COEB 422 – ENGINEERS

AND SOCIETY

ENGINEERING
PROFESSIONALISM

Assoc Prof Dr. Ir. Lariyah Mohd. Sidek

Civil Engineering Department
College of Engineering 1
 Investigation
 How do engineering students develop self-
identities as professionals, particularly their
understanding of engineers‟ ethical obligations?
 Are there differences in the development of
professional identities between disciplines?
 How does a course on engineering ethics
(COEB423) affect the development of students‟
professional identities?

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 Questionnaire
 What are the characteristics of the ideal
professional engineer? What are the engineer‟s
most important professional responsibilities?
 What people and experiences have shaped your
understanding of these characteristics and
responsibilities? How have they done so?
 To what extent do you feel that you have these
characteristics and are prepared for these
responsibilities? How would you know that you
are a professional engineer?
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 Characteristics of Ideal
Professional Engineers (1)
 Students without pre-professional
experience frequently mention
 Communication skills, teamwork

 Accuracy, precision

 Students with pre-professional experience

frequently mention
 Conscientiousness, maximal job
performance
 High moral standards
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 Characteristics of Ideal
Professional Engineers (2)
 Both groups of
students mention
 Technical
competence,
problem solving,
creativity
 Persistence

 Self-confidence

 Safety of public
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 At End of COEB422
 What aspects of COEB422 have significantly
influenced your thinking about the
responsibilities and characteristics of
professional engineers? How have they done
so? Cite specific incidents.
 What are your thoughts and feelings about
how you would act when you become a
professional engineer?

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 BEST WORK PRACTICES
DRIVEN BY VALUES
 Personal Integrity
- Integrity is defined as moral excellence,
honesty, wholeness or soundness. This value
hierarchically tops the value list. Being
excellent morally, honest and coplteness will
reflect the image and standings of
ENGINEERS. The work ethics and work
culture practices by ENGINEER will be within
the boundaries of high integrity
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 ENERGIZER
 Energizer means give or provide energy to
ENGINEERS are expected to be productive and
able to hold multiple roles, multiple tasks or
obligations. Besides being productive,
ENGINEERS should also be able to motivate
others to play their roles effectively.
 A quality knowledgeable ENGINEER who
performs and at the same time drives other
immensely towards productive work and
shouldering responsibilities. 8
 PROFESSIONALISM
 Professionalism is the quality
associated with a profession
especially competence, skills etc.

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 ADAPTABILITY
 Rapid changes in technological advancements
and developments also change the course of
Engineering globally. Adaptability is the quality
required that is required in all ENGINEERS for
them to be able to suit to new conditions,
situations, changes and able to adjust to the rapid
developments. In order to lead the industry and to
sustain the intellectual stability within the learned
community, ENGINEERS must be open to
changes and development.
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 HARMONIZER
 Harmony concerns working relationship
between ENGINEERS and other
Professionals. The closeness and cooperation
between professionals is vitals especially
working in a team in one project.
 The existence of harmony enables it to portray
the happy and conducive working
environment.
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 ETHICS FOR ENGINEERS -
Accuracy, Safety
“The professional Engineer … must possess no
tolerance for errors and mistakes. This is the most
difficult of his responsibilities, because his work
may affect the lives of other individuals or society
in a hugely beneficial or severely detrimental way.
Example:
A glitch in his [computer] program might …
stop the artificial pumping mechanism of a
heart patient, or even bring down a plane full
of passengers.”
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 ETHICS OF ENGINEERS :
Honesty, Safety
“The ideal professional engineer should, above all,
be honest. Honesty in the engineering profession
is very important as people often bet their lives on
the safety of the engineers‟ products”.
Example:
If you are driving your car down the street, you
trust the certification by the engineers at
PROTON Motor Company that your wheel will
not spontaneously detach itself from your car and
roll down the street while you are traveling at 110
km per hour.” 13
 ETHICS OF ENGINEERS:
Creativity, Self-confidence
“Ideally a professional engineer should be a critical
thinker, creative, and have a strong enough
confidence in his own ideas to stand up for
them when being critiqued. This is sometimes
not the case; I have met many engineering
students who, when asked why they feel they
have the best solution, back down and decide
that they must be wrong. That is the opposite of
what an ideal engineer should do.
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 Criteria for Determining a
Professional Engineer
 Tangible markers
 Job title, P.E. license, own cubicle
 External approval
 Project responsibility, consulted for
advice, recognised for expertise
 Internal qualities
 Awareness of social consequences,
responsibilities, courage to make
right decisions 15
 ETHICS OF ENGINEERS :
Self as Professional
“A professional engineer seeks to apply
their sound moral reasoning, technical
competency, communication ability,
and ethical behavior to all situations
they are faced with, both on and off the
clock.

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 ETHICS OF ENGINEERS :
Confidence, Open-mindedness
“COEB422 has given me a more confident
attitude towards working in „the real
world.‟ … I also have a more solid set of
ethical beliefs and I am aware of the
options I have if my ethical beliefs are ever
in danger of being compromised. Though
my ethical beliefs have been strengthened,
I think I‟ve also become a more flexible
and open-minded individual.” 17
 ETHICS OF ENGINEERS:
Courage
“I have been learning to think more about the impact
of my decisions, and to be able to recognize when
I am faced with an ethical decision. I am also trying
to tell myself that when faced with an ethical
decision, I should have the courage to make the
right choice.

The question is, is it as easy when the engineer is

me, and my job is at stake?”
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 ETHICS OF ENGINEERS :
Responsibility
“Now, I understand how broadly engineers can influence
society … But, with this power comes the ability to do
harm as well. The professional engineer … should
consider the implications of their actions, especially with
respect to the public…. Some of the most interesting and
most influential articles we read were the ones that
empowered me to be the best engineer I can be. This is
not only because my parents influenced me to become
an honest and hard working person, but rather because
of the power and responsibility I will have when I
graduate.”
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 ETHICS TO STUDENTS
 Major cases and multiple perspectives
influence students‟ thinking
 Ethics course improves self-confidence in
moral reasoning and understanding of
professional responsibility
 Courses should attend to affective goals such
as nurturing courage
 Deeper understanding of professional
responsibility
 Improved confidence in moral reasoning.
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THE ATTRIBUTES OF A MODERN ENGINEER
The engineers should be:
1. Technically competent
2. Able to conceptualise
3. Able to plan and modify when situation changes whilst still
maintaining the goal of the plan
4. Competent in design – assemble facts, arranging them, analysing
and judging before drawing a conclusion
5. Cost conscious and able to make cost comparisons
6. Able to communicate – write, sketch, speak and respond. Able to
develop management skills especially in human relations, decision
making, to lead and be a team advisor or coordinator
7. Able to advocate and to champion the conclusions reached by
his/her professional competence and to show by examples that
ethics and high integrity are fundamental in professional service.

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 Value in the Malaysian
Engineers

1.Trustworthiness 6.Diligence
2.Responsibility 7.Clean conduct
3.Sincerity 8.Cooperativeness
4.Dedication 9.Honorable
5.Moderation 10.Gratitude

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 Engineering Professionalism
 PROFESSION is define as an occupation that need special skills and
qualifications to do, especially one with high social status. It is as an
occupation which has the following six distinguishing marks :-

1. A body of knowledge and art, held as a common possession and

to be extended through united effort.
2. An educational process based on the body of knowledge and art,
and in the ordering of which the professional group has a
recognized responsibility.
3. A standard of personal qualification for admission, based on
character, education and proven competence.
4. A standard of conduct, based upon an ethical code to guide the
practitioner in his relationships with his employer or client, his
colleagues and the community.
5. A formally recognized status, either by members of the profession
or by the state
6. Organizations of the profession, devoted to common
advancement, social duty and economic well being.
Woman form 47.7% of the workforce, 50% of the populations, 65% of university
students but have only 5% voting power. (Girls studious and academically inclined,
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Boys prefer hands-on-activities
 Engineering Professionalism (cont‟)
 A PROFESSIONAL is one engaged in a profession,
characterized by or conforming to the technical or ethical standards
of a profession such as:-
1. High Academic Standards
- Having knowledge and skill not possessed by the general public
(for example, high levels of technical competence)
2. Continual Renewal of Knowledge
- Staying abreast of developments through journals, publications,
conferences, and seminars
3. Service for Society
- Performing services that affect the public health, safety, and
welfare (beneficial application of technical competence)
4. Personal Responsibility for Work
- Continually looking for own mistakes and
opportunities/methods for improvement
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Engineering Professionalism (cont‟)
5. Display of Self Confidence
- Who wants a nervous dentist, unsure of which tooth to drill?
6. Exercise of judgement and Discretion
- Having flexibility/authority to make decisions based upon a
defined body of knowledge
7. Predominantly Intellectual Work
- Generally white collar and not readily subject to productivity
measurement
8. Regulated/License Usually required
- Quality of work is subject to established standards. Members
of the profession risk loss of right to practice for misconduct,
incompetence, or gross negligence
9. Dedication Beyond Pecuniary and Personal Considerations
- Commitment to the “calling” with ethics and quality of work
transcending any other issues

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 Engineering Professionalism (cont‟)
 PROFESSIONALISM is the qualities and skills that someone with a
professional job is expected to have. The Institution of Malaysia (IEM) listed
the marks of professionalism as follows:-
1. Professional activity of a type carrying high individual
responsibility, requiring application of specail skills to activities that are
predominantly intellectual and varied rather than routine and normal
2. Motivation for service takes first place over consideration of
reward
3. Motivation for self expression implies joy and pride in the work
to be done and self imposed standards of excellence in its
performance.
4. Recognition of social duty, fulfilled through guarding the ideals
and standards of the profession, by advancing in the public
understanding and esteem, by sharing advances in professional
knowledge, by rendering gratuitous public service, all as a return to
society for the advantages that flow from professional education and
status
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 FUTURE
CHALLENGES TO
THE ENGINEERING
PROFESSION

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 Expanding World Population
 1900-2000, world population climbs
from 1.6 billion to 6 billion people
 Places new stress on conservation
of resources, and gives engineers
new challenges to compensate for
high population

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 Pollution
 Engineers concerned with management
and the control of pollution, especially:
 Air pollution

 Water pollution and the depletion of

freshwater resources
 Management of solid waste

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 Energy
 It is predicted that energy usage in the
Developing Countries will more than
double in the next 30 years
 Engineers must find new ways to
generate power in an effort to conserve
natural resources (fossil fuels)

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 Infrastructure
 With mass transportation an ever-present
problem, engineers will be responsible in the
future for designing and maintaining a
system by which the transportation of raw
materials, as well as the human capital that
process them, can easily and efficiently
move from place to place

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FUTURE CHALLENGES TO THE
ENGINEERING PROFESSION
 Speed of change and advocacy to response to
issues/problems
 Maintaining benchmarks of engineering education
standards
 Unity of the diversified engineering disciplines within
the IEM
 Future roles of IEM/BEM

 Developing products and services to meet

membership/society needs
 Ready to adapt with the changes in direction of future
engineering (e.g. Green Building/Green technology)
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 Contemporary Issues
 Green infrastructure
 Green Technology, Construction & Innovation
(Energy, Water and Waste)
 National Green Technology Policy (KeTTHA)
 Green Building Index (GBI)
 Adaptation to Climate Change
 Reduction of Carbon emission up to 40%
(Commitment by Govt)
 Sustainability (Sustainable development) – Low
environmental impact material.
 Clean Technology
 Environmental Management System (EMS) 33
 High Technology
 Genetic Engineering  Artificial Intelligence
 Biotechnology  Lasers
 Digital Electronics  Fibre Optics
 Optical Data Storage  Microwaves
 Adv Video Displays  Advanced Satellites
 Advanced Computers  Photovoltaic Cells
 New Polymers  Micromechanics
 High Tech Ceramics  Composites
 Molecular designing  Superconductors

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 Exotic Fundamental
Frontier Studies
 Bose Einstein  Cold Fusion
Condensates  Quantum wires &
 Neutrino physics dots for neutral
 Quantum computer atoms
with molecules  Nanotechnology
 Robotics  Thin Film
 Aerospace Phenomena
technology  Numerical Modeling
& Simulation 35