ETHICS FOR ENGINEERS

SUBJECT CODE:BTAS10102

DR. ZALAK SHAH

ASH DEPARTMENT,
SCET, SU, SURAT.
Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)
[email protected]
 CHAPTER 2:
BUSINESS ETHICS

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 TABLE OF CONTENT

• Principles of personal Ethics

• Principles of professional Ethics
• Distinction between Values and Ethics
• Roots of unethical behavior
• Ethical Decision- Making
• Ethical Dilemmas
• Sources and their resolution: sources of ethical
behavior
• Code of Personal Ethics for Employees
• How to resolve Ethical Problem
• How to resolve Ethical Dilemmas

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 BUSINESS ETHICS

• Acting with an awareness of the need for complying with rules, such
as the laws of the land, the customs and expectation of the
community, the principles of morality, the policies of organization,
and such general concerns as the needs of others and fairness.

• Business ethics is the art and discipline of applying ethical

principles to examine and solve complex moral dilemmas’.

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 PERSONAL ETHICS
• Personal values are the conception of what an individual or a group
regards as desirable.

• Personal ethics might also be called morality, since they reflect

general expectations of any person in any society, acting in any
capacity.

• Principles of personal Ethics are:

1. Concern and respect for the autonomy of others.

2. Honesty and the willingness to comply with the law of the land.

3. Fairness and the ability not to take undue advantage of others.

4. Benevolence and preventing harm to any creature.

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
• “Profession” means a type of job requires special training and that
brings a fairly high status. for example, the profession of a doctor,
advocate, professor, scientist or a business manager.

• Professional Ethics carries additional moral responsibilities.

Principles of Professional Ethics,

1. Integrity: Straightforward and honest

2. Professional competence and due care: current
developments, legislation and techniques
3. Confidentiality: should not disclose information unless a legal or
professional rights or duty
4. Professional behavior: Comply with the law and avoid any
action which discredits the profession
5. Objectivity: avoid bias, conflict of interest, undue influence

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 PERSONAL VS PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

PERSONAL ETHICS PROFESIONAL ETHICS

GROOMING They can be instilled They are also shaped

during your childhood over time, but depend
by your parents and a great deal on the
people close to you, company or
organization that you
Work for.
SATISFACTION They satisfy your They satisfy your
personal needs; they corporate needs
only influence your
behavior with people
you know personally
RESULTS Following these ethics The results are more
result in A clear predictable, common,
conscience, positive and obvious in this
attitude, and a Scenario
contented spirit
RELIABILITY They rely only on the They rely on the
Individual organization

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 DISTINCTION BETWEEN ETHICS AND VALUES

ETHICS VALUES
Definition Ethics are a set of moral Values are principles or
Principles, especially Standards of behavior.
ones
Relating to or affirming a
Specified group, field, or
Form of conduct.
Personal vs Ethics are often Values are personal.
Professional professional
Influence Ethics are influenced by Values are influenced by
Different professions, Family background,
Organization, institute, culture,
etc. Religion, community,
etc.
Variation Ethics can vary Values can vary
according to according to
Professions. Individuals.

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 ROOTS OF UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR
• People often wonder why employees indulge in unethical practices
such as resorting to lying, bribery, coercion, conflicting interest, etc.
There are certain factors that make the employees think and act in
unethical ways. Some of the influencing factors are,

1. Pressure to balance work and family

2. Poor communications
3. Poor leadership
4. Long work hours
5. Heavy work load
6. Lack of management support
7. Pressure to meet sales or profit goals
8. Little or no recognition of achievements
9. Company politics
10. Personal financial worries
11. Insufficient resources.

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

  Fact: Scientists often perform painful experiments on animals.

Value: It is morally acceptable (morally required) for us to perform painful

experiments on animals.

 Fact: We created and used the atomic bombs

Value: Creating and using the atom bomb was morally right (morally wrong).

What is the purpose of value clarification?

 This increase our self-awareness or understanding of ourselves and assist us
in making choice.

 It facilitates decision-making, because we have a better grasp of our own

value system.

 Consequently, this will be helpful when you are faced with an ethical
dilemma.

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 MAKING DECISIONS ON ETHICAL ISSUES

• Here are some steps if you find yourself in an ethical dilemma:

1. Identify the ethical dilemma.

2. Discover alternative actions.

3. Decide who might be affected.

4. List the probable effects of the alternatives.

5. Select the best alternative.

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 Does it violate the law or policies? YES UNETHICAL

NO

What if everyone did this, but it’s bad? YES

UNETHICAL

NO

Would this sacrifice long-term benefits for MAY BE

short-term gain? YES UNETHICAL

NO

ETHICAL DECISION

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 ETHICAL DILEMMAS
• Ethical Dilemmas occurs when an individual must choose between
two unfavorable alternatives.

• Ethical dilemma usually have no prefect solution and those making

decision may find themselves in the position of having to defend
their decisions.

• A business dilemma exists when an organizational decision maker

faces a choice between two or more options that will have various
impacts on

(i) the organization’s profitability and competitiveness;

(ii) its stakeholders.

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 You are India’s most famous cricketer. You are offered Rupees 20
crores endorsement amount to promote a product that you dislike and
will never use yourself. You are also aware it is bad for the environment.

Will you endorse it?

You are participating in the CBSE sports meet. You have just crossed your age
category one week back. However, you know that you are no match to the new age
category in which you belong. You are really passionate about your sport and
have been doing extremely well at it. A person who matters offers to hide your date of
birth to give you advantage.

What will you do?

You are backing your car into a tight parking space in the Mall. You
accidentally scrape the neighbouring car parked there. You don’t know
whose car it is, nobody saw you make this mistake, and there are no
CCTV cameras there.

What will you do?

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)
 SOURCES OF ETHICAL PROBLEMS

1. FAILURE OF PERSONAL CHARACTER

2. CONFLICT OF PERSONAL VALUES AND

3. ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS

4. ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS VERSUS SOCIAL VALUES

5. PERSONAL BELIEFS VERSUS ORGANIZATIONAL PRACTICES

6. PRODUCTION AND SALE OF HAZARDOUS BUT POPULAR PRODUCTS

7. OTHER ETHICAL CHALLENGES

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 CODE OF PERSONAL ETHICS FOR EMPLOYEES

1. Respect confidential information to which you have access.

2. Maintain high standard of professional responsibility.

3. Avoid being placed in situations involving conflict of interest.

4. Act with integrity.

5. Do not discriminate against anybody or anything on any bias.

6. Maintain professional relations based on mutual respect for individuals

and organizations.

7. Be committed to the goals of the organization.

8. Do not give up your individual professional ethics

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 RESOLVING ETHICAL DILEMMAS
• STEP 1: ANALYSE THE CONSEQUENCES

• STEP 2: ANALYSE THE ACTIONS

• STEP 3: MAKE A DECISION

STEP 2: ANALYSE THE ACTIONS
Find out how your proposed actions
STEP 1: ANALYSE THE CONSEQUENCES measure against moral principles;
1. Who are the beneficiaries of your action? honesty, fairness, equality,
2. Who are likely to be harmed by your action? respect for the dignity, rights of others,
3. What is the nature of the ‘benefits’ and ‘harms’? recognition of the vulnerability of
4. How long or how fleetingly are these benefits and people who are weak
harms likely to exist?

STEP 3: MAKE A DECISION

⚫ Having considered all factors that lead to choices among various options, analyse
them carefully and then take a rational decision.
⚫ This three-step strategy should give one at least some basic understanding to resolve
an ethical dilemma.

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 CHAPTER 3:
ENGINEERING
ETHICS AND
PROFESSIONALISM
Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)
 TABLE OF CONTENT

• Scope of Engineering Ethics

• Variety of moral issues
• Ethical dilemmas
• Kohlberg’s and Gilligan’s Theory-consensus and
controversy.

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 Scope of Engineering Ethics:

 Ethics is the study of moral principles that governs a person’s behaviour

or conducting an activity.

 ‘Engineering ethics’ is the rules and standards that govern the decisions
and actions of an engineer as a professional.

 During their engineering studies, the student receive the knowledge of

basic science and its application, problem-solving methodology and
designing, but generally receives little training in business practices, safety
and ethics.

 Engineers face situations where they have to deal with the many things
which are not known to them as a result of a design of new device or
product.

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 Why study Engineering Ethics?
 Before putting any designs into the market or implementing the new ideas,
an engineer must see all the aspects, whether it will work well, its impact
on the lives of public, its working under different conditions and safety
measures.

 An engineer can never be enough sure that the new design will not have a
detrimental change in the society or not harm anyone at all. Hence, it is
important for an engineer to be more imaginative and check all kinds of
possibilities.

 An engineer must apply critical and creative thinking here to make sure
that a new design will work safely and will not harm anyone.

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 VARIETY OF MORAL ISSUES

The reasons for people including the employer and employees,

behaving unethically may be classified into three categories:

1. RESOURCE CRUNCH

2. OPPORTUNITY

3. ATTITUDE

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 1. 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,

reduction in the budget because of sudden war or natural calamity
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.

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 2. OPPORTUNITY
• Double standards or behaviour of the employers towards the employees
and the public.

Ex:-The unethical behaviours of World Com (in USA), Enron (in USA as
well as India) executives in 2002 resulted in bankruptcy for those
companies,

• 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

• Emphasis on results and gains at the expense of the employees

• 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.

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 3. ATTITUDE
• Poor attitude of the employees set in due to
• Low morale of the employees because of dissatisfaction and
downsizing,
• Lack of promotion or career development policies or denied
promotions,
• Lack of transparency,
• Absence of recognition and reward system, and
• Poor working environments.
• Absence of grievance redressal mechanism

A grievance redress mechanism (GRM) is a set of arrangements that enable local

communities, employees, out growers, and other affected stakeholders to raise
grievances with the investor and seek redress when they perceive a negative impact
arising from the investor’s activities.

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)

 GRM PROCESS

Dr. Zalak Shah (EFE)