Unit-1 : HUMAN VALUE

VALUES MORALS:

Morals are the welfare principles enunciated by the wise people, based on their
experience and wisdom. They were edited, changed or modified rulers (dynasty) according with
the development of knowledge in engineering and technology time to time.

Morality is concerned with principles and practices of morals such as: What ought or
ought not to be done in a given situation? , What is right or wrong about the handling of a
situation? and What is good or bad about the people, policies, and ideals involved?

VALUES:

Humans have the unique ability to define their identity, choose their values and establish their
beliefs. All three of these directly influence a person‘s behavior. People have gone to great lengths
to demonstrate the validity of their beliefs, including war and sacrificing their own life! Conversely,
people are not motivated to support or validate the beliefs of another, when those beliefs are contrary
to their own. People will act congruent with their personal values or what they deem to be important.
―A value is defined as a principle that promotes well-being or prevents harm.‖ Another
definition is: ―Values are our guidelines for our success—our paradigm about what is
acceptable.‖ Personal values are defined as: ―Emotional beliefs in principles regarded as
particularly favorable or important for the individual.‖ Our values associate emotions to our
experiences and guide our choices, decisions and actions.

Ethics:

A person who knows the difference between right and wrong and chooses right is moral. A person
whose morality is reflected in his willingness to do the right thing – even if it is hard or dangerous
– is ethical. Ethics are moral values in action. Being ethical id an imperative because morality
protects life and is respectful of others – all others. It is a lifestyle that is consistent with mankind‘s
universal values as articulated by the American Founding Fathers – human equality and the
inalienable right to life. As warriors it is our duty to be protectors and defenders of the life value and
to perform the unique and difficult mission of taking the lives of those acting immorally (against
life) when necessary to protect the lives of innocent others.

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 When you must kill protecting life it is still hard, but it is moral. Those who kill those not observant
of their narrow relative religious, ethnic or criminal values – in other words, kill over relative values
– are immoral. A dedication to protecting the life value of self and others – all others – makes the
Ethical Warrior different and moral.

THREE TYPES OF ETHICS:

Common Morality:

Common morality is the set of moral beliefs shared by all Engineering students. It is the basis
for the other types of morality. In ethics, we usually think of such principles as Ahimsa (no harm
physically or mentally to or killing others or even suicides), Satyam (no lies and break of promises),
Contentment (no greed, cheating or stealing) etc. We don‘t question these principles. Three
characteristics of common morality are identified as follows:

I. Many of the principles of common morality are negative. The common morality is
designed primarily to protect individuals from different types of violations or invasions
of their personhood by others, such as killing, lying or stealing.
II. Although the common morality is basically negative, it certainly contains positive or
aspirational features in principles such as, ‗Prevent killing, Prevent deceit and prevent
cheating‘. Further it includes even more positive principles, such as ‗Help the needy,
Promote human happiness, and protect the environment‘. This distinction between the
positive and negative aspects of common morality will be important in discussing
professional ethics.
III. The common morality makes a distinction between an evaluation of a person‘s actions
and of his intentions. An evaluation of action is based on moral principles considered,
but an evaluation of the person himself is based on one‘s intention. For example, if a
driver kills a pedestrian with his vehicle accidentally, he may be booked for manslaughter
but not murder. The pedestrian is just as dead as if he had been murdered, but the driver‘s
intention was not to kill him. The law treats the driver differently, as long as one was not
reckless. The end result maybe the same, but the intent is different. He may be morally
responsible but not legally for the death. Similarly, if you convey false information to
another person with the intent to deceive, you are lying. If you convey the same false

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 information because you do not know any better, you are not lying and not usually as
morally culpable. Again, the result is the same (misleading the person), but the intent is
different.

Personal Morality:

Personal ethics or personal morality is the set of moral beliefs that a person holds. Our
personal moral beliefs mostly and closely run parallel to the principles of common morality, such as
ahimsa, satyam and contentment. But our personal moral beliefs may differ from common morality
in some areas, especially where common morality appears to be unclear or in a state of change. Thus,
we may oppose abortion, even though common morality may not be clear on the issue.
Professional Ethics:
Professional ethics is the set of standards adopted by professionals. Every profession has its
professional ethics: medicine, law, pharmacy etc. Engineering ethics is the set of ethical standards
that applies to the engineering profession. Some of the important characteristics of professional
ethics are:

• Formal code: Unlike common morality and personal morality, professional ethics is usually
stated in a formal code. Many such codes are promulgated by various components of the
profession.
• Focus: The professional codes of ethics of a given profession focus on the issues that are
important in that profession. Professional codes in the legal profession concern themselves
with questions such as perjury of clients and the unauthorized practice of law.
• Precedence: In a professional relationship, professional ethics takes precedence over
personal morality. This characteristic has an advantage, but it can also produce
complications. The advantage is that a client can justifiably have some expectations of a
professional, even if the client has no knowledge of the personal morality of the professional.
• Restriction: The professional ethics sometimes differs from personal morality in its degree
of restriction of personal conduct. Sometimes professional ethics is more restrictive than
personal morality, and sometimes it is less restrictive.

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 • Two dimensional: Professional ethics, like any ethics, has a negative as well as a positive
dimension. Being ethical has two aspects: (a) preventing and avoiding evil, and (b) doing or
promoting good.

• Role morality: This means the moral obligations based on special roles and relationships.
For example, Parents having a set of obligations to their children, such as not to harm their
children, nourish them and promote their flourishing. A political leader has a role morality,
the obligation to promote the well-being of citizens. Professional ethics is one of the
examples of role morality.

WORK ETHIC:

Work ethics is defined as a set of attitudes concerned with the value of work, which forms
the motivational orientation. It is a set of values based on hard work and diligence. It is also a belief
in the moral benefit of work and its ability to enhance character. A work ethic may include being
reliable, having initiative, or pursuing new skills. The ‗work ethics‘ is aimed at ensuring the
economy (get job, create wealth, earn salary), productivity (wealth, profit), safety (in workplace),
health and hygiene (working conditions), privacy (raise family), security (permanence against
contractual, pension, and retirement benefits), cultural and social development (leisure, hobby, and
happiness), welfare (social work), environment (anti-pollution activities), and offer opportunities for
all, according to their abilities, but without discrimination.

Workers exhibiting a good work ethic in theory should be selected for better positions, more
responsibility and ultimately promotion. Workers who fail to exhibit a good work ethic may be
regarded as failing to provide fair value for the wage the employer is paying them and should not be
promoted or placed in positions of greater responsibility. Work ethic is not just hard work but also a
set of accompanying virtues, whose crucial role in the development and sustaining of free markets.

INTEGRITY:

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 Integrity is defined as the unity of thought, word and deed (honesty) and open mindedness.
It includes the capacity to communicate the factual information so that others can make wellinformed
decisions. It yields the person‘s ‗peace of mind‘, and hence adds strength and
consistency in character, decisions, and actions. This paves way to one‘s success. It is one of the
self-direction virtues. It enthuse people not only to execute a job well but to achieve excellence in
performance. It helps them to own the responsibility and earn self-respect and recognition by doing
the job. Moral integrity is defined as a virtue, which reflects a consistency of one‘s attitudes,
emotions, and conduct in relation to justified moral values. Integrity comes in many forms, but
honesty and dependability are two traits that are expected in most workplace situations. Without
responsible behavior, distrust can make a work environment tense and uncomfortable. A strong work
ethic shows co-workers and clients that you're reliable and take your responsibilities seriously. Polite
communication, respectable behavior and fiscal responsibility also help you stand out as a
trustworthy employee.
EXAMPLES OF INTEGRITY AT WORKPLACE:
Work When You're on the Clock: Attending and working diligently when you're on the clock
is a clear example of workplace integrity. Socializing, surfing the Internet, making personal phone
calls, texting and frequent snacking are activities that detract from work time. Saving those activities
for break time will show your boss, co-workers and customers that you work hard when you're on
the clock. The career website Calibrate Coaching recommends honoring your work hours by not
stealing time from your employer. Even if you don't actually clock in and out with a time card,
focusing on your work responsibilities while you're at your desk, work station or production area
will showcase your strong work habits.

Follow Institution Policies: Abiding by institution policies is a powerful way to demonstrate

integrity. Cutting corners and neglecting to follow workplace regulations can lead to mistakes,
problems and even dangerous situations. Your willingness to properly record financial transactions,
safely dispense of hazardous or toxic materials, follow institute protocol for dealing with stake
holders, perform clean-up or set-up procedures and properly maintain equipment shows others that
you're not just looking for the easy way out. Establishing yourself as a trustworthy worker who
submits to institute policies shows your boss and co-employees and students that you'll faithfully
carry out your duties.

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Service Learning: Service-learning seeks to engage individuals in activities that combine both
community service and academic learning. Because service-learning programs are typically rooted
in formal courses (core academic, elective, or vocational), the service activities are usually based on
particular curricular concepts that are being taught. Service-learning is a teaching method which
combines community service with academic instruction as it focuses on critical, reflective thinking
and civic responsibility. Service-learning programs involve students in organized community service
that addresses local needs, while developing their academic skills, sense of civic responsibility, and
commitment to the community.

A Service-Learning Program Provides Educational Experiences: Under which students learn

and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service experiences that meet
actual community needs and that are coordinated in collaboration with school and community; That
are integrated into the students‘ academic curriculum or provide structured time for a student to
think, talk, or write about what the student did and saw during the actual service activity; That
provides students with opportunities to use newly-acquired skills and knowledge in real-life
situations in their own communities; and That enhance what is taught by extending student learning
beyond the classroom and into the community and helps to foster the development of a sense of
caring for others.

SERVICE-LEARNING BENEFITS:

Service-Learning benefits students by:

 Linking theory to practice

 Deepening understanding of course materials
 Enhancing the sense of civic responsibility through civic engagement
 Allowing students to explore possible career paths
 Stressing the importance of improving the human condition
 Developing relevant career-related skills
 Providing experience in group work and interpersonal communication
 Promoting interaction with people from diverse backgrounds
 Instilling a sense of empowerment that enhances self-esteem
Service-Learning benefits faculty by:

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  Providing exciting new ways to teach familiar material
 Offering professional development challenges
 Engaging faculty in meaningful interactions with the community at large
 Encouraging faculty to form close, interactive, mentoring relationships with students
 Reminding faculty of the direct consequences of their teaching for society
 Connecting faculty across academic disciplines through a shared approach to teaching
and learning process.

CIVIC VIRTUE:
Civic virtues are the moral duties and rights, as a citizen of the village or the country or an integral
part of the society and environment. An individual may exhibit civic virtues by voting, volunteering,
and organizing welfare groups and meetings.

The duties are:

 To pay taxes to the local government and state, in time.

 To keep the surroundings clean and green.
 Not to pollute the water, land, and air by following hygiene and proper garbage disposal. For
example, not to burn wood, tyres, plastic materials, spit in the open, even not to smoke in the
open, and not to cause nuisance to the public, are some of the civic (duties) virtues.
 To follow the road safety rules.

On the other hand, the rights are:

 To vote the local or state government.

 To contest in the elections to the local or state government.
 To seek a public welfare facility such as a school, hospital or a community hall or transport
or communication facility, for the residents.
 To establish a green and safe environment, pollution free, corruption free, and to follow
ethical principles. People are said to have the right to breathe in fresh air, by not allowing
smoking in public.
 People have inalienable right to accept or reject a project in their area. One has the right to
seek legal remedy, in this respect, through public interest petition.

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RESPECT FOR OTHERS:

This is a basic requirement for nurturing friendship, team work, and for the synergy it promotes
and sustains. The principles enunciated in this regard are:

 Recognize and accept the existence of other persons as human beings, because they have a
right to live, just as you have.
 Respect others‘ ideas (decisions), words, and labor (actions). One need not accept or approve
or award them, but shall listen to them first. One can correct or warn, if they commit mistakes.
Some people may wait and watch as fun, if one falls, claiming that they know others‘
mistakes before and know that they will fall! Appreciate colleagues and subordinates on their
positive actions. Criticize constructively and encourage them. They are bound to improve
their performance, by learning properly and by putting more efforts.
 Show ‗goodwill‘ on others. Love others. Allow others to grow. Basically, the goodwill
reflects on the originator and multiplies itself on everybody. This will facilitate collinearity,
focus, coherence, and strength to achieve the goals.

CARING:

Caring is feeling for others. It is a process which exhibits the interest in, and support for, the
welfare of others with fairness, impartiality and justice in all activities, among the employees, in the
context of professional ethics. It includes showing respect to the feelings of others, and also
respecting and preserving the interests of all others concerned. Caring is reflected in activities such
as friendship, membership in social clubs and professional societies, and through various
transactions in the family, fraternity, community, country and in international councils.
SHARING:

Primarily, caring influences ‗sharing‘. Sharing is a process that describes the transfer of
knowledge (teaching, learning, and information), experience (training), commodities (material
possession) and facilities with others. The transfer should be genuine, legal, positive, voluntary, and
without any expectation in return. However, the proprietary information should not be shared with
outsiders. Through this process of sharing, experience, expertise, wisdom and other benefits reach

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more people faster. Sharing is voluntary and it can‘t be driven by force, but motivated successfully
through ethical principles. In short, sharing is ‗charity‘

For the humanity, ‗sharing‘ is a culture. The ‗happiness and wealth‘ are multiplied and the
‗crimes and sufferings‘ are reduced, by sharing. It paves the way for peace and obviates militancy.
Philosophically, the sharing maximizes the happiness for all the human beings. In terms of
psychology, the fear, divide, and distrust between the ‗haves‘ and ‗have-nots‘ disappear. Sharing
not only paves the way to prosperity, early and easily, and sustains it. Economically speaking,
benefits are maximized as there is no wastage or loss, and everybody gets one‘s needs fulfilled and
satisfied. Commercially speaking, the profit is maximized. Technologically, the productivity and
utilization are maximized by sharing.

HONESTY:

Honesty is a virtue, and it is exhibited in two aspects namely,

• Truthfulness
• Trustworthiness.

Truthfulness is to face the responsibilities upon telling truth. One should keep one‘s word or
promise. By admitting one‘s mistake committed (one needs courage to do that!), it is easy to fix
them. Reliable engineering judgment, maintenance of truth, defending the truth, and communicating
the truth, only when it does ‗good‘ to others, are some of the reflections of truthfulness. But
trustworthiness is maintaining integrity and taking responsibility for personal performance. People
abide by law and live by mutual trust. They play the right way to win, according to the laws or rules
(legally and morally). They build trust through reliability and authenticity. They admit their own
mistakes and confront unethical actions in others and take tough and principled stand, even if
unpopular.
Honesty is mirrored in many ways. The common reflections are:

• Beliefs (intellectual honesty).

• Communication (writing and speech).

COURAGE:

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 Courage is the tendency to accept and face risks and difficult tasks in rational ways.
Selfconfidence is the basic requirement to nurture courage. Courage is classified into three types,
based on the types of risks, namely

• Physical courage,
• Social courage, and
• Intellectual courage.

In physical courage, the thrust is on the adequacy of the physical strength, including the muscle
power and armaments. People with high adrenalin, may be prepared to face challenges for the mere
‗thrill‘ or driven by a decision to ‗excel‘. The social courage involves the decisions and actions to
change the order, based on the conviction for or against certain social behaviors. This requires
leadership abilities, including empathy and sacrifice, to mobilize and motivate the followers, for the
social cause. The intellectual courage is inculcated in people through acquired knowledge,
experience, games, tactics, education, and training. In professional ethics, courage is applicable to
the employers, employees, public, and the press.

VALUING TIME:
Time is rare resource. Once it is spent, it is lost forever. It can‘t be either stored or recovered.
Hence, time is the most perishable and most valuable resource too. This resource is continuously
spent, whether any decision or action is taken or not.

The history of great reformers and innovators have stressed the importance of time and
valuing time. The proverbs, ‗Time and tide wait for nobody‘ and ‗Procrastination is the thief of
time‘ amply illustrate this point.

An anecdote to highlight the ‗value of time‘ is as follows: To realize the value of one year,
ask the student who has failed in the examinations;. To realize the value of one month, ask the mother
who has delivered a premature baby; to realize the value of one week, ask the editor of weekly; to
realize the value of one day, ask the daily-wage laborer; to realize now the value of one hour, ask
the lovers longing to meet; to realize the value of one minute, ask a person who has missed the train;
to realize the value of one second, ask the person who has survived an accident; to realize the value
one milli-second, ask the person who has won the bronze medal in Olympics; to realize the value of

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one micro second, ask the NASA team of scientists; to realize the value of one nano-second, ask a
Hardware engineer!; If you have still not realized the value of time, wait; are you an Engineer?

COOPERATION:
It is a team-spirit present with every individual engaged in engineering. Co-operation is
activity between two persons or sectors that aims at integration of operations (synergy), while not
sacrificing the autonomy of either party. Further, working together ensures, coherence, i.e., blending
of different skills required, towards common goals.

Willingness to understand others, think and act together and putting this into practice, is
cooperation. Cooperation promotes co linearity, coherence (blend), co-ordination (activities linked
in sequence or priority) and the synergy (maximizing the output, by reinforcement). The whole is
more than the sum of the individuals. It helps in minimizing the input resources (including time) and
maximizes the outputs, which include quantity, quality, effectiveness, and efficiency.

The impediments to successful cooperation are:

• Clash of ego of individuals.

• Lack of leadership and motivation.
Conflicts of interests, based on region, religion, language, and caste. Ignorance and lack of
interest. By careful planning, motivation, leadership, fostering and rewarding team work,
professionalism and humanism beyond the ‗divides‘, training on appreciation to different cultures,
mutual understanding ‗cooperation‘ can be developed and also sustained.

COMMITMENT:
Commitment means alignment to goals and adherence to ethical principles during the
activities. First of all, one must believe in one‘s action performed and the expected end results
(confidence). It means one should have the conviction without an iota of doubt that one will succeed.
Holding sustained interest and firmness, in whatever ethical means one follows, with the fervent
attitude and hope that one will achieve the goals, is commitment. It is the driving force to realize
success.

This is a basic requirement for any profession. For example, a design engineer shall exhibit
a sense of commitment, to make his product or project designed a beneficial contribution to the

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society. Only when the teacher (Guru) is committed to his job, the students will succeed in life and
contribute ‗good‘ to the society. The commitment of top management will naturally lead to
committed employees, whatever may be their position or emoluments. This is bound to add wealth
to oneself, one‘s employer, society, and the nation at large.

EMPATHY:

Empathy is social radar. Sensing what others feel about, without their open talk, is the essence
of empathy. Empathy begins with showing concern, and then obtaining and understanding the
feelings of others, from others‘ point of view. It is also defined as the ability to put one‘s self into
the psychological frame or reference or point of view of another, to know what the other person
feels. It includes the imaginative projection into other‘s feelings and understanding of other‘s
background such as parentage, physical and mental state, economic situation, and association. This
is an essential ingredient for good human relations and transactions.

SELF-CONFIDENCE:

Certainty in one‘s own capabilities, values, and goals, is self-confidence. These people are
usually positive thinking, flexible and willing to change. They respect others so much as they respect
themselves. Self-confidence is positive attitude, wherein the individual has some positive and
realistic view of himself, with respect to the situations in which one gets involved. The people with
self-confidence exhibit courage to get into action and unshakable faith in their abilities, whatever
may be their positions. They are not influenced by threats or challenges and are prepared to face
them and the natural or unexpected consequences. The self-confidence in a person develops a sense
of partnership, respect, and accountability, and this helps the organization to obtain maximum ideas,
efforts, and guidelines from its employees. The people with self-confidence have the following
characteristics:

 A self-assured standing
 Willing to listen
 To learn from others and adopt (flexibility),
 Frank to speak the truth

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 Respect others‘ efforts and give due credit.

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 UNIT-2: PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

DIFFERENCE IN MORALITY & ETHICS

Morality Ethics
 More general and prescriptive based on  Specific and descriptive. It is a critical
customs and traditions. reflection on morals.
 More concerned with the results of  More concerned with the results of a
wrong action, when done. right action, when not done.
 Thrust is on judgment and  Thrust is on influence, education,
punishment, in the name of God or by training through codes, guidelines, and
laws. correction.
 In case of conflict between the two,  Less serious, hence second priority only.
morality is given top priority, because Less common. But relevant today,
the damage is more. It is more because of complex interactions in the
common and basic. modern society.
 Example: Character flaw, corruption,  Example: Notions or beliefs about
extortion, and crime. manners, tastes, customs, and towards
laws.

VARIETY OF MORAL ISSUES:

There are so many engineering disasters which are greater / heavier than the level of
acceptable or tolerable risk. Therefore, for finding and avoiding such cases such as nuclear plant
accident at Chernobyl (Russia), Chemical plant at Bhopal (India)where a big disaster of gas
leakage occurred in 1980, which caused many fatal accidents. In the same way, oil spills from some
oil extraction plants (the Exxon Valdez plant), hazardous waste, pollution and other related services,
natural disasters like floods, earthquake and danger from using asbestos and plastics are some more
cases for engineering disasters. These fields should be given awareness of engineering ethics. Hence,
it is essential for engineers to get awareness on the above said disasters. They should also know the
importance of the system of engineering. When malfunction of the system is a rapid one, the disaster
will be in greater extent and can be noticed immediately. When they ate slow and unobserved, the
impact is delayed. So, the engineers should not ignore about the functions of these systems. These

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cases also explain and make the engineers to be familiar with the outline of the case in future and
also about their related ethical issues.

TYPES OF INQUIRY:

Inquiry means an investigation. Like general ethics, Engineering ethics also involves investigations
into values, meaning and facts. These inquiries in the field of Engineering ethics are of three types.
• Normative Inquiries
• Conceptual Inquiries
• Factual or Descriptive Inquiries Normative Inquiries:

• How do the obligations of engineers protect the public safety in given situations?
• When should an engineer have to alarm their employers on dangerous practices?
• Where are the laws and organizational procedures that affect engineering practice on moral
issues?
• Where are the moral rights essential for engineers to fulfill their professional obligations?
From these questions, it is clear that normative inquiries also have the theoretical goal of
justifying moral judgments.
Conceptual Inquiries:
• What is the safety and how it is related to risk?
• What does it mean when codes of ethics say engineers should protect the safety, health and
welfare of the public?

• What is a ‗bribe‘?
• What is a ‗profession‘ and ‗professional‘?

These are meant for describing the meaning of concepts, principles, and issues related to Engineering
Ethics. These inquiries also explain whether the concepts and ideas are expressed by single word or
by phrases. The following are some of the questions of conceptual inquiries

Factual or Descriptive Inquiries:

These help to provide facts for understanding and finding solutions to value based issues.
The engineer has to conduct factual inquiries by using scientific techniques. These help to provide
information regarding the business realities such as engineering practice, history of engineering

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profession, the effectiveness of professional societies in imposing moral conduct, the procedures to
be adopted when assessing risks and psychological profiles of engineers. The information about
these facts provides understanding and background conditions which create moral problems. These
facts are also helpful in solving moral problems by using alternative ways of solutions.

These types of inquiries are said to be complementary and interrelated. Suppose an engineer
wants to tell a wrong thing in an engineering practice to his superiors, he has to undergo all these
inquiries and prepare an analysis about the problem on the basis of moral values and issues attached
to that wrong thing. Then only he can convince his superior. Otherwise his judgment may be
neglected or rejected by his superior

MORAL AUTONOMY:

Moral autonomy is defined as, decisions and actions exercised on the basis of moral concern for
other people and recognition of good moral reasons. Alternatively, moral autonomy means ‗self-
determinant or independent. The autonomous people hold moral beliefs and attitudes based on their
critical reflection rather than on passive adoption of the conventions of the society or profession.
Moral autonomy may also be defined as a skill and habit of thinking rationally about the ethical
issues, on the basis of moral concern. Viewing engineering as social experimentation will promote
autonomous participation and retain one‘s professional identity. Periodical performance appraisals,
tight-time schedules and fear of foreign competition threatens this autonomy. The attitude of the
management should allow latitude in the judgments of their engineers on moral issues. If
management views profitability is more important than consistent quality and retention of the
customers that discourage the moral autonomy, engineers are compelled to seek the support from
their professional societies and outside organizations for moral support. It appears that the blue-
collar workers with the support of the union can adopt better autonomy than the employed
professionals. Only recently the legal support has been obtained by the professional societies in
exhibiting moral autonomy by professionals in this country. The engineering skills related to moral
autonomy is listed as follows:

 Proficiency in recognizing moral problems in engineering and ability to distinguish as well

as relate them to problems in law, economics, and religion,

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  Skill in comprehending, clarifying, and critically-assessing arguments on different aspects of
moral issues,
 Ability to form consistent and comprehensive view points based on facts,
 Awareness of alternate responses to the issues and creative solutions for practical difficulties,
 Sensitivity to genuine difficulties and subtleties, including willingness to undergo and
tolerate some uncertainty while making decisions,

 Using rational dialogue in resolving moral conflicts and developing tolerance of different
perspectives among morally reasonable people,  Maintaining moral integrity.

Autonomy which is the independence in making decisions and actions is different from authority.
Authority provides freedom for action, specified within limits, depending on the situation. Moral
autonomy and respect for authority can coexist. They are not against each other. If the authority of
the engineer and the moral autonomy of the operator are in conflict, a consensus is obtained by the
two, upon discussion and mutual understanding their limits.

CONSENSUS AND CONTROVERSY:

Consensus means ‗agreement‘ and ‗controversy‘ means disagreement. The consensus and
the controversies are playing the vital roles while considering the moral autonomy; he may not be
able to attain the same results as other people obtain in practicing their moral autonomy. Here there
might be some differences in the practical application of moral autonomy. This kind of controversies
i.e., disagreements are inevitable. Since exercising moral autonomy is not as precise and clear-cut
as arithmetic, therefore the moral disagreements are natural and common. So in order to allow scope
for disagreement, the tolerance is required among individuals with autonomous, reasonable and
responsible thinking. According to the principle of tolerance, the objective of teaching and studying
engineering ethics is to discover ways of promoting tolerance in the exercise of moral autonomy by
engineers.

Thus the goal of teaching engineering ethics is not merely producing always a unanimous moral
conformity; it is about finding the proper ways and means for promoting tolerance in the practical
applications of moral autonomy by engineers. In a way, the goal of courses on engineering ethics

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and goals of responsible engineering have some similarities. Both situations require the need for
some consensus regarding the role of authority.

MODELS OF PROFESSIONAL ROLES:

It is understood that an engineer has to play many roles while exercising his professional
obligations. Some of the professional roles or models are given below:

 Engineers as Saviors
 It is believed that engineers hold the key for any improvements in society through
technological developments. Thus some people consider engineer as a savior because they
redeem society from poverty, inefficiency, waste and the hardships drudgery of manual labor.
 Engineers as Guardians
 Engineers know the direction in which technology should develop and the speed at which it
should move. Thus many people agree the role of engineers as guardians, as engineers guard
the best interests of society.
 Engineers as Bureaucratic Servants
 The engineer‘s role in the management is to be the servant who receives and translates the
directives of management into solid accomplishments.
 Thus the engineers act as a bureaucratic servants i.e., loyal organizations set by the
management.
 Engineers as Social Servants
 As we know, engineers have to play the role of social servants to receive society‗s directives
and to satisfy society‗s desires.
 Engineers as Social Enablers and Catalysts
 Besides merely practicising the management‗s directives, the engineers have to play arole of
creating a better society. Also they should act as catalysts for making social changes.
 Sometimes engineers have to help the management and the society to understand their needs
and to make decisions about desirable technological development.
 Engineers as Game Players
 In actual practice, engineers are neither servants nor masters of anyone. In fact, they play the
economic game rules, which may be effective at a given time.

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  Like managers, the engineers aim is also to play successfully within the organization and
moving ahead in a competitive world.

THEORIES ABOUT RIGHT ACTION:

The main objectives of right action are;

• To understand the distinction between a theory of Right and a theory of Good.

• To understand Utilitarianism, Ethical Egoism, and Consequentialism
• To Know how rule utilitarianism differs from act utilitarianism;

―Utilitarianism is the moral philosophy putting that at the center of things. It concentrates upon
general well-wishing or benevolence, or solidarity or identification with the pleasure and pain or
welfare of people as a whole. The good is identified with the greatest happiness of the greatest
number, and the aim of action is to advance the good (this is known as the principle of Utility).
We should always do whatever will produce the greatest possible balance of happiness over
unhappiness for everyone who will be affected by our action. Utilitarianism is often summed up
as doing ‗the greatest good for the greatest number.‖

Theories of Rights Action are philosophical concepts concerned with human nature and their
rights and duties to lead the life with ethical values. The concepts mainly focus on individual
person‘s actions and their consequences. There are different versions of rights action introduced by
difference ethicists during the eighteen-century Enlightenment Era: utilitarianism; rights ethics, and
duty.

Our task here is to define the concept of Rights Action. We may have different perspectives
and understanding of the concepts. After having learnt the concepts: utilitarianism; liberty rights;
welfare rights; and duty ethics we can theorize the concept of Right Action as the followings:

 Right action is the action which controls by law

 Right action considers to good consequences of action
 Right action is the action which is benefits to all students, teachers, society, industry etc.
 Right action is the consequences of action that is not violate the moral rule.

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Other definitions: a right action is an act that is permissible for you to do. It may be either: a). an
obligation act- is one that morality requires you to do, b). an optional act- an act not obligatory or
wrong to do; it is not your duty.

SELF-INTEREST:
Self-interest is being good and acceptable to oneself. It is pursuing what is good for oneself.
It is very ethical to possess self-interest. As per utilitarian theory, this interest should provide for the
respect of others also. Duty ethics recognizes this aspect as duties to ourselves. Then only one can
help others. Right ethicist stresses our rights to pursue our own good. Virtue ethics also accepts the
importance of self-respect as link to social practices.

In Ethical Egoism, the self is conceived in a highly individualistic manner. It says that every
one of us should always and only promote one‘s own interest. The ethical egoists do not accept the
well-being of the community or caring for others. However this self-interest should not degenerate
into egoism or selfishness, i.e., maximizing only own good in the pursuit of selfinterest. The ethical
egoists hold that the society benefits to maximum when (a) the individuals pursue their personal
good and (b) the individual organizations pursue maximum profit in a competitive enterprise. This
is claimed to improve the economy of the country as a whole, besides the individuals. In such
pursuits, both individuals and organizations should realize that independence is not the only
important value. We are also interdependent, as much as independent. Each of us is vulnerable in
the society. Self-respect includes recognition of our vulnerabilities and interdependencies. Hence, it
is compatible with caring for ourselves as well as others. Self-interest is necessary initially to begin
with. But it should be one of the prime motives for action; the other motive is to show concern for
others, in the family as well as society. One‘s self-interest should not harm others. The principles of
‗Live and let (others) live‘, and ‗reasonably fair competition‘ are recommended to professionals by
the ethicists

CUSTOMS AND RELIGION:

As we live in a society which is of increasingly diverse nature, it is more important to have

tolerance for various customs and outlooks. Hence the concept of ethical pluralism emerges. It views
that there may be alternative moral attitudes that are reasonable. But none of the moral perspectives

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can be accepted completely by all the rational and the morally concerned persons. Ethical pluralism
allows the customs which plays an important role in deciding how we should act.

Moral values are many, varied and flexible. So, these moral values allow considerable variation in
how different individuals and groups understand and apply them in their day-today activities. In
other words, to be precise, reasonable persons always have reasonable disagreement on moral issues,
including issues in engineering ethics. Ethical Relativism, an objectionable view, should not be
confused with Ethical Pluralism. As per Ethical relativism says that actions are morally right when
they are approved by law or custom and they are said to be wrong when they violate laws or customs.
Ethical relativism tries to reduce moral values to laws, conventions and customs of societies.
What is the necessary for a person to accept ethical relativism? There are so many reasons
for accepting ethical relativism –

The laws and customs seem to be definite, real and clear – cut. They help to reduce the
endless disputes about right and wrong. Moreover, laws seem to be an objective way to approach
values. The above argument is somewhat weak. This reason underestimates the extent to which
ordinary moral reasons are sufficiently objective to make possible criticism of individual prejudice
and bias.

Moreover, moral reasons allow objective criticism of the given laws as morally inadequate.
The second reason for accepting ethical relativism is because it believes the values are subjective at
the cultural level. They also state that the moral standards are varied from one culture to another.
The only kind of objectivity is relative to a given set of laws in a given society. This relativity of
morality encourages the virtue of tolerance of difference among societies.

USES OF ETHICAL THEORIES:

Ethical theories have so many uses. Out of them, the following three are the most important uses:

 Understanding moral dilemmas.

 Justifying professional obligations and ideas.
 Relating ordinary and professional morality.

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