethics and New Technology Issues

 What are the responsibilities of engineers when developing new technologies whose risks are difficult to foresee?

 If GUIDEME has the ―best‖ technology, why should cost and other factors matter?

 Because the experience base for a new technology is limited, it is difficult to write technical specifications. If engineers believe that the specifications are inadequate for future needs, should they recommend a system with characteristics exceeding those specifications?

Conflict of Interest

 Was it appropriate for Henry and his daughters to work on the same project for different parties?

 How should Laura and Henry have handled their apparent conflict of interest?

 How should Laura and Julie have handled their apparent conflict of interest?

 Was Laura given the project because of her engineering talents and work ethic or because of Henry’s connections? If so, this might be a conflict of interest. If you are involved in a conflict of interest, what should you do?

Gender Issues

 Does the appropriate response to sexual harassment depend on the setting—

for example, whether one is in a situation with one's peers versus with one’s

supervisor?

 Are sexist comments disguised as ―jokes acceptable?

 Would Henry or the senator have treated events differently if either or both

of Henry’s children had been sons?

 Does the fact that Laura and Julie are attractive enter into any part of the

interaction? Should it?

 Is there a ―glass ceiling‖ issue in this story?

 How should the engineering profession address either the ―glass ceiling‖ or

the ―men’s club‖ issue?

 Is it permissible for a male employee to put his hand on a female employee’s

shoulders? Or vice versa? For a male employee to put his hand on another

male employee’s shoulders?

 Is it permissible for a male employee to compliment a female employee's

appearance? Or vice versa

Intellectual Property Issues

 What is proprietary information?

 Are there ethical limits to what the sisters can share with each

other about their work?

 Is it appropriate for an engineer to discuss work matters with family

members?

 How should employees and engineers decide whether to share

some of their information from work when they go home?

 When and why might using unlicensed software be unethical?

 Is Julie justified in feeling harmed by the fact that some work she did

for OUTOCAR was used as a dissertation without giving her

credit?

Privacy Issues

 Biometric information is information about the physical condition or characteristics of individuals. What are the ethical implications of collecting this information?

 Does tracking vehicle location cause a violation of privacy?

 Why might a central computer network be more threatening to individual privacy and information security than a decentralized system?

 Should individual privacy rights be trumped by the law enforcement and safety benefits to the public from collecting such information? Vice versa?

Legal, Regulatory, and Political Issues

 Should Senator Bob have recused himself from the investigative committee? If not, why not? Is there anything that he should have done differently as a member of the committee?

 How does an organization’s culture affect how engineers practice? How might it affect their dealings with ethical issues? With legal issues?

Effective Communications  One team meeting is marked by tension about getting the projector started.

Do ethical obligations suffer when the team is dysfunctional? Is some degree

of disagreement appropriate? When does conflict become

counterproductive?

 If you were to develop an ethical corporate or organizational culture, how

would you encourage workers to feel comfortable about speaking freely

about ethical, safety, and legal issues, and see such discussions as an

obligation?

 What are some standards the leadership of an organization should consider

when creating an environment that creates good working and

communication conditions? How would you set the appropriate standards?

How would you make sure that you have communicated those standards

effectively so that people not only understand them but also believe you are

serious about them?

 Do organizations have an obligation to host sensitivity training for their

managers and their engineers?

 What has society taught people about sensitivity training?

 How can sensitivity training be brought into the organization’s leadership

practices?

How can sensitivity training be subsumed into the organization’s culture?

Safety Issues

 Do accidents ―just happen or are they ―caused?

 Whose responsibility is it to make sure that reasonable care and attention is given to safety?

◦ a) The engineer-designer?

◦ b) The Department of Transportation employee?

◦ c) Anyone who observes the problem?

 Did both designs involve an adequate margin of error?

 Since complete safety is unobtainable and safety comes at a cost, what is a reasonable amount of protection from failure?

Making Decisions

 What would engineering codes of ethics say about Henry’s activities?

About Laura’s?

 When making final decisions, was Henry trying to meet his ethical

obligations within the constraints that he had?

 What options did Henry have?

 What options did Laura have?

 What options did Julie have?

 What would you have done if you had been: a) Henry? b) Laura? c) Julie?

 Do you think that you would receive the same degree of criticism from

your organization if you violated an ethical standard compared to violating

or missing a deadline or an objective?

 Do you put ethical issues on the same level of importance as business

objectives? Should you?

Important Elements of Business

Relationships

 What is the most critical element in effective relationships? Loyalty?

Obedience? Money? Trust? Openness? Candor? Something else?

 What role should trust play in our professional and personal interactions?

 What role should candor play in a professional or personal relationship?

 Would candor imply effective communications?

 Could you envision one definition of ethics being ―those activities and

practices that enhance trust‖? Why or why not?

 Although you will gain many things during a professional career, other

things can be taken away from you. Your job could be taken away (and it

often is during economic downturns).

 What things can never be taken away, unless you allow them to be? Can

your reputation for integrity be taken away?

 List several ways you could protect that reputation.

 If someone says ―I trust you; how does this make you feel about the

relationship?