Ethics in Engineering

Student ID 200780555
ELEC222
October 21, 2012
Abstract
This document describes what is expected from an engineering laboratory report. While
this is not a denitive guide to report-writing, it is intended as a guide to assist in document-
ing and presenting your experimental work. Appended to this guide are some real examples
of common mistakes that should be avoided. It is expected that lab reports are prepared
using the L
A
T
E
X typesetting system, adopting pne of the standard report templates provided
on VITAL.
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Declaration
I conrm that I have read and understood the Universitys denitions on plagiarism and collusion
from the Code of Practice on Assessment. I conrmn that I have neither committed plagiarism
in the completion of this work nor have I colluded with any other party in the preparation and
production of this work. The work presented here is my own and in my own words except where
I have clearly indicated and acknowledged that I have quoted or used gures from published or
unpublished sources(including the web). I understand the consequences of engaging in plagiarism and
collusion as described in the Code of Practise on Assessment (Appendix L).
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Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 Discussion 2
2.1 Scenario 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.2 Scenario 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3 Conclusions 3
References 4
1 Introduction
Business ethics is a trending subject in the world as scientic boards: medical boards, or engi-
neering boards become stringent with their codes of conduct due to technical industry merging
into the coporate world. The business environment is forever changing once considered non-
ethical practises have become the norm particulaly in the retail industry where prot margins
are the bottom line. The Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK have a prescribed statement
of ethical principles to which an engineer or any practising profession can follow. With words
such as honest, integrity, respect and rigour these virtues can disintegrate when one nds them-
self in a compromising situation. Often the decision to make a ethical decision is based on the
situation, moral upbringing, respect for the law and the possiable consequences of each decision.
Ethics can be dened as the moral motivation to do right or wrong. Philosphically ethics
can be categorised into three sections : metaethics, normative ethics and applied ethics Metae-
hics addresses where ethics are derived from, whether ethics are a social convention merely
described to set soceity to behave in a particular manner and question if ethics stem from emo-
tions. Normative ethics are the moral standards that gorven right or wrong behavihour, good
habits or ettiquette and look at consequences in which one persons behaviour has an eect on
anothers. Applied ethics examines controvercial issues such as abortion, environmental waste
or corpral punishement; the list is relentless.[1]
Metaethics is distinguishable into two categories: the study of the universe, both physical and
non physical as well as the psychological issues which base moral judgement such as egoism(self-
centered theory where ones wellbeing is only considered) or altriusm(the ability to be seless) ,
emotion versus reason(theory that states that emotional factors aect the conduct and decision
of a person) In Normative ethics,a subsection of duty theories suggest that morality is basd on
the principles of obligation. For example a parent is obliged to look after their child thus , its
would be unethical not to nurture the child. Other theoriests believe that moral reasoning is
based on a consequentialist theory that is : if the good consequences outweigh the bad conse-
quences then the action is morally right.
Finally the area of applied ethics analyses controversial topis such as environmental ethics ,
medical ethics , business ethics and so forth.Normative principles are often applicable in ap-
plied ethics as the underlying principle in applied ethics is ; a decision is only ethical if both
parties benet.
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2 Discussion
2.1 Scenario 1
A consultancy company does work in a foreign company where their payement comes in two
segments. Firstly rom the project donar: the gorvenment and from the client: the construction
company that they have leased their services too. The client informs the consultancy company
that in order to be paid they consultancy company needs to falsify their invoice documents in
order for the gorvenment to cover the full cost as they have insucient funds to pay their 50%
fully.[2]
Concerns
1. The job has been completed, so a full payement is expected.
2. Project manager has refused to falsify the invoice in order to get fully renumerated.
3. The client company has only got a quarter of the fty percent to pay the consultancy
company.
4. The client company are in favour of the unilateral procedure as they save money.
5. Ignoring the matter could result in the consultancy company not being paid.
PotentialSolutions
1. Look into both companies frameworks, policies and structure.
2. Apply for a court order to stop the construction (an injunction)[3]
2.2 Scenario 2
A contracting company is undertaking a restoration project of a listed building with Historical
signicance in England. The company uses Forest Stewardship Council(FSC) certied timber.
When sourcing for teh timber the company fails to nd FSC timber in the same country but
instead nd timber certied by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). The company nds a
supplier for FSC certied sapele from another country in the UK.[2]
Concerns
1. A choice between FSC certied wood from another country or SFI certied wood from
the original country
2. Time constraints for the project as the residents of teh building are complaining.
3. A choice betwen preservation of nature of collective heritage
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3 Conclusions
This nal section contains a brief statement to summarise the outcome of the experiment, and
a statement outlining to what extent the objectives of the experiment have been met, and
what has been learnt as a result of this. In some ways the Conclusions section is a reection
of the Abstract, reiterating what the experiment was aiming to achieve, and summarising the
outcomes. It can also be thought of as a summary of the Discussion section.
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References
[1] J. Fieser, Internet encyclopedia of philosophy-ethics, http://www.iep.utm.edu/ethics/,
University of Tennessee, May 2009.
[2] R. Doods, Ethics for Engineers, University of Liverpool, Brownlow Hill, Liverpool, 2012.
[3] G. I. A.-C. Center(GIACC), Dealing with corruption, http://www.giaccentre.org/dealing
with corruption.php, October 2008.
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