Professional Ethics for

Engineers: A Discussion on
Engineering Ethics

SATYA SUNDAR SETHY, Ph.D.

Dept. of Humanities & Social Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Chennai-600 036, India

What is Ethics?
Ethics

Metaethics

Normative
Ethics

Applied Ethics

Morality encompasses the first-order beliefs and practices about

good and evil by which we guide our behaviour.
Ethics is the second-order, reflective consideration of our moral
beliefs and practices (Hinman, 2003; Baura, 2006)
Meta-ethics: What is the meaning of good?
Normative Ethics: It develops theories and models for how we
ought to treat each other.
Applied Ethics: It centers on the resolution of scientific ethical
problems.

What is Applied Ethics?

Ethics

Metaethics

Normative
Ethics

Applied Ethics
Etc.

Business
ethics

Professional
Ethics

Bioethics
Environment Ethics

Legal ethics
Medical ethics

Accounting
ethics

Engineering ethics

What is Engineering
Ethics?

Engineering ethics is the study of the moral values,

issues, and decisions involved in engineering practice
(Schinzinger & Martin, 2000)
Engineering ethics as much a part of what engineers in
particularly know as factors of safety, testing procedures,
or ways to design for reliability, durability, or economy
(Harris, C.E., et al, 1996,p.93).
Engineering practices revolve around 03 variables; cost,
schedule, and quality. A little compromise in one
component affect others.

Occupation Vs.
Profession
Carpenters
Engineers
Goldsmiths
Builders
Handicraft workers
Tailors??
Bank officers??
Television anchors??
Etc.
Individual choice
Not having code of
ethics

Doctors
Lawyers, etc.
Professors??
Social recognition
A member of a
profession is expected/
anticipated others
behaviour on a certain
situation.
Morally permissible
standards

Who is a Professional?
Criteria to consider someone as a professional (Sociological)
-- Extensive training
-- Vital knowledge and skills
-- Control of services
-- Autonomy in the workplace
-- Know the ethical regulations (Harris, C., et al., 2003, pp.2-3)

Professional responsibilities for engineers

*** Concern for public safety
*** Technical Competence
*** Timely communication of positive and negative
results to management

Ethics Vs.
Professional
Ethics
Each and every rational

Moral permissible standards

person
of conduct that ideally every
member of a profession wants
Dont lie
every other member to follow,
Dont kill, steal, cheat to
even if that would mean
others, so on
having to do the same (Harris,
Exception of these
C.E., et al, 1996).
moral rules and
Engineering ethics as much a
standards
part of what engineers in
particularly know as factors of
Self-defense (may kill
safety, testing procedures, or
others)
ways to design for reliability,
durability, or economy (p.93).

Objectives of Engineer
Ethics Education

Stimulate the ethical imagination of students

Assist students to recognize ethical issues
Help students to analyze key ethical concepts &
principles
Help students to deal with ambiguity
Encourage students to take ethics seriously
Enhance student sensitivity on ethical issues
Escalate student knowledge of relevant standards
Improve ethical judgment power
Proliferate ethical will power (Harris, et al,1996)

Continue..
All these objectives can be brought under three
categories.
Emotional engagement
Intellectual engagement
Particular engagement
---Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE) ethics code-1946
--- National Institute of Engineering Ethics (NIEE)
--- National Society of Professional Engineers-1912
--These ethical codes may serve as the formal basis
for investigating unethical behaviour.

Who is an Engineer?
Operating diesel locomotive???
Received degree in mechanical engineering
and got license to work on diesel engines.
Genetic engineers???
Physicists do some works as engineers do???
Scientists??
What is engineering?Engineering will be what
engineers at the time in question typically do that
members of other occupation dont (Davis, 2001,
p.386)

Engineering Ethics & Some

Ethical Theories
Utilitarianism
Duty Ethics
Rights Ethics
Virtue Ethics
A fictional Situation:

-- A company, 01 CEO, 04 VPs (Executive Committee)

-- The VP of Engineering: manages the design and testing
of new product (Mr. Hariprasad)
-- The VP of Operation: is responsible for managing the
manufacture and delivery of products

Continue..
-- Mr. Vivek (hardware manager-cum-engineer) and Mr.
Chandran (software manager-cum-engineer) need to
report to Mr. Hariprasad
-- Mr. Vivek is responsible for designing and testing the
electronic circuits along with his engineering staff.
-- Mr. Chandran has assigned the task of designing and
testing the software along with his engineering staff.
-- Mr. Vivek gave 03 information to the CEO
i) the email announcement of transfer was false
ii) the product is still not ready to transfer
iii) A product recall may occur unless adequate testing is
completed.

Utilitarianism
The morality of an action is decided based on the
assessment of its consequences.
Jerry Bentham: maximized pleasure and minimized pain
J.S.Mill: to maximize happiness & to minimize pain.
Utilitarian Decision:
Mr. Vivek needs to pay a huge price for telling the CEO
that Mr. Hariprasad is wrong in his announcement.
This may ruin the relationship between Mr.Vivek and
Mr.Hariprasad. It may also affect the relationship between
the CEO and Mr. Hariprasad.
However, suppressing the information and not telling to
the CEO may cost the company to bear a huge amount of
money as a compensation fee. Further, the customer will
get affected by it.

Continue..
Using utilitarianism, Mr. Vivek is obliged to tell the CEO that
the product is not ready to transfer to the manufacturing
department.
Duty Ethics:
Immanuel Kant is propounded this theory.
On his view, an action is moral:
If it is conducted for the sake of duty
If its maxim can be willed as a universal law
If it treats human beings respectfully.
--- Kant said that we need to treat others as an end, but never
simply as a means to an end.
--- For a maxim to be considered universal, it must be
consistent, impartial, and fair

Continue..
Duty Ethics Decision:
Mr. Vivek is bound by duty to protect the quality of the products
his company produces
The maxim of producing high quality products that are not
recalled may be considered universal.
Company customers deserve to receive high quality products
as it is advertised.
--- Using duty ethics, Mr. Vivek is obliged to tell the CEO that the
product is not ready to transfer to manufacturing unit. The
consequences of this action are immaterial.
Rights Ethics:
Rights and duties are inalienably related with each other.
One can claim his/her rights only when (s)he does his/her
duties.

Continue..
Negative duty (Misuse of right to free speech act)
Positive duty (Right to get the basic health care)
Natural rights (The supreme reality sanctions- comes with our
birth, e.g. ability to think, reflecting on our decisions, etc.)
Human rights (consciously earned by performing duties)
Rights Ethics Decisions:
Mr. Vivek has the rights to tell the CEO that Mr. Hariprasad is
wrong about the product, much as Mr. Hariprasad had the
rights to announce product completion by e-mail. The
concept of product recall is immaterial to this discussion.
Using rights ethics, Mr. Vivek is obliged to tell the CEO that
the product is not ready to transfer to the manufacturing unit.

Continue..
Virtue Ethics:
Aristotle advocates this theory.
It says morality is not related to action, but to virtue.
Virtue is a quality of soul involving both feeling and action to
seek the mean in all the things related to us.
Virtue leads to happiness.
Virtue Ethics Decision:
Mr. Viveks concern were about the faulty product and the
consequences after its use by public
His courage(virtue) requires to tell the CEO about Mr.
Hariprasads decision (otherwise, it will be like RAY-Yamaha)
He seeks the mean between Mr. Hariprasad underestimation
of the danger of a recall and overestimation of this danger.

Five Questions about

Engineering ethics
What is engineering ethics?
Why should it be emphasized in engineering
education?
How should it be taught?
When should it appear in the students
education?
Teaching engineering ethics is part of teaching
engineering.

Why should it be
emphasized in engineering
Long list of disasters, tragedies, scandals
education?

Something should be done to protect all these bad things

to happen- eruption of engineering ethics
Conscience is not enough to practice engineering and
take a decision
Engineering code of ethics
Learning from some of the unfortunate mistakes
Despite a few engineers misfortune immoral decisions,
national surveys usually place engineers near the top of
the list in regard to the public confidence in the ethics of
profession (The Gallup Poll Monthly, 1992, p.3).
---- LIC building of Chennai, India

What should be the common

goals of engineering ethics
To stimulate the ethical imagination of students
education?

To assist students to recognise ethical issues

Conflict of interest vs. conflict of commitment
conflicting roles vs. conflicting obligations
To help students to analyze the key ethical concepts and
principles that are relevant to the particular profession
Public health & safety, usefulness, efficiency, quality, cost-riskbenefit analysis, damaging the environment, truthfulness, etc.
To help students to deal with ethical disagreement,
ambiguity, and vagueness.
To encourage students to take ethical responsibility
seriously

Significance of teaching
engineering ethics (EE)
Make the engineers understood that ethical responsibility
should be a central concern of engineering profession and
practices.
Teaching EE can increase student knowledge of relevant
standards.
Knowledge of standards includes more than just knowing
what is written in codes or handbooks.
Danger of partial knowledge on codes of ethics
Teaching EE helps students to improve their ethical
judgments
Teaching EE can accelerate the students ethical willpower.

How should it be
By using case studies
taught?

By adopting different modes of ethical analysis

-- Drawing the line (Gift giving and bribery)
--Conflict of interest (obligation towards employee & public
safety and welfare)
--Trade secrets and Industrial Espionage
By analyzing different concepts those found recursively in
EE.
When should it be taught?
Before earning a particular degree
Before granting license to an engineer
Etc..

The Challenger Disaster

January 27, 1986 (the day before the space shuttle
explosion)
Robert Lund: Vice-president of Engineering at Morton
Thiokol
Jerald Mason (Boss of Robert Lund)
Jerald Mason communicated to space centre
Expecting the postponement the space centers safety
record was good
Good: needs the approval of all technical people
Lund did not agree for its launch

The reasons for its

The temperature at the launch site was freezing
denial

The ice was forming on the boosters

The worry O-Rings sealing on the booster segments
O-rings were not perfect.
The technical explanation says, at a certain temperature,
the rings could lose so much resiliency that one could fail
to seal properly. If a ring failed in flight the shuttle could
explode.
07 astronauts lives were at stake
Lund was surprised- notice for the launch of shuttle
The committee did not say anything to Lund, and why
should they?

Continue..
It was understood that- president will take the credit,
earned name and fame through media, good publicity, etc.
The ethical dilemma was the space center wanted to
launch the shuttle but they need engineers approval.
Joseph Kilminster (Vice-PRESIDENT) requested Jerald
Mason to reconsider his decision (agreed later)
Mason--- Lund to reexamine the issue. It is so because the
vice president is ready to sign besides he needs the Lunds
approval.
Think like a manager rather than an engineer
Lund changed his mind and signed the document.
In the next day the shuttle was exploded during the lift-off
time and 07 astronauts killed.

Moral Questions
Should Lund have reserved his decision and approved
the launch?
Should it be rational for an engineer to think like a
manager when public is at stake?
Manager vs. Engineer
M: trained to handle people
E: trained to handle things
Lund was advised to focus on people rather than things
How best to handle his boss, the space center, and his
own engineers?
He was to act much as he would have acted had he
never earned a degree in engineering.

Why do we obey the

professional code?
Oath, Vow, Pledge, etc.
Quasi-contract (against violation, there will be legal
action)
It is an obligation for a professional to abide the codes of
professional ethics while doing the professional tasks.
Interpreting the code of ethics
Does public include the 07 astronauts?
Some case studies for you to reflect upon them.

Real World Problems

Infants Under Pressure (Sam Wilson & MedTech
company)
Using Other Peoples Software (Jim Warren &
NewSoft company)
Not Lighting Up (Will Morgan & a state university
of USA)
Air Bags (Bob Baines & an automobile company)
Flight is also Risky (Ralph Sims & SuperCom
company)

For next class.

Can one be considered as rational by knowing
just a few information about his/her professional
code of ethics?
Can one be treated as moral being by virtue of
his/her mere understanding of good and bad
actions?

Reading Materials
Baura, G.D. (2006). Engineering Ethics: An Industrial
Perspective. London: Elsevier Publication.
Davis, M. (2001). The Professional Approach to
Engineering Ethics: Five Research Questions. Science and
Engineering Ethics.
Davis, M. (1991).Thinking Like an Engineer: The Place of
a Code of Ethics in the Practice of a Profession.
Philosophy and Public Affairs.
Harris Jr. C.E. et al. (1996). Engineering Ethics: What?
Why? How? And When?. Journal of Engineering
Education.
Unger, S.H.(2000). Examples of Real World Engineering
Ethics Problems. Sci. & Eng. Ethics

THANK YOU
Contact at:
satyasundar@iitm.ac.in