ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
SENSES OF ENGINEERING ETHICS
There are two different senses (meanings) of engineering ethics, namely the
Normative and the Descriptive senses. The normative sense include:
(a) Knowing moral values, finding accurate solutions to moral problems and
justifying moral judgments in engineering practices,
(b) Study of decisions, policies, and values that are morally desirable in the
engineering practice and research, and
(c) Using codes of ethics and standards and applying them in their transactions by
engineers. The descriptive sense refers to what specific individual or group of
engineers believe and act, without justifying their beliefs or actions.
VARIETY OF MORAL ISSUES
It would be relevant to know why and how do moral issues (problems) arise in a
profession or why do people behave unethically? The reasons for people including
the employer and employees, behaving unethically may be classified into three
categories:
Resource Crunch
Due to pressure, through time limits, availability of money or budgetary
constraints, and technology decay or obsolescence. Pressure from the government
to complete the project in time (e.g., before the elections), reduction in the budget
because of sudden war or natural calamity (e.g., Tsunami) and obsolescence due
technology innovation by the competitor lead to manipulation and unsafe and
unethical execution of projects.
Involving individuals in the development of goals and values and developing
policies that allow for individual diversity, dissent, and input to decision-making
will prevent unethical results.
Opportunity
(a) Double standards or behavior of the employers towards the employees and the
public. The unethical behaviors of World Com (in USA), Enron (in USA as well as
India) executives in 2002 resulted in bankruptcy for those companies,
(b) Management projecting their own interests more than that of their employees.
Some organizations over-emphasize short-term gains and results at the expense of
themselves and others,
ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
GE8076 PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN ENGINEERING
GE8076 PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN ENGINEERING
ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
(c) Emphasis on results and gains at the expense of the employees, and
(d) Management by objectives, without focus on empowerment and improvement
of the infrastructure.
This is best encountered by developing policies that allow ‘conscience keepers’
and whistle blowers and appointing ombudsman, who can work confidentially
with people to solve the unethical problems internally.
Attitude
Poor attitude of the employees set in due to
(e) Low morale of the employees because of dissatisfaction and downsizing,
(f) Absence of grievance redressal mechanism,
(g) Lack of promotion or career development policies or denied promotions,
(h) Lack of transparency,
(i) Absence of recognition and reward system, and
(j) Poor working environments.
Giving ethics training for all, recognizing ethical conduct in work place, including
ethics in performance appraisal, and encouraging open discussion on ethical
issues, are some of the directions to promote positive attitudes among the
employees9.
To get firm and positive effect, ethical standards must be set and adopted by the
senior management, with input from all personnel.
TYPES OF INQUIRIES
The three types of inquiries, in solving ethical problems are: normative inquiry,
conceptual inquiry, and factual or descriptive inquiry.
The three types of inquiries are discussed below to illustrate the differences and
preference.
Normative Inquiry
It seeks to identify and justify the morally-desirable norms or standards that
should guide individuals and groups. It also has the theoretical goal of justifying
particular moral judgments. Normative questions are about what ought to be and
what is good, based on moral values. For example,
1. How far does the obligation of engineers to protect public safety extend in any
given situation?
2. When, if ever, should engineers be expected to blow whistle on
GE8076 PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN ENGINEERING
ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
dangerous practices of their employers?
3. Whose values ought to be primary in making judgment about acceptable risks in
design for a public transport system or a nuclear plant? Is it of management, senior
engineers, government, voters or all of them?
4. When and why is the government justified in interfering with the organisations?
5. What are the reasons on which the engineers show their obligations to their
employees or clients or the public?
Conceptual Inquiry
It is directed to clarify the meaning of concepts or ideas or principles that are expressed
by words or by questions and statements. For example,
(a) What is meant by safety?
(b) How is it related to risk?
(c) What is a bribe?
(d) What is a profession?
When moral concepts are discussed, normative and conceptual issues are closely
interconnected.
Factual or Descriptive Inquiry
It is aimed to obtain facts needed for understanding and resolving value issues.
Researchers conduct factual inquiries using mathematical or statistical techniques. The
inquiry provide important information on business realities, engineering practice, and
the effectiveness of professional societies in fostering moral conduct, the procedures
used in risk assessment, and psychological profiles of engineers. The facts provide not
only the reasons for moral problems but also enable us to develop alterative ways of
resolving moral problems. For example,
6. How were the benefits assessed?
7. What are procedures followed in risk assessment?
8. What are short-term and long-term effects of drinking water being polluted? and
9. Who conducted the tests on materials?
GE8076 PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN ENGINEERING
