Welcome to the session on ethics in engineering
practice.
Today we will discuss about the introduction
to ethical reasoning and engineering ethics.
The outline of the module will be we will
discuss engineering as a profession own self
views versus public views, why ethics in engineering,
professional versus personal ethics, what
is engineering ethics?
Situations of ethical issues for engineers,
understanding the distinction between ethics
morals and laws.
Opinions versus judgments can we base our
ethics and opinions and judgments, and overview
of ethical theories.
Which theory should we use?
And the classic case on engineering ethics,
the Aberdeen 3.
So, this will be the whole coverage of the
model which we will discuss through the lectures
that are going to follow.
So, first we are going to discuss about the
engineering as a profession.
What we find like the Herbert Hoover way back
in he gave importance of the engineering profession,
where he told the great liability of the engineers
compared to men of other professions is that
his works are out in the open where all can
see them.
His acts step by step are in a hard substance.
He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like
the doctors, he cannot argue into thin air
or blame the judge like the lawyers.
He cannot like the politicians, screen his
shortcomings by blaming his opponents and
hope that the people will forget.
The engineer simply cannot deny that he did
it if his words do not work he is damned forever.
So, to look into this important quotation
without undermining the other professions
and their importance also, what we can see
because engineering profession is something
where the outcomes are important for the it
is a tangible product where everybody can
see and use, and then have the it affects
the life of people.
Then it is very important to tone up the responsibility
of the outcomes faced by the users of the
product, and we cannot deny like we have not
done it.
So, that is the important quote from there
which talks of that the as you see from this
quote like the engineer simply cannot say
deny that he did it.
With this we will move forward to the discussion
of engineering as a profession.
So, there could be 2 viewpoints.
One is how engineers view themselves, and
the others is how the public at large view
this them.
So, now we will see how engineers view themselves
or problems they view themselves as problem
solvers.
Engineering is enjoyable, engineering benefits
people provides a public service.
Engineering provides the most freedom of all
professions, and engineering is an honorable
profession.
How the public views engineering?
We can see the engineers role is at utilitarians
where there is a cost benefit analysis of
whatever they are doing, engineers as positivist
they have to have a positive orientation towards
life, towards the safety and health or issues
of the public at large.
They cannot say like solution is not possible,
they need to have they should believe like
every problem it must be having a solution,
because they are taken to be as problem solvers.
Third what we see over here like they are
taken to be like applied physical scientists,
because they need to work on the design and
find out like how it is working.
They have a socialist approach engineers and
drivers for converting technology to their
benefit.
And they have to take a rational, logical
and systematic approaches to problem solving;
which tend to alienate engineer from the public
because of the technicalities.
So, sometimes what happens the general public
at large may not understand the in depth technical
issues involved in it.
But it is a great responsibility and challenge
for the engineers to translate that technology
into something which is usable and which is
in the benefit for the public at large.
So, these are 2 viewpoints which the engineers
have about themselves and what the public
at large have about the engineers.
Next we are going to discuss like why we discussed
about ethics in engineering.
So, what we see over here the national society
of professional engineers is most widely recognized
governing body of engineers, which decides
the overall standards and code of ethics for
all engineering professions in US, and serves
as a reference point for other bodies in the
world.
So, we will discuss the NSPE code of conduct
for engineers which states.
Engineers shall at all times recognize that
the primary obligation is to protect the safety,
health, property and welfare of the public;
safety, health, property and welfare of the
public.
If the professional judgment is overruled
under circumstances, where the safety health
and property or welfare of the public are
endangered, they shall notify their employer
or client and such other authority as may
be appropriate.
So, this is an important; like, code of conduct
where they have always because it is a very
noble profession, and it is an important profession
they have to go by their professional judgment,
and where do you see like if they feel like
their professional judgment about the safety
health and welfare and prosperity of the and
public to take care of them these issues are
overruled.
Then they must immediately go for reporting
it to their like appropriate bodies who can
hear to these concerns and take remedial measures
for it, which is giving a hint towards the
right for engineers for whistle blowing if
necessary, which we will discuss in the subsequent
lectures in the module upcoming modules.
Next, what we are going to discuss?
Like, engineering it is a blend of technology
social science and business.
So, engineering is done by the people and
it is done for the people.
Engineers decisions have a major impact on
all the 3 areas in the confluence.
Like, how they use the technology what up
gradation do they make in the technology,
and how it is affecting the society at large,
is it taking into concern is it delivering
certain products and services?
Where there is a demand from the society which
to fulfill certain of the needs of the society,
and how they are like, how it is affecting
the business of the organization also like
in which maybe they are employed.
So, engineers’ decisions have an impact
in all 3 areas in the confluence.
The public nature of the engineers work ensure
that ethics will always play a role, because
there are different stakeholders involved
and when the society at large is involved,
then what happens this ethical issues in the
decision making processes are very important,
because the ultimate beneficiaries of their
outputs are the general public at large.
Thus it becomes important for engineers to
make sure that the interest of the groups
to be affected prevails over their own interest
of profit.
This is very important like when we discuss
in the next chapters next modules we will
be discussing about conflicts of interest
that may happen in the engineering as a profession,
and how to take remedial measures of it.
So, we have to keep into concern, you have
to give primary responsibility towards the
safety, health, property and welfare of the
public and it is a part of the responsibility
of the engineers to protect these things.
And if these comes in and this is the responsibility
to protect these 4 pillars for the public
is over and above thinking of owns personal
profit.
And if in any case some conflict of interest
happens then how to solve it also we will
discuss in the upcoming modules.
So, here we are going to discuss again what
is personal and professional ethics because
engineering is a profession, and we are discussing
about ethical ethics with respect to it and
there is personal ethics also.
So, it is important to distinguish between
a personal ethics and professional ethics
or business ethics, although there isn’t
always a clear boundary between the 2 because
at the end of the day it is the person who
is making the decision.
And it is the virtue the value of the person
his or her worldview judgment which makes
him or her to take a decision about the any
business problem also.
So, personal ethics deals with how we treat
others in our day to day lives, many of these
principles are applicable to ethical situations
that occur in business and engineering also.
However, professional ethics often involves
choices of an organizational level, rather
than at a personal level many of the problems
will seem different because they involve a
relationship between 2 corporations, between
a corporation and the government and between
corporation and groups of individuals.
So, it is a blend of like personal like there
are so many stakeholders involved, and because
this professional ethics this interest of
the corporation then the interest of the public
at large.
Interest of the government and the interest
of the corporation, the interest of the corporation
and the groups of individuals and may be one’s
own self-interest, all these are like intertwined
with each other maybe sometimes there will
be conflicts of interest also.
And it is deals personal ethics own value
system virtue which will help us to find an
answer towards how to solve this professional
ethics issues dilemmas and to arrive at the
solution which is a balanced solution.
So, what is engineering ethics?
According to Martin et al., engineering ethics
relates to the study of the moral issues and
decisions confronting individuals and organizations
involved in engineering.
The study of related questions about moral
conduct, character policies and relationships
of people and corporations involved in technological
activity.
So, it is the there are 2 points.
The study of moral issues and decisions confronting
individuals and organizations.
So, here may be you it is a blend of again
a personal ethics and professional ethics,
the study of related questions about moral
conduct, character policies.
So, how to behave in a particular situation
if there are any guiding principles given
by the organization or the professional body,
which will guide the engineers to behave in
a certain way in a given situation, all these
things are important when we are studying
like what is engineering ethics.
It is a study of related questions about the
moral conduct, characters policies and relationships
of people and corporations involved in technological
activity.
So, again the professional ethics were maybe
cooperation and government to corporations
at the public at large, cooperation in the
groups of individuals cooperation and the
individual, always there is an intersection
of 2 parties and there may be mutual interests
are involved.
And how to respond to this may be sometimes
conflicting interest of each others, and dilemma
involved out of this to which there may be
no yes and no type of answer there is a certain
gray area which is the moving backward and
forward you need to decide should I go this
way if I go this way maybe I am not answering
the demands of the party b.
If I go take a decision which is concerning
party b, maybe I am not looking into the interest
of the party a, then how do I decide.
So, based on and these are to be in the framework
of the technological activities.
So, that concerns about engineering ethics.
So, we were discussing mainly about the situations
of ethical issues.
So, here we will just focus on some of those
situations.
So, engineering ethics is concerned with the
question of what the standards in engineering
ethics should be, and how to apply these standards
to particular situations.
Now, what could be the situations in where
this dilemma may arise are; conceptualization,
design, testing, manufacturing, cells, surveys.
Then supervision and project teams, project
timelines and budgets, expectations, opinions
and judgments of the team members in terms
of products, whether it is unsafe for less
than useful.
Designed for whether it is designed for obsolescence,
inferior materials or components, unforeseen
harmful effects to the society or not are
some of the areas situations where ethical
issues may arise because there will be conflict
of interest of various parties involved in
this whole process.
Other fields which are also ethics are important
and critical are of course, medical ethics,
legal ethics, business ethics scientific ethics.
And along with that what we see in for engineering
ethics at every step from the procurement
of the material to the final delivery and
after cells may be at every step ethics becomes
very, very important.
Because ultimate beneficiary is the society
at large and it is the safety and welfare
health conditions of the and the property
of the public at large which are the major
to protect these things at the major responsibilities
of the engineers.
So, like what are the possible engineering
tasks and their possible problems are like
conceptual design.
In that stage if people are blind to new concepts
violation of patents or trademarks secrets
products to be used is illegal.
Goals performance specifications unrealistic
assumptions design depends on unavailable
or untested materials, preliminary analysis
stage uneven overly detailed or design in
designer’s area of expertise marginal elsewhere.
Detailed analysis, uncritical use of handbook
data and computer programs, based on unidentified
methodologies, simulation prototyping testing
of prototype done only under most favorable
conditions are not completed.
Design specifications, too tight for adjustments
during manufacture and use design changes
not carefully checked.
Scheduling of tasks promise of unrealistic
completion date based on insufficient allowance
for unexpected events.
Purchasing, specifications written to favor
one vendor bribes kickbacks inadequate testing
or purchased parts, fabrication of parts,
variable quality of materials and workmanship,
bogus materials and components not detected.
Assembly constructions, workplace safety,
disregard of repetitive motion stress on workers,
poor control of toxic wastes, quality control
testing not independent, but controlled by
productions manager.
Hence, tests rushed or results falsified advertising
and sells, false advertising, availability
quality, product over sold beyond client’s
needs or means, shipping installation training
product too large to ship by land installations
and training subcontracted out in a inadequately
supervised.
Safety measures and devices reliance and overly
complex failure prone safety devices lack
of a simple safety exit use used inappropriately
or for illegal applications overloaded operations
manuals not ready.
Maintenance parts repairs, inadequate supply
of spares parts, hesitation to recall the
product men found to be faulty.
So, what we find these are the engineering
tasks and if you see this is a whole list
of task from the start of conceptual design
then goals, and then preliminary analysis,
detailed analysis, simulations and prototyping
design specifications, scheduling of task
purchasing fabrication of parts, assembly
constructions, quality control or testing,
advertising, shipping, safety measures and
devices use, maintenance of parts and repairs
at each and every stages of the task engineering
task involved.
There could be ethical issues and dilemmas
coming up, because n number of parties are
involved in it and as an engineer based on
the professional judgment that the professional
conscience the engineer has to take a decision;
which is in the best interest for the safety
and security of the public at large.
Because, why this is why we are repeating
about it to understand, because engineers
ethical decision has a far reaching impact
on the products and services in terms of safety
and utility.
The company and it is stockholders, the public
and the society, they benefits to the people,
environment the earth and beyond the profession
how the public views it the law how legislation
affects the profession and industry personal
position like the job and the internal moral
conflict of the person.
So, and of course, the mistakes made by the
engineers can be costly.
So, what we will focus over here is a case
which talks of the lethal treatment, the Therac
25 X ray machine.
The Therac 25 a radiation therapy machine
killed or injured patients at several north
American health care facilities between June
1985 and January 87.
When the technician operating the Therac 25
made a typographical error in entering instructions
and tried to correct this mistake by using
the delete key.
The filter on the machine dropped out of position.
The result was that the patient undergoing
radiation treatment received a massive dose
of X ray.
Several patients were injured or killed as
a result, before it was realized that the
machine was dangerously defective.
The Therac 25 had been poorly designed and
inadequately tested.
The story is a complicated one that highlights
many subtle as well as gross mistakes in particular
the design and testing of the linking of the
hardware and software.
In particular, the design and testing of the
linking of the hardware and the software were
totally inadequate.
Competitive machines had a shield that would
engage with the power were at high level.
Furthermore, management decisions in the face
of evidence of safety problems varied from
short sighted to negligent.
The manufacturer atomic energy of Canada limited
had many problems and has since gone bankrupt.
So, this is a beautiful case, where we see
n number of parties are involved so, first
we are talking of the tech and here is a major
question is who is responsible if you are
going to answer these question.
Actually what we see like and who is guilty
or who cannot be whole held responsible for
these type of injuries to the patient.
So, what we see is the technician who is operating
this may have made in a particular error.
So, we are not telling like this person is
not responsible, but who if you are talking
of who is majorly responsible, and if you
want to go and track back the major responsibility,
what we find is that it was the design of
the machine itself.
Whether it has been tested properly, whether
it has been designed properly, and whether
the long term consequences of the proper use
or misuse of the this machine was thought
of; and proactive measures were taken to arrest
for these type of accidents and harms were
taken or not becomes a point of focus in this
type of case.
Whether it was a short sightedness of the
company to not to think of the possible harms
that could be there from the maybe misuse
or accidental use of this product, and how
the design itself at the design stage can
arrest for these type of happenings so that
accidents can be prevented at large.
Whether these were thought of or it was a
very short sighted design, negligence on the
part of the manufacturer, these needs to be
taken care of when we are discussing these
type of cases.
So, we have been discussing these 3 terms,
ethics, morals and law because these comes
hand in hand.
And here we need to focus on the differences
between these 3 terms, or the intersection
of these 3 terms when we talk of morals we
talk of principles of right and wrong.
When you talk of ethics it is a set of moral
principles guiding behavior in action, and
when we talk of law it is a binding codes
of conduct formally recognized and enforced
company policies.
So, if you see this picture what we find this
is a legal framework, this is an ethical framework
and this is an illegal framework.
Like, if you see these part is unethical,
but legal law may support it, but your conscience
may not support it.
Because there comes the question of whether
it is right and wrong from the perspective
of the stakeholders involved.
This is may be ethical, but may not be legal
in the sense, it has not yet been transformed
into law, but this is ethical and the domain
whole outside is unethical.
So, we will continue this discussion with
again another thing which is open, because
we will we have been repeating these words
about what is judgment.
So, we will see what is opinion and what is
judgment.
So, an opinion that is supported by reasons
is a reasoned judgment.
An opinion that is given by someone with special
training or experience to judge such matters,
it is an expert or perhaps professional opinion;
which is neither supported by reason nor offered
by a qualified judge is a mere opinion.
So, where we are talking of professional judgment
of the engineers.
We are talking of this, like, we it is the
judgment it is a reasoned solution, reasoned
opinion that is given by a person who is having
some special training in depth knowledge capability
and experience to judge such matters.
And engineering as a profession teaches you
prepares you to give this judgment.
And when you are talking of the ethical issues,
these judgment gets a widened like platform
of thinking the judgment that you are giving
whether it is right or wrong, with respect
to the different stakeholders that are involved
in the decision.
And the primary stakeholder that we are responsible
to is to the public at large and whether the
things that professional judgment, and that
we are giving and with situations which are
there at hand, and it has to be in the best
interest of the safety, security, health prosperity
and welfare of the public at large.
So, we will continue with our discussion with
the ethical theories that are a matter of
concern.
Because when you are talking about the professional
judgment on how to take a ethical decision
based on the professional judgment about certain
situations which are present at each of the
task level that we have already seen starting
from conceptualization of the design to it
is preliminary and then testing and then final
testing and then delivery and then maybe use
and repair at all these start stages different
situations could be involved where conflict
of interest ethical dilemma would be there.
Then what are the guiding principles?
Are there any guiding principles which will
help us to take a proper ethical decision,
which show our view how to take a proper ethical
decision?
These are called the ethical theories which
are involved, that are used in making ethical
decisions which we are going to focus on in
our next lecture.
Thank you.
