Unit I-Human Values: GE8076-Professional Ethics in Engineering Department of EEE /EIE/ICE/CSE/IT 2020-2021
Unit I-Human Values: GE8076-Professional Ethics in Engineering Department of EEE /EIE/ICE/CSE/IT 2020-2021
Unit I-Human Values: GE8076-Professional Ethics in Engineering Department of EEE /EIE/ICE/CSE/IT 2020-2021
1. Connection to curriculum: Integrating the learning into a service project is a key to successful
service learning. Academic ties should be clear and built upon existing disciplinary skills.
2. Learner’s voice: Beyond being actively engaged in the project, trainees have the opportunity to
select, design, implement, and evaluate their service activity.
3. Reflection: Structured opportunities are created to think, talk, and write about the service
experience. The balance of reflection and action allows the trainee to be constantly aware of the
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impact of their work.
4. Partners in the community: Partnership with community agencies are used to identify genuine
needs, provide mentorship, and contribute input such as labor and expertise towards completing the
project.
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.
In the present day context, caring for the environment (including the fauna and flora) has become a
necessity for our very survival. If we do not care for the environment, the environment will scare us.
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 it should not be shared with outsiders.
Through this process of sharing, experience, expertise, wisdom and other benefits reach more people
faster. Sharing is voluntary and it can not 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 ‘crimesand 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. In the industrial arena, code-sharing in
airlines for bookings on air travels and the common Effluent Treatment Plant constructed for small-
scale industries in the industrial estates, are some of the examples of sharing. The co-operative
societies for producers as well as consumers are typical examples of sharing of the goods, profit and
other social benefits. Here is an anecdote that illustrates the benefits of sharing, for the young minds!
The shouting...the screaming…the fighting. That was the breaking point for me as I poured out my
woes to my mother. “How can I get them to share as well as we did as kids?”, I pleaded. Laughter
was her reply. “Well, thanks a lot, mom,” I said. “I’m sorry,” she chuckled, “but you didn’t always
share.” She went on to explain about the “Box of Misbehaved Toys.” Every time we fought over a
toy, she would quietly take that and put it into the box. Yes, I did remember that box. I also remember
it wasn’t always fair since one person may have caused all the commotion. But my mother was
consistent. No matter what the reason for the struggle was, the toy disappeared into the box for one
week. No questions asked, and no chance of parole. My siblings and I soon learned that sharing a toy
was better than losing it. Often, one person would decide to just wait for a time when no one else was
playing with the toy, rather than fight and lose it. It was not a perfect system, but I tried it anyway
That box was a shock to my kids and it was close to full, within a few days…..As the weeks
progressed, I noticed the box was emptier and the arguing was less. Today, I heard quiet music to my
ears as my son said to his sister, “That’s OK, you can play with it.” This story illustrates the worthy
joy of sharing as compared to the pain of losing.
LIVING PEACEFULLY
To live peacefully, one should start install peace within (self). Charity begins at home. Then one can
spread peace to family, organisation where one works, and then to the world, including the
environment. Only who are at peace can spread peace. You can not gift an article which you do not
possess. The essence of oriental philosophy is that one should not fight for peace. It is oxymoron.
War or peace can be won only by peace, and not by wars ! One should adopt the following means to
live peacefully, in the world:
Nurture
1. Order in one’s life (self-regulation, discipline, and duty).
2. Pure thoughts in one’s soul (loving others, blessing others, friendly, and not criticizing or
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hurting others by thought, word or deed).
3. Creativity in one’s head (useful and constructive).
4. Beauty in one’s heart (love, service, happiness, and peace).
Get
5. Good health/body (physical strength for service).
Act
6. Help the needy with head, heart, and hands (charity). Service to the poor is considered holier
than the service to God.
7. Not hurting and torturing others either physically, verbally, or mentally.
The following are the factors that promote living, with internal and external peace:
1. Conducive environment (safe, ventilated, illuminated and comfortable).
2. Secured job and motivated with ‘recognition and reward’.
3. Absence of threat or tension by pressure due to limitations of money or time.
4. Absence of unnecessary interference or disturbance, except as guidelines.
5. Healthy labor relations and family situations.
6. Service to the needy (physically and mentally-challenged) with love and sympathy.
6. Explain commitment and
empathy. 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
sustainedinterest 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 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. To practice ‘Empathy’, a leader must have or
develop in him, the following characteristics
1. Understanding others: It means sensing others feelings and perspectives, and taking active
interest in their welfare.
2. Service orientation: It is anticipation, recognition and meeting the needs of the clients or
customers.
3. Developing others: This means identification of their needs and bolstering their abilities. In
developing others, the one should inculcate in him the ‘listening skill’ first. Communication = 22%
reading and writing + 23% speaking + 55% listening One should get the feed back, acknowledge the
strength and accomplishments, and then coach the individual, by informing about what was wrong,
and giving correct feedback and positive expectation of the subject’s abilities and the resulting
performance.
4. Leveraging diversity (opportunities through diverse people): This leads to enhanced
organizational learning, flexibility, and profitability.
5. Political awareness: It is the ability to read political and social currents in an organization. The
benefits of empathy include:
1. Good customer relations (in sales and service, in partnering).
2. Harmonious labor relations (in manufacturing).
3. Good vendor-producer relationship (in partnering.) Through the above three, we can maximize
the output and profit, as well as minimizing the loss. While dealing with customer complaints,
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empathy is very effective in realising the unbiased views of others and in admitting one’s own
limitations and failures. According to Peter Drucker, purpose of the business is not to make a sale,
but to make and keep a customer. Empathy assists one in developing
Courage leading to success!
7. Explain character and spirituality and their importance in ethics. [April/May 2018]
Spirituality is a way of living that emphasizes the constant awareness and recognition of the spiritual
dimension (mind and its development) of nature and people, with a dynamic balance between the
material development and the spiritual development. This is said to be the great virtue of Indian
philosophy and for Indians. Sometimes, spirituality includes the faith or belief in supernatural power/
God, regarding the worldly events. It functions as a fertilizer for the soil ‘character’ to blossom into
values and morals.
Spirituality includes creativity, communication, recognition of the individual as human being (as
opposed to a life-less machine), respect to others, acceptance (stop finding faults with colleagues and
accept them the way they are), vision (looking beyond the obvious and not believing anyone blindly)
and partnership (not being too authoritative, and always sharing responsibility with others, for better
returns).
Spirituality is motivation as it encourages the colleagues to perform better. Remember, lack of
motivation leads to isolation. Spirituality is also energy: Be energetic and flexible to adapt to
challenging and changing situations. Spirituality is flexibility as well. One should not be too
dominating. Make space for everyone and learn to recognize and accept people the way they are.
Variety is the order of the day. But one can influence their mind to think and act together. Spirituality
is also fun. Working is okay, but you also need to have fun in office to keep yourself charged up.
Tolerance and empathy are the reflections of spirituality. Blue and saffron colors are said to be
associated with spirituality. Creativity in spirituality means conscious efforts to see things differently,
to break out of habits and outdated beliefs to find new ways of thinking, doing and being.
Suppression of creativity leads to violence. People are naturally creative. When they are forced to
crush their creativity, its energy turns to destructive release and actions. Creativity includes the use of
color, humor and freedom to enhance productivity. Creativity is fun. When people enjoy what they
do, it is involvement. They work much harder.
Spirituality in the Workplace
Building spirituality in the workplace: Spirituality is promoted in the workplace by adhering to the
following activities:
1. Verbally respect the individuals as humans and recognize their values in all decisions and
actions.
2. Get to know the people with whom you work and know what is important to them. Know their
goals, desires, and dreams too.
3. State your personal ethics and your beliefs clearly.
4. Support causes outside the business.
5. Encourage leaders to use value-based discretion in making decisions.
6. Demonstrate your own self-knowledge and spirituality in all your actions.
7. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
8. Write brief notes on Yoga and meditation for professional excellence and stress management.
[Nov 2015][Nov 2016][May2017 ]
Medical research for decades that yoga and meditation, two practices related to mindfulness, are
considered a means of activating the body’s natural mechanisms for managing stress. Researchers at
Johns Hopkins University surveyed over 19,000 studies on meditation and used stringent criteria to
identify 47 of the most rigorously controlled studies on which to perform a meta-analysis of the
clinical benefits of meditation. The analysis revealed that these programs lowered stress, anxiety, and
depression and that “clinicians should be prepared to talk with their patients about the role that a
meditation program could have in addressing psychological stress”
Role of meditation in managing stress
The effectiveness of mindfulness programs that use meditation in managing stress can be explained
by physiological changes that take place in both the brain and the body.In a recent TED Talk,
Harvard-based neuroscientist Dr. Sara Lazar explains that “meditation can literally change your
brain” by increasing the size of the hippocampus, which is associated with learning and memory, and
the temporal-parietal junction, which is associated with empathy and compassion. Dr. Kelly Brogan,
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holistic women’s health physician, describes those changes as decreased heart rate, blood pressure,
rate of breathing, and muscle tension, and she adds that this “relaxation response” can combat
stress, a part of “what is actually driving chronic diseases such as auto-immune,cardiovascular, and
psychiatric pathology”
Role of yoga in managing stress
Yoga, another practice in mindfulness, is also supported by medical research as a means of helping
sufferers manage their stress. Yoga has been shown to have a regulatory effect on two key
neurobiological systems: the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathetic nervous
system (SNS). With repeated exposure to stressors over time, these systems are bombarded by
catecholamines like epinephrine and norepinephrine (stress hormones), which can result in their
becoming “hyper vigilant” and “dysregulated.” The dysfunction of these systems is thought to
dispose one to diseases such as “obesity, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, depression, substance
abuse,and cardiovascular disease” (Ross & Thomas, 2010). Dr. Bessel Van der Kolk, professor of
psychiatry at Boston Medical School and one of the world’s leading authorities on posttraumatic
stress disorder(PTSD), has recognized this “down-regulation” benefit of yoga and applied it to his
practice with PTSD patients. Van der Kolk eloquently describes the physiological basis of stress and
how yoga practice can help alleviate that stress:
“Traumatized people often are terrified of the sensations in their own bodies which makes it hard to
take pleasure in the present because the body keeps replaying the past.[Yoga] is a way for people to
regulate the core arousal system in the brain and feel safe inside their bodies”
In addition to promoting health and managing stress, research has demonstrated that mindfulness
activities can also improve attention and cognition. Dr. Judson Brewer at the Yale School of
Medicine, for example, explains that experienced mediators show deactivation of the default mode
network (DMN), a region involved in “daydreaming and mind-wandering.” His research also shows
that meditators show functional changes in different areas of the cingulate and prefrontal cortices,
both of which are crucial regions for cognitive control. According to Brewer, “meditation may
transform the normal, resting function of the brain into one that more closely resembles a meditative
state from that of mind-wandering to one of being centered in the present.” Brewer even goes on to
weigh in on the clinical significance of these findings vis-à-vis improved stress management:
“[Meditation] could certainly be used to help people work through frustration and anxiety so that they
don’t move into a clinical depression or clinical anxiety disorder, or start using drugs. But at the same
time, it can be used when people already have these disorders.”
9. (i)What is courage? What are salient features of courage? [Nov 2015]
Courage
Courage is the tendency to accept and face risks and difficult tasks in rational ways. Selfconfidence
is the basic requirement to nurture courage.
Classifications of courage
Courage is classified into three types, based on the types of risks, namely
(a) Physical courage,
(b) Social courage, and
(c) Intellectual courage.
Physical 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’.Social courage- The social courage
involves the decisions and actions to change the order, based on the conviction for oragainst certain
social behaviors. This requires leadership abilities, including empathy and sacrifice, to mobilize and
motivate the followers, for the social cause.
Intellectual courage- 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.Look before you leap. One should perform Strengths,
Weakness, Opportunities, and Threat(SWOT) analysis. Calculate (estimate) the risks, compare with
one’s strengths, and anticipate the end results, while taking decisions and before getting into action.
Learning from the past helps. Past experience (one’s own or borrowed!) and wisdom gained from
self-study or others will prepare one to plan and act with self-confidence, succeed in achieving the
desired ethical goals through ethical means. Opportunities and threat existing and likely to exist in
future are also to be studied and measures to be planned.This anticipatory management will help
anyone to face the future with courage.Facing the criticism, owning responsibility, and accepting the
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mistakes or errors when committed and exposed are the expressions of courage. In fact, this sets their
mind to be vigilant against the past mistakes, and creative in finding the alternate means to achieve
the desired objectives. Prof. SathishDhawan, Chief of ISRO, was reported to have exhibited his
courage and owned responsibility, when the previous space mission failed, but credited Prof. A.P.J.
Abdul Kalam (now our revered President), when the subsequent mission succeeded.
Characteristics of Courageous people
The courageous people own and have shown the following characteristics, in their professions:
(a) Perseverance (sustained hard work),
(b) Experimentation (preparedness to face the challenges, that is, unexpected or unintended results),
(c) Involvement (attitude, clear and firm resolve to act), and (d) Commitment (willing to get into
action and to reach the desired goals by any alternative but ethical means).
(i) Write short notes on honesty
Honesty
Honesty is a virtue, and it is exhibited in two aspects namely,
(a) Truthfulness and
(b) 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:
(a) Beliefs (intellectual honesty).
(b) Communication (writing and speech).
(c) Decisions (ideas, discretion).
(d) Actions (means, timing, place, and the goals). and
(e) Intended and unintended results achieved.
As against this, some of the actions of an engineer that leads to dishonesty are:
1. Lying: Honesty implies avoidance of lying. An engineer may communicate wrong or distorted test
results intentionally or otherwise. It is giving wrong information to the right people.
2. Deliberate deception: An engineer may judge or decide on matters one is not familiar or with
insufficient data or proof, to impress upon the customers or employers. This is a self deceit.
3. Withholding the information: It means hiding the facts during communication to one’s superior or
subordinate, intentionally or otherwise.
4. Not seeking the truth: Some engineers accept the information or data, without applying their mind
and seeking the truth.
5. Not maintaining confidentiality: It is giving right information to wrong people. The engineers
should keep information of their customers/clients or of their employers confidential and should not
discuss them with others.
6. Giving professional judgment under the influence of extraneous factors such as personal benefits
and prejudice. The laws, experience, social welfare, and even conscience are given a go-bye by such
actions. Certainly this is a higher-order crime.
10. Explain civic virtue and respect for others and also explain importance of cooperation.
Civic virtue
Civic virtue is the moral underpinning of how a citizen behaves and is involved in society. It is a
standard of righteous behavior in relation to a citizens’ involvement in society. A individual may
exhibit civic virtue by voting, volunteering and organizing other community activities. Without an
understanding of civic virtue, citizens are less likely to look beyond their families, friends and
economic interests. They are less likely to help others in the community, to volunteer their time, to
give to nonprofit organizations or to participate in group activity that benefits society. Related ideas
for civic virtue are citizenship,philanthropy, public good, voluntarism and social capital.
Valuing Time:
A first step in good time management is to understand the value of your time. If you are employed by
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someone else, you need to understand how much your employer is paying for your time, and how
much profit he or she expects to make from you. If you are working for yourself, you should have an
idea of how much income you want to bring in after tax. By working these figures back to an hourly
rate, this gives you an idea of the value of your time.
By knowing the value of your time, you should be able to tell what tasks are worthwhile to perform,
and which tasks give a poor return. This helps you cut away the low value jobs, or argue for help with
them.
11. Explain the scope and importance of professional ethics in Engineering.[May 2017]
The scope of ethics indicates its subject matter. Ethics as normative science deals with moral ideal or
the good in order to enquire the nature of our conduct. It enquires into the nature of the springs of
actions, motives, intentions, voluntary actions and so on. It determines rightness or wrongness of
human actions. It does not enquire into the origin and growth of human conduct. As a science of
morality ethics discusses the contents of moral consciousness and the various problems of moral
consciousness.Ethics is concerned with the highest good or absolute good. It investigates the nature
of its fundamental notions i.e. right, duty and good.Moral judgments passed on our voluntary actions
are also included within the scope of ethics. In discussing the moral judgment it has also to concern
with the nature, object, faculty and standard of moral judgment. Moral sentiments and feelings are
arising in our mind when we contemplate about the moral judgment and therefore, ethics has to
discuss the nature of moral sentiments to moral judgment.The scope of ethics includes whatever has
reference to free human acts, whether as principle or cause of action (law, conscience, virtue), or as
effect or circumstance of action (merit, punishment, etc.) Ethics discusses the nature of human
freedom. Ethics investigates what constitutes good or bad, just or unjust. It also inquires into-what is
virtue, law, conscience and duty? What obligations are common to all? What is the good in all good
acts? These questions lie within the scope of ethics. The sense of duty, oughtness or moral obligation
and the responsibility for actions are also included within the range of ethics.
The particular aspect under which ethics considers free acts is that of their moral goodness or the
rectitude of order involved in them as human acts. A man may be a good artist or orator and at the
same time a morally bad man, or, conversely, a morally good man may be a poor artist or technician.
Ethics has merely to do with the order which relates to man as man and which makes of him a good
man. Thus we find that although Ethics is not a guidebook of moral rules as a branch of philosophy
Ethics seeks clarification of terms used in moral language. The ‘meta-ethical” problems fall within
the scope of philosophical aspect of Ethics. There are other ‘meta ethical discussions related to the
nature of moral judgments, the logical basis of ethical evaluation etc.The applied dimension of Ethics
is known as “Applied Ethics’ that falls within the broad field of Ethics. These comprise the areas of
situational Ethics while Meta Ethics deals with logical and semantic questions like ‘What do we
mean by “freedom” and “determinism” etc. Ethics is essentially related to all other branches of
knowledge like sociology, political science, jurisprudence, law and legal study, psychology,
anthropology, culture study, ecology and environmental study, economics, religion, aesthetics and
other similar areas. Ethics is concerned with political, sociological, cultural, psychical, economic,
environmental, religious problems in pursuit of highest good. So these problems have an additional
place in the scope of ethics. With the emergence of new technology there is scope for widening the
scope of ethics to address new issues.
12.What is Spirituality? What are the spiritual traits to be developed for excellence in an organization?
Discuss with Suitable examples [May 2018] (or) Explain the different ways to improve the sprictuality in
corporate environment? [Nov 2019]
Spirituality is a way of living that emphasizes the constant awareness and recognition of the
spiritual dimension (mind and its development) of nature and people, with a dynamic balance between
the material development and the spiritual development. This is said to be the great virtue of Indian
philosophy and for Indians. Sometimes, spirituality includes the faith or belief in supernatural power/
God, regarding the worldly events. It functions as a fertilizer for the soil ‘character’ to blossom into
values and morals.
Spirituality includes creativity, communication, recognition of the individual as human being
(as opposed to a life-less machine), respect to others, acceptance (stop finding faults with colleagues
and accept them the way they are), vision (looking beyond the obvious and not believing anyone
blindly) and partnership (not being too authoritative, and always sharing responsibility with others, for
better returns).
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Spirituality is motivation as it encourages the colleagues to perform better. Remember, lack of
motivation leads to isolation. Spirituality is also energy: Be energetic and flexible to adapt to
challenging and changing situations. Spirituality is flexibility as well. One should not be too
dominating. Make space for everyone and learn to recognize and accept people the way they are.
Variety is the order of the day. But one can influence their mind to think and act together. Spirituality
is also fun. Working is okay, but you also need to have fun in office to keep yourself charged up.
Tolerance and empathy are the reflections of spirituality. Blue and saffron colors are said to be
associated with spirituality. Creativity in spirituality means conscious efforts to see things differently,
to break out of habits and outdated beliefs to find new ways of thinking, doing and being. Suppression
of creativity leads to violence. People are naturally creative. When they are forced to crush their
creativity, its energy turns to destructive release and actions. Creativity includes the use of color,
humor and freedom to enhance productivity. Creativity is fun. When people enjoy what they do, it is
involvement. They work much harder.
Spirituality in the Workplace
Building spirituality in the workplace: Spirituality is promoted in the workplace by adhering to
the following activities:
1. Verbally respect the individuals as humans and recognize their values in all decisions and
actions.
2. Get to know the people with whom you work and know what is important to them. Know their
goals, desires, and dreams too.
3. State your personal ethics and your beliefs clearly.
4. Support causes outside the business.
5. Encourage leaders to use value-based discretion in making decisions.
6. Demonstrate your own self-knowledge and spirituality in all your actions.
7. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
PART B
1. (i). Explain the scope of Engineering Ethics. Highlight the importance of Ethics.
Ethics. Scope:
Engineering is transforming science into useful products for human comfort.Engineering is
something that engineers do, and what they do has profound effects on others. Ethics in engineering
then is the ability as well as responsibility of an engineer to judge his decisions from the context of
the general wellbeing of the society. It is the study of moral issues that confront engineers and
engineering organizations when some crucial decisions are taken. Engineering research and practice
requires that the task being performed considers all the pros and cons of a certain action and its
implementation. Professional engineering bodies like IEEE, ASME, IEI etc., have evolved
omprehensive ethics codes relevant to their respective professions, based on the rich experience of
their members. Independent organizations like NSPE have prepared value based ethical codes
applicable to all engineering professions. Teaching engineering ethics in academic institutions is
undertaken largely through many case studies for creating awareness interactively among engineering
students of all disciplines. By studying engineering ethics, the students develop awareness and
assessment skill of the likely impact of their future decisions on moral and ethical grounds. Ethical
standards in engineering are influenced by many factors: 1.Engineering as an experimentation for the
good of mankind is a notable factor involving far reaching consequence, 2. Ethical dilemmas make
engineering decisions relatively difficult to make. 3. Risk and safety of citizens as a social
responsibility is a prime concern of an engineer, 4. Technological
advancement can be very demanding on the engineering skill in the global context, 5. Moral values
and responsible conduct will play a crucial role in decision making.
The study of engineering ethics within an engineering program helps students prepare for their
professional lives. A specific advantage for engineering students who learn about ethics is that they
develop clarity in their understanding and thought about ethical issues and the practice in which they
arise. The study of ethics helps students to develop widely applicable skills in communication,
reasoning and reflection. These skills enhance students' abilities and help them engage with other
aspects of the engineering program such as group work and work placements. Professional ethics
Profession is a commitment to a designated and organized occupation by virtue of being an authority
over a body of knowledge with requisite skills acquired through specialized training. An occupation
becomes a profession when a group of people sharing the same occupation work together in a
morally acceptable way with members setting and following a certain ethics code. A professional is a
practitioner belonging to a specific profession. Professional ethics, as opposed to personal values and
morality, is a set of ethical standards and values a practicing engineer is required to follow. It sets the
standards for professional practice, and is only learned in a professional school or while practicing
ones own profession. Today, it is an essential part of professional education because it helps students
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deal with issues they will face. The scope of engineering ethics envelopes diverse activities like
1. Engineering as a social experimentation
2. Engineers responsibility for safety
3. Role of engineers, managers, consultants etc.
4. Rights of engineers
5. Moral reasoning and ethical theories
6. Responsibility to employers
7. Global issues and concerns
The best way to teach engineering ethics is by using case studies—not just the disaster cases that
make the news, but the kinds of cases that an engineer is more likely to encounter. Many real time
cases are available or some hypothetical cases can be constructed and there are methods for analyzing
them. Engineering ethics can be taught in a free-standing course, but there are strong arguments for
introducing ethics in technical courses as well. If the subject of professional ethics is how members of
a profession should, or should not, affect others in the course of practicing their profession, then
engineering ethics is an essential aspect of engineering itself and education in professional
responsibilities should be part of professional education in engineering, just as it is in law and
medicine.
(ii). Explain in details about the senses of Engineering Ethics [May 2016]
There are two different senses (meanings) of engineering ethics, namely the Normative and the
Descriptive senses. The normative sense include:
(a) Knowing moral values, finding accurate solutions to moral problems and justifying moral
judgments in engineering practices,
(b) Study of decisions, policies, and values that are morally desirable in the engineering practice
and research, and
(c) Using codes of ethics and standards and applying them in their transactions by engineers. The
descriptive sense refers to what specific individual or group of engineers believe and act, without
justifying their beliefs or actions.
2. (i).Discuss in detail the various types of Moral issues?
(ii). Specify the various types of Ethical inquiries available.[April 2014]
It would be relevant to know why and how do moral issues (problems) arise in a profession or why
do people behave unethically? The reasons for people including the employer and employees,
behaving unethically may be classified into three categories:
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 (e.g., before the
elections), reduction in the budget because of sudden war or natural calamity (e.g., Tsunami) 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.
2. Opportunity
(a) Double standards or behavior of the employers towards the employees and the public. The
unethical behaviors of World Com (in USA), Enron (in USA as well as India) executives in 2002
resulted in bankruptcy for those companies, (b) 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, (c) Emphasis on results and gains at the expense of the employees,
and (d) 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.
3. Attitude
Poor attitude of the employees set in due to
(a) Low morale of the employees because of dissatisfaction and downsizing, (b) Absence of grievance
redressal mechanism,
(c) Lack of promotion or career development policies or denied promotions, (d) Lack of transparency,
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(e) Absence of recognition and reward system, and
(f) Poor working environments.
Giving ethics training for all, recognizing ethical conduct in work place, including ethics in
performance appraisal, and encouraging open discussion on ethical issues, are some of the directions
to promote positive attitudes among the employees9. To get firm and positive effect, ethical standards
must be set and adopted by the senior management, with input from all personnel.
TYPES OF INQUIRIES
The three types of inquiries, in solving ethical problems are: normative inquiry, conceptual inquiry,
and factual or descriptive inquiry. The three types of inquiries are discussed below to illustrate the
differences and preference.
1. Normative Inquiry
It seeks to identify and justify the morally-desirable norms or standards that should guide individuals
and groups. It also has the theoretical goal of justifying particular moral judgments. Normative
questions are about what ought to be and what is good, based on moral values. For example,
1. How far does the obligation of engineers to protect public safety extend in any given situation?
2. When, if ever, should engineers be expected to blow whistle on dangerous practices of their
employers?
3. Whose values ought to be primary in making judgment about acceptable risks in design for a
public transport system or a nuclear plant? Is it of management, senior engineers, government, voters
or all of them?
4. When and why is the government justified in interfering with the organisations?
5. What are the reasons on which the engineers show their obligations to their employees or clients
or the public?
2. Conceptual Inquiry
It is directed to clarify the meaning of concepts or ideas or principles that are expressed by words or
by questions and statements. For example,
(a) What is meant by safety?
(b) How is it related to risk?
(c) What is a bribe?
(d) What is a profession?
When moral concepts are discussed, normative and conceptual issues are closely interconnected.
3. Factual or Descriptive Inquiry
It is aimed to obtain facts needed for understanding and resolving value issues. Researchers conduct
factual inquiries using mathematical or statistical techniques. The inquiry provide important
information on business realities, engineering practice, and the effectiveness of professional societies
in fostering moral conduct, the procedures used in risk assessment, and psychological profiles of
engineers. The facts provide not only the reasons for moral problems but also enable us to develop
alterative ways of resolving moral problems. For example,
1. How were the benefits assessed?
2. What are procedures followed in risk assessment?
3. What are short-term and long-term effects of drinking water being polluted? and
4. Who conducted the tests on materials?
3. Discuss in detail about the concept of
(i).Moral Dilemmas. (ii).Moral Autonomy.[April/May 2018]
MORAL DILEMMA
Definition
Dilemmas are situations in which moral reasons come into conflict, or in which the application of
moral values are problems, and one is not clear of the immediate choice or solution of the
problems.Moral reasons could be rights, duties, goods or obligations. These situations do not mean
that things had gone wrong, but they only indicate the presence of moral complexity. This makes the
decision making complex. For example, a person promised to meet a friend and dine, but he has to
help his uncle who is involved in an accident — one has to fix the priority. There are some difficulties
in arriving at the solution to the problems, in dilemma. The three
complex situations leading to moral dilemmas are:
1. The problem of vagueness: One is unable to distinguish between good and bad (right or wrong)
principle. Good means an action that is obligatory. For example, code of ethics specifies that one
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should obey the laws and follow standards. Refuse bribe or accept the gift, and maintain
confidentiality
2. The problem of conflicting reasons: One is unable to choose between two good moral solutions.
One has to fix priority, through knowledge or value system.
3. The problem of disagreement: There may be two or more solutions and none of them
mandatory. These solutions may be better or worse in some respects but not in all aspects. One has to
interpret, apply different morally reasons, and analyze and rank the decisions. Select the best suitable,
under the existing and the most probable conditions.
2.4.2 Steps to Solve Dilemma
The logical steps in confronting moral dilemma are:
1. Identification of the moral factors and reasons. The clarity to identify the relevant moral values
from among duties, rights, goods and obligations is obtained (conceptual inquiry). The most useful
resource in identifying dilemmas in engineering is the professional codes of ethics, as interpreted by
the professional experience. Another resource is talking with colleagues who can focus or narrow
down the choice of values.
2. Collection of all information, data, and facts (factual inquiry) relevant to the situation.
3. Rank the moral options i.e., priority in application through value system, and also as obligatory,
all right, acceptable, not acceptable, damaging, and most damaging etc. For example, in fulfilling
responsibility, the codes give prime importance to public safety and protection of the environment, as
compared to the individuals or the employers (conceptual inquiry).
4. Generate alternate courses of action to resolve the dilemma. Write down the main options and
sub-options as a matrix or decision tree to ensure that all options are included.
5. Discuss with colleagues and obtain their perspectives, priorities, and suggestions on various
alternatives.
6. Decide upon a final course of action, based on priority fixed or assumed. If there is no ideal
solution, we arrive at a partially satisfactory or ‘satisficing’ solution.
(b).Moral Autonomy.
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
as well as in the West. The engineering skills related to moral autonomy are listed as follows: 1.
Proficiency in recognizing moral problems in engineering and ability to distinguish as well
as relate them to problems in law, economics, and religion,
2. Skill in comprehending, clarifying, and critically-assessing arguments on different aspects of
moral issues,
3. Ability to form consistent and comprehensive view points based on facts,
4. Awareness of alternate responses to the issues and creative solutions for practical difficulties,
5. Sensitivity to genuine difficulties and subtleties, including willingness to undergo and tolerate
some uncertainty while making decisions,
6. Using rational dialogue in resolving moral conflicts and developing tolerance of different
perspectives among morally reasonable people, and
7. 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,
The criteria for achieving and sustaining professional status or professionalism are:
1. Advanced expertise: The expertise includes sophisticated skills and theoretical knowledge in
exercising judgment. This means a professional should analyse the problem in specific known area,
in an objective manner.
2. Self-regulation: One should analyse the problem independent of self-interest and direct to a
decision towards the best interest of the clients/customers. An autonomous judgment (unbiased and
on merits only) is expected. In such situations, the codes of conduct of professional societies are
followed as guidance.
3. Public good: One should not be a mere paid employee of an individual or a teaching college or
manufacturing organization, to execute whatever the employer wants one to do. The job should be
recognised by the public. The concerted efforts in the job should be towards promotion of the
welfare, safety, and health of the public.
(ii)What are the different types of model of professional roles [Nov 2015, May 2018, Nov 2018]
Models of Professional Roles:
An engineer has to play many roles while exercising his professional obligations. Promotion of
public good is the primary concern of the professional engineers.
There are several role models to whom the engineers are attracted. These models provoke their
thinking, attitudes and actions.
1. As a Savior:
The engineer as a savior, save the society from poverty, illiteracy, wastage, inefficiency, ill
health, human (labor) dignity and lead it to prosperity, through technological development and social
planning.
For example: R.L. Stevenson.
2. As A Guardian:
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He guards the interests of the poor and general public. As one who is conversant with
technology development, is given the authority befitting his expertise to determine what is best suited
to the society.
For example: Lawrence of Arabia (an engineer).
3. As A Bureaucratic Servant:
He serves the organization and the employers. The management of an enterprise fixes its goals
and assigns the job of problem solving to the engineer, who accepts the challenge and shapes them
into concrete achievements.
For example: Jamshedji Tata.
4. As A Social Servant:
It is one who exhibits social responsibility. The engineer translates the interest and aspirations
of the society into a reality, remembering that his true master is the society at large.
For example: Sir M.Viswesvarayya.
6. As A Game Player:
He is neither a servant nor master. An engineer is an assertive player, not a passive player who
may carry out his master‘s voice. He plays a unique role successfully within the organization,
enjoying the excitement of the profession and having the satisfaction of surging ahead in a
competitive world.
For example: Narayanamurthy, Infosys and Dr. Kasthurirangan, ISRO.
7.(i) Explain the theory of human right ethics and its classifications.[Nov 2015]
THEORIES ABOUT RIGHT ACTION
There are four types of theories on ethics, which help to create the fundamental principles of
obligation suitable and applicable to professional and personal conduct of a person in his everyday
life. These theories are essential for cause of right action and morality. They are:
1. “Golden mean” ethics (Aristotle, 384 – 322 B.C.). The best solution is achieved through reason
and logic and is a compromise or “golden mean” between extremes of excess and deficiency. For
example, in the case of the environment,the golden mean between the extremes of neglect and
exploitation might be protection.
Problem: Variability from one person to another in their powers of reasoning and the difficulty in
applying the theory to ethical problems.
2. “Rights – based” ethics (John Locke, 1632 – 1704). Every person is free and equal and has the
right to life, health, liberty and possessions (in effect prohibiting capital punishment,medical charges,
jails and income taxes).
Problem: One person’s right may be in conflict with another’s rights.
3. “Duty – based” ethics (Immanual Kant, 1724 – 1804). Each person has a duty to follow a course of
action that would be universally acceptable for everyone to follow without exception. (Thus we
would all be honest, kind, generous and peaceful).
Problem: Universal application of a rule can be harmful.
4. “Utilitarian” ethics (John Stuart Mill, 1806 – 1873). The best choice is that which produces the
maximum benefit for the greatest number of people (which could endanger minority rights).
Problem: Qualification of the benefits can be difficult. All these theories can be differentiated on the
basis of what they provide for moral concept, good results for all, duties and human rights.
(ii)What is meant by self interest? Relate the term with “Ethical Egoism” with suitable
examples.
Self-interest is nothing but one’s personal good. It refers to the goodness of oneself in the long run.
Each of the ethical theories recognizes the importance of self-respect. Utilitarian considers one’s own
good as well as the good of others. Duty ethicists stresses duties to ourselves and for won well-being.
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Ethicists of rights emphasize our rights to pursue our own good.
Virtue ethicists accent the importance of self – respect. Each of these theories insists that the pursuit
of self – interest must be balanced and kept under control by moral responsibilities to other people.
Now let us consider a view called “ethical Egoism” which challenges all the ethical theories and it
tries to reduce morality to the pursuit of selfinterest.It is called ‘egoism’, because it says that the main
duty of us is to maximize our own good.
According to Thomas Hobbes and Any Rand, moral values are reduced to concern for oneself but
always a rational concern which requires consideration of a person’s longterm interests.
The Supporters of ethical egoism make a differentiation between narrower and wider forms of self-
interest.
When a person who selfishly preoccupies his own private good and disregard for the good of others,
will be off from rewarding friendships and love.
Personal well-being generally requires taking some large interest in others. But the rational egoist
insists that the only reason for showing an interest in others is for the sake of oneself.
Ethical Egoists try to protect their positions by arguing that an ironic importance of everyone
rationally pursuing one’s self-interest is that every one get benefited. The society benefits mostly
when (i) individuals pursue their private good and (ii) corporations pursue maximum profits in a
competitive free market. The main idea here is that leads to the improvement of economy through
which benefiting everyone. Because, both the individual and the corporation know very well that
what is good for them and how best to pursue that good.
As per ethical egoism, people should always and only pursue their self – interest in a very cautious
manner to value the interest rationally on the basis of facts. Morality essentially needs a willingness
on the part of both individuals and corporations to place some restrictions on the pursuit of private
self
– interests.
Accepting these constraints is presupposed in what is meant by moral concern Engineering Ethics
also has one task of exhibiting the moral limits on the pursuit of self interest in the Engineering
profession. The above said remarks do not constitute a wrong proof for ethical egoism. Morality
stresses that we have to give value and we are concerned for the good of other people.
Ethical egoism is not a persuasive or probable theory to state what is morality but it is only a
convinced rejection of morality.
8. Explain about a) Consensus and Controversy (b) Heinzs Theory
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.When an individual
exercises the moral autonomy, he cannot get the same results as others get in applying moral
autonomy. Surely there must be some moral differences i.e. the results or verdicts will be of
controversy. This kind of disagreements is unavoidable. These disagreements require some tolerances
among individuals those who are autonomous, reasonable and responsible.As per the principle of
tolerance, the goal of teaching engineering ethics is not merely producing an agreed conformity on
applying moral principles among engineers but also to reveal the ways of promoting tolerances to
apply moral autonomy. Both the goals of engineering ethics and the goals of engineering courses
have some similarities. These similarities have to be extended with the help of exercising authority.
For example, in the class room, the teachers are having the authority over students and in the work
place, the managers are having the authority over engineers.
There are two general points regarding the relationship between autonomy and authority with
reference to the class room:
1) Moral autonomy and respect for the authority cannot be differentiated or separated from each
other. Moral autonomy is exercised on the basis of moral concern for other people and also
recognition of good moral reasons. Authority provides for the framework in which learning can take
place. It is based on the acceptance of authority by both the students and the professors. Without this
acceptance, the classes cannot be conducted in a smooth way. On the other hand, cheating will be
encouraged and the trust between faculty and the students may be reduced to some extent. These kind
of deviations are due to the absence of moral views and
respect for authority. They must be coincide with each other.2) Generally a tension may arise among
the individuals regarding the need for consensus about authority and need for autonomy. This tension
can be reduced by discussing openly regarding a moral issue between students and faculty with the
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help of the authority.
In short, conflicts will arise between autonomy and authority, when the authority is misused. For
example, in small classes, the students are having the authority to express their own views. But when
the professor doesn‟t allow them to do so, he misuses his authority. This will create some moral
problems between the students and the faculty.
Heinz‟s Dilemma
Gilligan‟s criticism on the Kohlberg‟s theory can be made very clear with the help of a famous
example used by Kohlberg in his questionaries and interviews. This is called Heinz‟s Dilemma.This
example was about a woman and Heinz, her husband living in Europe. The woman was affected by
cancer. The doctors told her to use an expensive drug to save her life. The pharmacist who also
invented that medicine charged ten times the cost of making the drug. Besides his poverty, Heinz
took a lot of effort to borrow money, but he could get only half of the amount needed. He approached
to the pharmacist and begged him to sell the medicine at a cheaper price or allow him to pay for it
later. But the pharmacist refused to do so. Finally, without any hope, Heinz forcibly entered into the
pharmacy and stolen the drug. The question here is “Was the theft morally right or wrong?”
By asking this question among the male, Kohlberg has received two sets of answers: One is based on
the conventional level i.e. Heinz did a wrong thing. Another one is based on the post conventional
level i.e,Heinz was correct as the life of the wife is more important than the property right of the
pharmacist. But when the same question was asked among the women, they gave (all women) same
answers. They replied that Heinz was wrong. They further told that instead of stealing the medicine,
Heinz could have tried other alternative solutions. They also told that Heinz should have convinced
still the pharmacist to get the medicine. From the above, Kohlberg concluded that women‟s decisions
are always based on conventional rule and they always have different opinions in applying the
general moral rules and principles about the right to live.On the basis of the Kohlberg‟s comment on
the women, Gilligan came to a different conclusion. She tells that it shows greater sensitivity to
people and personal relationships. She concluded that the decision taken by women is context -
oriented and not on the basis of general rules ranked inorder of priority.Now, the question here is,
how Gilligan‟s theory of moral development relates to moral autonomy as a goal of studying ethics at
the college level? Autonomy requires independent reasoning on the basis of moral concern and not
separated from other people. As per Gilligan‟s theory and Kohlberg‟s theory, moral autonomy should
be consistent with context-oriented and also with an awareness of general moral principles and rights.
9. Explain in detail the traits of Self Interest, Customs and
Religions. 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
owninterest. 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 self-interest. 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
Ethical Pluralism: Various cultures in our pluralistic society lead to tolerance for various customs,
beliefs, and outlooks. Accordingly ethical pluralism also exists. Although many moral attitudes appear
to be reasonable, the rational and morally concerned people can not fully accept any one of the moral
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perspectives. There are many varied moral values, which allow variation in the understanding and
application of values by the individuals or groups in their everyday transactions. It means that even
reasonable people will not agree on all moral issues and professional ethics.
Ethical Relativism: According to this principle, actions are considered morally right when approved
by law or custom, and wrong when they violate the laws or customs. The deciding factor is the law or
the customs of the society. Should we accept the principle of relativism or not? A few reasons to
accept this are explained in the following paragraphs:
1. Laws appear to be objective ways for judging values. The laws and customs tend to be definite,
clear and real, but not always. Further moral reasons allow objective criticism of laws, as being
morally lacking. For example, the Apartheid laws of South Africa violated the human rights of the
native Africans. No legal protection was available for native citizens for a long time. Now, of course,
these laws have been repealed.
2. Ethical relativism assumes that the values are subjective at the cultural level. Moral standards
also vary from culture to culture. The objectivity is supported by the existing laws of that society. The
relative morality accepted, supports the virtue of tolerance of differences among societies. This
argument is also not fully acceptable. As per ethical relativism, the actions and laws of the Nazis and
Hitler who vowed on Anti-Semitism and killed several million Jews would be accepted as right.
3. Moral relationalism or moral contextualism: According to this, the moral judgments must be
made in relation to certain factors, which may vary from case to case. The morally important factors
for making judgments include the customs and laws. The virtue ethicists hold that the practical
wisdom should prevail upon assessing the facts and in the judgment. This principle was accepted by
the early anthropologists because they had a specific tendency to over-stress the scope of moral
difference between cultures. The human sacrifices and cannibalism were accepted. But the modern
anthropologists insist that all cultures shall exhibit the virtue of social welfare and safety against
needless death or physical or mental harm. Moral differences were based on the circumstances and
facts and not on the difference
in moral attitudes. For example, the pharaohs buried the live attendants along with their dead king
with the belief that they would continue to serve the king in his after life.
RELIGION
Religions have played major roles in shaping moral views and moral values, over geographical
regions. Christianity has influenced the Western countries, Islam in the Middle-East countries,
Buddhism and Hinduism in Asia, and Confucianism in China. Further, there is a strong psychological
link between the moral and religious beliefs of people following various religions and faiths.
Religions support moral responsibility. They have set high moral standards. Faith in the religions
provides trust and this trust inspires people to be moral. The religions insist on tolerance and moral
concern for others. Many professionals who possess religious beliefs are motivated to be morally
responsible. Each religion lays stress on certain high moral standards. For example, Hinduism holds
polytheistic (many gods) view, and virtues of devotion and surrender to high order. Christianity
believes in one deity and emphasizes on virtues of Love, Faith, and Hope. Buddhism is non-theistic
and focuses on compassion and Islam on one deity and adherence of ishan (piety or pursuit of
excellence) and prayer. Judaism stresses the virtue of ‘tsedakah’ (righteousness). But many religious
sects have adopted poor moral standards, e.g., many religious sects do not recognize equal rights for
women. The right to worship is denied for some people. People are killed in the name of or to
promote religion. Thus, conflicts exist between the ‘secular’ and religious people and between one
religion and another. Hence, religious views have to be morally scrutinized.
10. Explain in details the professionalism ideals and virtues.
Professionalism
Professionalism covers comprehensively all areas of practice of a particular profession. It requires
skills and responsibilities involved in engineering profession. Professionalism implies a certain set of
attitudes.
The art of Professionalism can be understood as the practice of doing the right thing, not because how
one feels but regardless of how one feels. Professionals make a profession of the specific kind of
activity and conduct to which they commit themselves and to which they can be expected to conform.
Moral ideals specify virtue, i.e., desirable feature of character. Virtues are desirable ways of relating
to other individuals, groups and organizations. Virtues involve motives, attitudes and emotions.
According to Aristotle, virtues are the “acquired habits that enable us to engage effectively in rational
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activities that defines us as human beings.”
Professional Ideals and Virtues
The virtues represent excellence in core moral behavior. The essentials for any professional to excel
in the profession are behavior, skills and knowledge. The behavior shows the moral ideology of the
professional.
The moral ideals specify the virtue, i.e., the desirable character traits that talk a lot about the motives,
attitude and emotions of an individual.
Public spirited virtues
Proficiency virtues
Team work virtues
Self-governance virtues
The virtues mentioned above show the professional responsibility of an individual. Hence, the
professionalism that comes in with these virtues is called Responsible Professionalism. Let us now
understand each virtue in detail.
Public-spirited Virtues
An engineer should focus on the good of the clients and the public at large, which means no harm
should be done intentionally. The code of professional conduct in the field of engineering includes
avoiding harm and protecting, as well promoting the public safety, health and welfare.
Maintaining a sense of community with faith and hope within the society and being generous by
extending time, talent and money to professional societies and communities, an engineer can
maintain the public-spirited virtue. Finally, justice within corporations, government and economic
practices becomes an essential virtue that an engineer should always possess.
Proficiency Virtues
These refer to the virtues followed in the profession according to the talent and intellect of an
engineer. The moral values that include this virtue are competence and diligence. The competence is
being successful in the job being done and the diligence is taking care and having alertness to dangers
in the job. Creativity should also be present in accomplishing the assigned task.
Teamwork Virtues
These virtues represent the coordination among team members which means working successfully
with other professionals. These include cooperative nature along with loyalty and respect towards
their organization, which makes the engineers motivate the team professionals to work towards their
valuable goals.
Self-governance Virtues
These virtues are concerned with moral responsibilities which represent integrity and self-respect of
the person. The integrity actually means the moral integrity which refers to the actions, attitude and
emotions of the person concerned during his professional period.
The self-governance virtues center on commitment, courage, self-discipline, perseverance, self-
respect and integrity. The truthfulness and trustworthiness which represent his honesty are the crucial
moral values to be kept up by a professional.
11. Discuss the role of ‘Self-interest’ with examples.[May 2017]
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 self-interest. 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
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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.
12. Explain the three levels of moral developments with respect to Gilligan views. [Nov 2019]
Carol Gilligan, a former student and colleague of Kohlberg, has criticized Kohlberg's theory as male
biased.
She also charged Kohlberg that Kohlberg's studies were concluded with male samples only and
also his approach is dominated by a typical preoccupation with general rules and rights.
According to Gilligan, males have tendency to over-ride the importance of moral rules and
convictions while resolving moral dilemmas; whereas females have tendency to try hard to preserve
personal relationships with all people involved in a situation.
Also Gilligan felt that men mostly focus their attention on content of the problem, whereas women
focus their attention on the context i.e., situation of the problem.
Gilligan refers her context-oriented emphasis on maintaining personal relationships as the ethics of
care, and contrasts it with Kohlberg's ethics of rules and rights.
PART-B
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1. How can engineer become a responsible experimenter? Highlight the code of ethics for
Engineers [May 2016, Nov 2016, May 2017]
Although the engineers facilitate experiments, they are not alone in the field. Their responsibility is
shared with the organizations, people, government, and others. No doubt the engineers share a greater
responsibility while monitoring the projects, identifying the risks, and informing the clients and the
public with facts. Based on this, they can take decisions to participate or protest or promote.
The engineer, as an experimenter, owe several responsibilities to the society, namely,
1. A conscientious commitment to live by moral values.
2. A comprehensive perspective on relevant information. It includes constant awareness of
the progress of the experiment and readiness to monitor the side effects, if any.
3. Unrestricted free-personal involvement in all steps of the project/product development
(autonomy).
4. Be accountable for the results of the project (accountability).
Conscientiousness
Conscientious moral commitment means: (a) Being sensitive to full range of moral values and
responsibilities relevant to the prevailing situation and (b) the willingness to develop the skill and put
efforts needed to reach the best balance possible among those considerations. In short, engineers must
possess open eyes, open ears, and an open mind (i.e., moral vision, moral listening, and moral
reasoning).
This makes the engineers as social experimenters, respect foremost the safety and health of the
affected, while they seek to enrich their knowledge, rush for the profit, follow the rules, or care for
only the beneficiary. The human rights of the participant should be protected through voluntary and
informed consent.
Comprehensive Perspective
The engineer should grasp the context of his work and ensure that the work involved results in only
moral ends. One should not ignore his conscience, if the product or project that he is involved will
result in damaging the nervous system of the people (or even the enemy, in case of weapon
development)
A product has a built-in obsolete or redundant component to boost sales with a false claim. In
possessing of the perspective of factual information, the engineer should exhibit a moral concern and
not agree for this design. Sometimes, the guilt is transferred to the government or the competitors.
Some organizations think that they will let the government find the fault or let the fraudulent
ompetitor be caught first. Finally, a full-scale environmental or social impact study of the product or
project by individual engineers is useful but not possible, in practice.
Moral Autonomy
A detailed discussion is available in # 2.5. Viewing engineering as social experimentation, and
anticipating unknown consequences should promote an attitude of questioning about the adequacy of
the existing economic and safety standards. This proves a greater sense of personal involvement in
one’s work.
Accountability
The term Accountability means:
1. The capacity to understand and act on moral reasons
2. Willingness to submit one’s actions to moral scrutiny and be responsive to the assessment
of others. It includes being answerable for meeting specific obligations, i.e., liable to justify (or give
reasonable excuses) the decisions, actions or means, and outcomes (sometimes unexpected), when
required by the stakeholders or by law.
The tug-of-war between of causal influence by the employer and moral responsibility of the employee
is quite common in professions. In the engineering practice, the problems are:
The fragmentation of work in a project inevitably makes the final products lie (a) away
from the immediate work place, and lessens the personal responsibility of the employee.
Further the responsibilities diffuse into various hierarchies and to various people.
(b) Nobody gets the real feel of personal responsibility.
(c) Often projects are executed one after another. An employee is more interested in
adherence of tight schedules rather than giving personal care for the current project.
More litigation is to be faced by the engineers (as in the case of medical (d) practitioners).
This makes them wary of showing moral concerns beyond what is prescribed by the
Engineering is closely related to the medical testing of new drugs and techniques on human beings as
it also concerned with human beings.
When new medicines have been tested, it should be informed to the persons who undergo the test.
They have moral and legal rights to know about the fact which is based on “informed consent”
before take part in the experiment. Engineering must also recognize these rights. When a producer
sells a new product to a firm which has its own engineering staff, generally there will be an
agreement regarding the risks and benefits form that testing.
Informed consent has two main principles such as knowledge and voluntariness.
First, the persons who are put under the experiment has to be given all the needed information to
make an appropriate decision. Second, they must enter into the experiment without any force, fraud
and deception. The experimenter has also to consider the fundamental rights of the minorities and the
compensation for the harmful effects of that experiment.
In both medicine and engineering there may be a large gap between the experimenter and his
knowledge on the difficulties of an experiment. This gap can be filled only when it is possible to give
all the relevant information needed for drawing a responsible decision on whether to participate in the
experiment or not.
In medicine, before prescribing a medicine to the patient, a responsible physician must search for
relevant information on the side effects of the drug. The hospital management must allow him to
undergo different treatments to different patients and finally the patient must be ready to receive that
information from the physician. Similarly it is possible for an engineer to give relevant information
about a product only when there is a better co-operation by the management and quick acceptance
from the customers.
The following conditions are essential for a valid informed consent
1) The consent must be given voluntarily and not by any force.
PART B
1. How are conflicts of interest solved?
2. Discuss in detail about the “Employee rights” and its role in the organisations.[May 2017]
5. Discuss the ways and means of reducing occupational crime in industries. [Dec 2015]
6. Discuss faithful agent and public service arguments. [Nov 2014, May 2011]
The right of conscientious refusal is the right to refuse to engage in unethical behavior, and to refuse
to do so solely because one views it as unethical. This is a kind of second-order right. It arises
because other rights to pursue moral obligations within the authority-based relationships of
employment sometimes come into conflict.
There are two situations to be considered: (1) where there is widely shared agreement in the
profession as to whether an act is unethical and (2) where there is room for disagreement among
reasonable people over whether an act is unethical.
It seems clear enough that engineers and other professionals have a moral right to refuse to
participate in activities that are straightforwardly and uncontroversial unethical. And coercing
employees into acting by means of threats plainly constitutes a violation of this right.
The troublesome cases concern situations where there is no shared agreement about whether a project
or procedure is unethical. The Jim Pope case, for example, involved opposing assessments of the
overall effectiveness of ground- and air-based collision-avoidance systems.
There is no shared agreement over whether abortions are morally permissible. Yet, as is widely
acknowledged, nurses who believe them to be immoral have a right to refuse to participate in
abortion procedures. This is so even though nurses function under the institutional authority of
doctors, clinics, and hospitals in ways analogous to how engineers work under the authority of
management. Nevertheless, nurses‘ rights do not extend so for as to give them the right to work in an
abortion clinic while refusing to play their assigned role in performing abortions.
Likewise, we believe engineers should be recognized as having a limited right to turn down
assignments that violate their personal consciences in matters of moral disagreement among
reasonable people about the situation in question. We emphasize the word ―limitedǁ because the right
is contingent on the organization‘s ability to reassign the engineer to alternative projects without
serious economic hardship to itself. The right of professional conscience does not extend to the right
to be paid for not working.
7. Discuss the right of conscientious refusal.
The right of conscientious refusal is the right to refuse to engage in unethical behavior, and to refuse
to do so solely because one views it as unethical. This is a kind of second-order right. It arises
because other rights to pursue moral obligations within the authority-based relationships of
employment sometimes come into conflict.
There are two situations to be considered: (1) where there is widely shared agreement in the
profession as to whether an act is unethical and (2) where there is room for disagreement among
reasonable people over whether an act is unethical. It seems clear enough that engineers and other
professionals have a moral right to refuse to participate in activities that are straightforwardly and
controversial unethical. And coercing employees into acting by means of threats plainly constitutes a
violation of this right.
The use of knowledge of risk acceptance to engineer is important to know about the risk benefit
analysis.
11.(i)What is Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)? Explain any one essential element of an IPR.
Intellectual Property
i) Utility patents
It can be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine,
manufacture or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof. Utility period is
of 20 years.
"Process" refers to industrial and manufacturing (production) method. "Manufacture" refers to
articles manufactured. "Composition of matter" refers to chemical compositions and may include
mixtures of ingredients as well as new chemical compounds.
ii) Design patents
It can be granted to any one who invents a new, original ornamental design for an article of
manufacture. A design patent protects the ornamental design (i.e. appearance) of the article. A design
patent has duration of 14 years from the date of filing.
iii) Plant patents
Plant patent can be granted to any one who invents or discovers and reproduces a new variety of
plant. A plant patent has a term of 20 years from the date of filing
COPY RIGHTS:
A copyright is a very particular and exclusive right even for reproduction of an original work. This is
for material, aesthetic material, literacy, music, film, sound recording, broad casting, software and
multimedia. This offers automatic right for safeguarding any original creation, which is not in need of
registration but with limited time. It does not require the lawyer's help for settlement. Protection to
copy right does not give any procedure, principle, concept or method or operation, irrespective of the
format in which it is explained. Copyright is sanctioned to prevent others from:
a) Copying the work
b) Publishing and selling copies commercially
c) Renting or lending the work in a free market
d) Doing or demonstrating the work in public
TRADE MARKS
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Trademark is for broad identity of specific goods and services allowing differences to be made
among different trades. This is a territorial right, which requires registration, but without any time
limit. Lawyers are needed for guidelines.
A trademark is an identification symbol which is used in the course of trade to enable the purchasing
people (buyers) to distinguish one trader's goods from the similar goods of other traders. These marks
also symbolize distinctly the quality of the products. These marks are in the form of certain
'wordings' or can be in the format of logos, designs, sounds, etc. Examples: NIIT, Kodak.
The TRIPS agreement offers the same type of protection for trademarks. Registration of trademark is
issued for definite period of time. However, in order to avoid confusion, encourage competitions and
protect the inventor's good will, the registration may be renewed. With reference to intellectual
property area, trademarks are national in origin and should comply with provision of TRIPS
agreement.
TRADE SECRETS
A trade secret means information, which is kept confidential as a secret. This is generally not known
in the relevant industry, offering an advantage to its owner over other competitors. Unlike other types
of Intellectual property, this trade secret is fundamentally a "do-it-yourself' type of protection. For
engineers, inventors, and designers, the trade secrets are to be maintained secretly. Such trade secrets
include some formulae, programmes, methods, progresses or data collections etc. If there is any
improper disclosure or use of the trade secret by another person, the inventor may claim and recover
damages resulting from illegal use.
NEED FOR PROTECTION TO IPR
The protection of intellectual property rights is an essential element of economic policy for any
country. Only such protection can stimulate research, creativity and technological innovations by
giving freedom to individual inventors and companies to gain the benefits of their creative efforts.
It is a very important issue to plan to protect the intellectual property rights. The major needs are to
* Prevent plagiarism.
* Prevent others using it.
* Prevent using it for financial gains.
* Fulfill obligation to funding agency.
* Support income generation strategy.
IMPORTANCE OF IPR
a) Give the inventors exclusive rights of dealing.
b) Permit avoiding of competitors and increase entry barriers.
c) Allow entry to a technical market
d) Generate steady income by issuing license.
(i) What are occupational crimes? Explain any one in detail.[Nov 2015]
Occupational crime refers to a crime committed by someone during the course of his or her
employment. Also known as workplace crime, occupational crime encompasses a wide variety of
criminal acts including theft (or embezzlement), money laundering, and the misuse of company
property or information The illegal conduct in occupational crimes originates in the employee's
access to company data, property, or funds. For example, if an accountant at a large manufacturing
business purposefully withholds information about company revenue from the Internal Revenue
Service, the accountant has committed corporate tax fraud. In this scenario, the accountant has
committed an occupational crime-- he has used his access to sensitive
company information (i.e., revenue reports) to defraud the IRS. The most common form of
occupational crime is white-collar crime. White-collar crimes differ from traditional crimes in that
white-collar crimes are financial crimes committed by business professionals. White-collar crime is
nonviolent in nature, and often arises in circumstances where business professionals misuse company
information for financial
gains.
Types of occupational crimes
Herbert Edelhertz (1970: 73-75) has suggested the following four types of occupational crimes on the
basis of motivation of the perpetrators:
1. Crimes committed by persons on an individual basis, e.g., income-tax evasion, bankruptcy frauds,
credit purchases or taking loans with no intention to pay, and insurance
fraud.
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2. Crimes committed in the course of occupations by those operating in business, government, or
other establishments, in violation of their duty of loyalty to the employer or
client; e.g., bribery, kickbacks, embezzlement, and pilfering.
3. Crimes incidental to and in furtherance of business operations but not central to business purposes;
e.g., food and drug violations, misrepresentation in advertising, and prescription fraud.
4. Crime as a business or as the central activity of a business; e.g., medical fraud schemes, lottery
fraud schemes, mutual fund fraud schemes, land and real estate frauds, charity and religious frauds
and music pirating.
12. Discuss the concept of safe exit in the Chernobyl case study.[Nov
2015] Introduction:
The April 1986 Disaster at Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukrine was the product of a flawed
Soviet reactor coupled with serious mistakes made by the plant operators in the context of system
where training was minimal. It was a direct consequence of Cold war isolation and the resulting lack
of any safety culture.The accident destroyed the Chernobyl -4 reactor and killed 30 people , including
28 from radiation exposure. A further 20 9on site were treated for acute radiation poisoning and
among these, 134 cases were confirmed (all of women recovered). Nobody off-site suffered from
acute radiation effects.
This incident was a unique event and the only accident in the history of commercial nuclear power
where radiation –related fatalities occurred. What Happened At 1:24 AM on April 26, 1986, there
was an explosion at the Soviet nuclear power plant at Chernobyl. One of the reactors overheated,
igniting a pocket of hydrogen gas. The explosion blew the top off the containment building, and
exposed the molten reactor to the air. Thirty-one power plant workers were killed in the initial
explosion, and radioactive dust and debris spewed into the air. It took several days to put out the fire.
Helicopters dropped sand and chemicals on the reactor rubble, finally extinguishing the blaze. Then
the Soviets hastily buried the reactor in a sarcophagus of concrete. Estimates of deaths among the
clean-up workers vary widely. Four thousand clean-up workers may have died in the following weeks
from the radiation.
The countries now known as Belarus and Ukraine were hit the hardest by the radioactive fallout.
Winds quickly blew the toxic cloud from Eastern Europe into Sweden and Norway. Within a week,
radioactive levels had jumped over all of Europe, Asia, and Canada. It is estimated that seventy-
thousand Ukrainians have been disabled, and five million people were exposed to radiation. Estimates
of total deaths due to radioactive contamination range from 15,000 to 45,000 or more.
To give you an idea of the amount of radioactive material that escaped, the atomic bomb dropped on
Hiroshima had a radioactive mass of four and a half tons. The exposed radioactive mass at Chernobyl
was fifty tons.
In the months and years following, birth defects were common for animals and humans. Even the
leaves on the trees became deformed. Today, in Belarus and Ukraine, thyroid cancer and leukemia
are still higher than normal. The towns of Pripyat and Chernobyl in the Ukraine are ghost towns.
They will be uninhabitable due to radioactive contamination for several hundred years. The worst of
the contaminated area is called “The Zone,” and it is fenced off. Plants, meat, milk, and water in
the area are still unsafe. Despite the contamination, millions of people live in and near The Zone, too
poor to move to safer surroundings. Further, human genetic mutations created by the radiation
exposure have been found in children who have only recently been born. This suggests that there may
be another whole generation of Chernobyl victims. Recent reports say that there are some indications
that the concrete sarcophagus at Chernobyl is breaking down.
13. Define the term Risk and Safety. How We, Engineers assess the safety? [April/May 2018]
SAFETY AND RISK:
Safety was defined as the risk that is known and judged as acceptable. But, risk is a potential that \
something unwanted and harmful may occur. It is the result of an unsafe situation, sometimes
unanticipated, during its use.
Probability of safety = 1 – Probability of risk Risk = Probability of occurrence × Consequence in
magnitude Different methods are available to determine the risk (testing for safety)
1. Testing on the functions of the safety-system components.
2. Destructive testing: In this approach, testing is done till the component fails. It is too expensive,
but very realistic and useful.
20. ‘A nuclear accident anywhere is a nuclear accident everywhere’. Explain this with respect to
Three Mile Island case study. [Nov 2019]
The accident at the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania on March
28, 1979 was one of the most serious in the history of the U.S. nuclear industry. It not only brought
to light the hazards associated with nuclear power, but also forced the industry to take a closer look
at the operating procedures used at the time. What makes the TMI-2 accident such an interesting
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case study is the series of events, which led up to the partial meltdown of the reactor core. It was a
combination of human error,
insufficient training, bad operating procedures and unforeseen equipment failure that culminated in a
nuclear accident that could have easily been prevented.
When pump (14) failed, the steam generator (3) went dry. So, heat was not removed from the reactor.
Water was pouring out at 220 gallons/min but reactor has not cooled down.
Pumps (16) were started to refill water reactor core. There was too much of water in the reactor now.
The reactor fuel rods began to break to pieces.
Then the chemical reaction between steam and the Zinc alloy fuel elements produced Hydrogen and the
Hydrogen accumulated caused the explosion of the structure.
The radiation levels in the building increased and the sound alarm blew. Immediately people contacted
Nuclear Regulatory Commission and B and W, who constructed the reactor. Nobody was there to answer
the call at B and W. But somehow people escaped without any loss of human lives. After 13 hours and a
half, the reactor was put under control.
PART – B
1. Explain the role of engineers as managers.
ENGINEERS AS MANAGERS
Engineers undergo the most intensive technical training of any professionals, yet early in their careers
many of them move into managerial roles for which they received little direct training as
undergraduate students. On the one hand, many companies prefer engineers as managers because
their technical understanding is essential to managing technological corporations, and because it is
easier to teach engineers the business side of corporate work than to teach non-engineers engineering.
In addition, corporations value engineers' general strengths in quantitative analysis, their strong work
ethic, and their confidence in problem solving.
On the other hand, engineers find management inviting because of an array of corporate incentives.
These incentives include higher salaries, greater authority, and widened areas of responsibility, and
increased prestige and recognition. It is true that some corporations, especially large ones, have
instituted a "dual-ladder system" that allows engineers to advance in their careers along either
administrative or technological tracks. However, in practice the technical track tends to offer less
recognition within the business culture than ―Becoming the Boss.ǁ
Managers as Professionals
Making the transition from primarily technical work to management involves many adjustments. It
requires expanded knowledge about finances and scheduling, strengthened skills in coordinating and
motivating other people, and the ability to make risk-taking decisions involving a wider range of
factors than purely technical considerations. Engineers have ethical responsibilities outlined in their
professional codes of ethics.
The primary ethical responsibility of managers is to produce a valuable product (or service) while
maintaining respect for persons, including customers, employees, and the public. In deciding on
ethical issues, persons and safe products come first, not profits. To be sure, there is an element of
truth in Friedman's view. By contrast, with not-for-profit corporations (such as charitable groups,
religious organizations, and universities), for-profit corporations function successfully only when
they make a profit. Rather than being the only or the paramount goal of all business dealings,
however, profits are an essential condition for remaining in business, to be able to produce useful
products and services. The ultimate goal of managers and engineers alike should be to make valuable
products that are also profitable.
Good business and sound ethics go together, for the most part, and in the long run. Hence, at a
fundamental level, the moral roles of engineers and managers are complementary and symbiotic,
rather than opposed. As managers, engineers remain professionals whose primary moral
responsibility is to provide safe and useful products that are profitable. Admittedly, the transition to
management does involve adjustments and shifts in emphasis. Moreover, higher management tends
to be dominated by a culture that sometimes clashes with the culture of professionalwork of
engineers. As a result of their different experience, education, and roles, higher management tends to
emphasize corporate efficiency and productivity, the bottom line. Engineers and other professionals
tend to emphasize excellence of work and (we hope) ethical commitment to the public goods
promoted by their work. But these differences should be a matter of emphasis rather than opposition.
Let us turn now to two responsibilities of engineer-managers: promoting an ethical climate and
resolvingconflicts.
Promoting an Ethical Climate
An ethical climate is a working environment conducive to morally responsible conduct. Within
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corporations it is produced by a combination of formal organization and policies, informal traditions
and practices, and personal attitudes and commitments. Engineers make a vital contribution to such a
climate, but managers have even greater responsibility.
The defining features of an ethical corporate climate are suggested as four features.
First, ethical values in their full complexity are widely acknowledged, appreciated by managers and
employees alike. Responsibilities to all constituencies of the corporation are affirmed not only to
stockholders, but also to customers, employees, and all other stakeholders in the corporation. That
does not mean that profits are neglected, nor does it neglect the special obligations that employees of
corporations acquire to promote the interests of the corporation. For the most part, serving the
interests of the corporation is the way in which the public good ispromoted.
Second, the sincere use of ethical language is recognized as a legitimate part of corporate dialogue.
One way to emphasize this is to make prominent a corporate code of ethics. Another way is to
explicitly include a statement of ethical responsibilities in job descriptions of all layers of
management.
Third, top management must set a moral tone, both in words, in policies, and by personal example.
Official pronouncements asserting the importance of professional conduct in all areas of the
corporation must be backed by the willingness to respond to the effort by professionals to work
according to the guidelines outlined in professional codes of ethics. Fourth, there need to be
procedures for conflict resolution.
Equally important is educating managers on conflict resolution, a topic to which we discuss.
Managing Effectively dealing with conflicts, including value disagreements, is an essential
managerial task in guiding and integrating employees' work. Managers have the authority and the
responsibility to resolve or prevent damaging conflicts that threaten corporate efficiency. Their
ultimate weapon is force: "I'm in charge—see it my way or I'll fire you." But over reliance on force is
generally regarded as self-defeating authoritarian abuse of authority. Certainly within technological
cor-porations, successful management means evoking the fullest contribution of employees, and that
sometimes means tolerating and even inviting some forms of conflict. The manager's task is to create
climates in which conflicts are addressed constructively.
One study ranked the seven most common conflicts confronted by engineering project managers, in
order of priority of overall intensity (as perceived by managers), as follows:
Conflicts over schedules, especially where managers must rely on support departments over which
the manager has little control,
Conflicts over which projects and departments are most important to the organization at a given time,
Conflicts over personnel resources made available for projects,
Conflicts over technical issues, in particular over alternative ways to solve a technical problem within
cost, schedule, and performance objectives,
Conflicts over administrative procedures, such as the extent of the manager's authority, ac-
countability procedures and reviews, and administrative support, Personality conflicts, and Conflicts
over costs.
All of these areas can involve explicit or tacit value disagreements. The study noted that while
personality conflicts ranked relatively low in intensity, they tended to be the most difficult to resolve.
In part, the difficulty was that they were sometimes difficult to pinpoint, since they were interwoven
with other conflicts, such as disagreements over technical issues, and communication problems.
The Harvard Negotiation Project has explored all types of conflicts among persons, not just
personality conflicts, in recent decades. The project has sought ways to avoid both the "win-lose"
style of managing conflict in which one adversary wins and the other is humiliated, and the "being
nice" style that is too eagerly yielding to others or that tries to avoid conflict altogether, even when
conflict is creative. Among the central ideas generated by that project are the following four widely
applicable principles for conflictresolution.
1 "People: Separate the people from the problem." This does not mean that only the problem is
important. The personal aspect of conflicts is distinguished from the problem in order to be able to
better deal withboth.
2 "Interests: Focus on interests, not positions." This principle applies most clearly to personnel
matters and ethical perspectives, rather than technicaldisputes.
3 "Options: Generate a variety of possibilities before deciding what to do." Especially in conflicts
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over technological solutions and ethical priorities it is crucial to evoke a wide range of options in
order to overcome the effects of tunnelvision.
4 "Criteria: Insist that the result [of conflict resolution] be based on some objective standard."
Within corporate settings it is usually clear what general standards are to be used in evaluating
results. But beyond the goals of efficiency, quality, and customer satisfaction, it is important to
develop a sense of fair process in how the goals are met. Otherwise disagreements easily degenerate
into contests ofwill
2. Explain environmental ethics.
ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
Exxon's 987-foot tanker Valdez was passing through Prince William Sound on March 24th, 1989,
carrying 50 million gallons of oil when it fetched up on Blioh Reef, tore its bottom, and spilled 11
million gallons of oil at the rate of a thousand gallons a second. This was one of the worst spills ever,
not in quantity, but in its effect on a very fragile ecosystem.
As human beings, we share a common environment, a common ecosphere. Urgent concern for that
environment must increasingly become a united commitment that cuts across national boundaries. It
is thus appropriate that a discipline have begun to explore a new branch of applied ethics called en-
vironmental ethics. This field overlaps with engineering ethics at many points only a few of which are
discussed here.
Case Studies
The disaster at Bhopal occurred with numbing terror during a few hours and days. Other disasters,
such as the Chernobyl nuclear plant explosion, have involved longer-term environmental effects, but
the patterns of damage are still relatively clear. Particularly difficult to assess are long-range changes
in climate due to the greenhouse effect and depletion of the ozone layer.
Acid Rain Consider, for example, the damage currently being caused by acid rain and acid
deposition. Normal rain has a pH of 5.6, but the typical rain in the north eastern areas of North
America is now
3.9 to 4.3. This is 10 to 100 times more acidic than it should be, about as acidic as lemon juice. In
addition, the snowmelt each spring releases huge amounts of acid that were in frozen storage during
the winter months. "Acid shock" from snowmelt is thought to cause annual mass killings of fish.
Longer-term effects of the acid harm fish eggs and food sources. Deadly quantities of aluminium,
zinc, and many other metals leached from the soil by the acid rain also take a toll as they wash into
streams and lakes. Forests have also been steadily killed, larger animals have suffered dramatic
decreases in population and some farmlands and drinking-water sources are damaged. These results
have occurred during only a few decades. The next decades will multiply them many timesover.
The cause is now clear: the burning of fossil fuels that release large amounts of sulfur dioxide (SO2)
—the primary culprit—and nitrogen oxides (N02). In both instances, major sources of the pollutants
are located hundreds and even thousands of miles away, with winds supplying a deadly transportation
system to the damaged ecosystems. As we know now, pollution does not stop at national borders,
necessitating international control to control it.
Much remains to be learned about the mechanisms involved in the processes pictured in Fig. It is still
impossible to link specific sources with specific damage. More research into shifting wind patterns
and the air transport of acids is needed. Groundwater is undoubtedly being polluted, but it is unclear
what that means for human health. Much underground water currently being used was deposited by
rainfall over a hundred years ago, and current acid rain may have its main effects on underground
water a century from now.
Worldwide use of fossil fuels by industrial nations is causing a build up of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere, which could result in a greenhouse effect damaging the entire earth. Similarly, damage
to the protective ozone layer of the earth's atmosphere resulting from the release of freon is related to
technological products used by the populations of those same nations.
PCBs and Kanemi‘s Rice Oil A decade of rapid industrial growth in Japan had taken its toll on the
environment. Then, in the summer of 1968, a disease of unknown origin appeared in southern Japan.
Victims suffered from disfiguring skin acne and discoloration, fatigue, numbness, respiratory distress,
vomiting, and loss of hair. Eventually 10,000 people were stricken and some died. What was the
cause? An investigation of 121 cases was conducted, with 121 healthy individuals matched to the
victims by age and sex being used as a control group. All 242 were questioned regarding their diets,
personal habits, and places of work. When it was discovered that the only significant difference
Military Weapons The U.S. Department of Defense is supporting the creation of autonomous
weapons that can be aimed and fired by on-board computers that make all necessary decisions,
including enemy identification. Computer scientists and engineers are divided over the advisability of
such a major step toward automation of the battlefield.
There is a dangerous instability in computerized defense systems even if they are working perfectly.
Let us assume then that all the nuclear warning software works without error, and that the hardware
is fail-safe. Nevertheless, the combination of two such correctly functioning but opposing systems is
unstable. This is because secrecy prevents either system from knowing exactly what the other is
doing, which means that any input that could be interpreted as a danger signal must be responded to
by an increase in readiness on the receiving side. The opposing side, which then steps up its
readiness, and so on, in turn, monitors thatreadiness.
Property
The most troublesome issues about property and computers fall under two general headings. The first
is the use of computers in embezzlement and other forms of stealing money or financial assets. It is
the most widely publicized form of computer crime and also the most morally clear-cut. The second
set of issues con-cerns the theft of software and information. Here the issues are more complex.
Embezzlement: Two factors make computers especially troublesome:
(1) Their speed and geographic coverage, which allows large numbers of people to be victimized, (2)
the difficulty of tracing the underlying transactions to apprehend the thieves.
This problem is compounded when the communication lines linking the computers involved cross
national boundaries.
Some of the most commonly discussed cases of computer abuse are instances of outright theft and
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fraud, of which there are many forms:
1. Stealing or cheating by employees atwork;
2. Stealing by non-employees or formeremployees;
3. Stealing from or cheating clients andconsumers;
4. Violating contracts for computer sales orservice;
5. Conspiring to use computer networks to engage in widespread fraud.
Public interest has often been drawn to the glamorous capers of computer criminals. Enormous sums
of money have been involved. The amount for an average computer-related embezzlement is twenty
times the amount stolen in conventional embezzlement; many millions are often involved. Crime by
computer has proved to be unusually inviting tomany.
The technology for preventing crime and catching criminals has lagged behind implementation of
new computer applications. Computer crime raises obvious moral concerns of honesty, integrity, and
trust. It also forces a rethinking of public attitudes about crime and its punishment. The potential for
computer crime should enter significantly into the thinking of engineers who design computers. In
fact, protection against criminal abuse has become a major constraint for effective and successful
design of many computer systems andprograms.
For some time secret computer passwords have been used as a security feature. More recently
introduced, and still of limited effectiveness, is data encryption. This technique is widely employed to
prevent theft from funds transfer systems. In data encryption, messages are scrambled before
transmission over communication lines and unscrambled after reception according to secret codes.
Such devices, of course, require special precautions in maintaining confidentiality and security, and
engineers have a major role to play in making recommendations in these areas.
Data and Software In the United States, computer hardware is protected by patent laws. Software can
be protected by copyright and trade secret laws. The latter permit employers to require their
employees not to divulge proprietary information. Obviously trade secrets are useless once software
is made publicly available as a marketed product. Here copyright laws offer the best protection.
Privacy Storage, retrieval, and transmission of information using computers as data processors has
revolutionized communication. Yet this very benefit poses moral threats to the right to privacy. By
making more data available to more people with more ease, computers make privacy more difficult to
protect. Here we will discuss privacy and confidentiality for individuals, but the issues are similar for
corporations. There are reasons for privacy namely Inappropriate Access & Data Bank Errors.
Professional Issues
Many of the issues in engineering ethics arise within the context of computer work. New variations
or new difficulties may be involved, often owing to the high degree of job complexity and required
technical proficiency introduced by computers. We provide some representative examples below.
Computer Failures Failures can occur because of errors in hardware or software. Hardware errors do
not occur frequently, and when they do, they usually do so quite obviously. An exception was Intel's
highly touted Pentium chip introduced in 1993. It produced very slight and rare errors in floating
point arithmetic. Perhaps more serious was the loss of confidence Intel suffered by not revealing the
error before it was detected by a user. Software errors are a differentmatter.
Computer Implementation It should not be necessary to say so, but a changeover to a new computer
system should never be attempted without having the old system still operational. Computer vendors
who are too sure of their machines to recommend some redundancy during a changeover display
enough hubris for it to qualify as one of the seven deadly sins.
Health Conditions Engineers who supervise computer personnel or design computer terminals should
check that ergonomic considerations are in effect to reduce back problems, provide wrist support and
good keyboard layouts to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome, and offer good lighting and flicker control.
8. Discuss the pros and cons of multinational companies from ethical point of view.[May2010]
MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS
On December 3, 1984, the operators of Union Carbide's plant in Bhopal, India, became alarmed by a
leak and overheating in a storage tank. The tank contained methyl isocyanate, a toxic ingredient used
in pesticides. Within an hour the leak exploded in a gush that sent 40 tons of deadly gas into the
atmosphere. The result was the worst industrial accident in history: 2500 deaths within a few days,
10,000 permanently disabled, and 100,000 others injured. Ten years later the list of victims rose to
4,000 to 7,000 deaths, with claims of injuries amounting to 600,000. Compensation was progressing
There is also the question of the direction and course of existing and possible new professional
organizations. Perhaps it is desirable to have greater unity among engineering societies and thus to
encourage newer and higher-level umbrella organizations to arise (such as the relatively young
American Association of Engineering Societies). Yet there are risks in seeking more unified power
and action. Everything depends on the goals and structures of such organizations, combined with the
creative opportunities envisioned by their moral leaders.
Ultimately these "macro" issues return us to the "micro" issues of individual responsibility. For it is
individuals involved in their professional societies who are the ultimate loci of action and hence of
leadership.
This leads us to engineers' obligations to their profession. The code of ethics of the Accreditation
Board for Engineering and Technology suggests that engineers should obey the code in order to
"uphold and advance the integrity, honor and dignity of the engineering profession." Similarly, the
preamble to the code of the National Society of Professional Engineers suggests that the code should
be followed in part "to uphold and advance the honor and dignity of the engineering profession."
Surely, something can be said in defense of a duty to respect and defend the honor of the profession.
Effective professional activity, whether in engineering or any other profession, requires a substantial
degree of trust from clients and the public. Total absence of such trust would undermine the
possibility of making contracts, engaging in cooperative work, exercising professional autonomy free
of excessive regulation, and working under humane conditions. Engineers as individuals and as a
group owe it to the public to sustain a professional climate conducive to meeting their other
obligations to thepublic.
10. Discussin detail about the moral and ethical issues involved in the use of
computers. [May 2017]
With the changing social landscape that naturally follows changes in technology comes a new wave
of ethical issues. These issues must be addressed and resolved for computers, technology and the
Internet to have a positive influence in society. Internet privacy, electronic communication and
computer crimes add a new layer of ethical issues that plague those who use computers and
technology on a daily basis. By identifying the main societal issues in computer usage, you can take a
stand for electronic ethics.
Information and Privacy
The Internet is a veritable smorgasbord of personal information. If you need someone's phone
number, you look it up. If you need to learn more about a company, you visit the website. If you want
to find an old friend, you use social networking. The sheer amount of personal information make it
easy to breach the boundary between using the Internet for learning and information and using the
Internet to invade another's privacy. You can protect yourself by being vague about yourself online
and ensuring your identity is ambiguous and nonspecific.
Copyright and Privacy
Certain items of media, such as public domain books, movies and music, are available for all to enjoy
and even download. Items of media which are copyrighted are not in the public domain and
downloading and distributing them is illegal. Unfortunately, online piracy is widespread and
notoriously difficult to prosecute, so it often goes without consequence. The same could be said for
plagiarism, which is made easier to do and harder to track with the number of resources online.
Computer Crime
The availability of information that can be accessed with a computer paired with a lax attitude toward
security means credit card numbers and identities are constantly at risk. Entering your credit card on a
seemingly innocuous website may seem like an everyday activity, but that site could be a clever scam
designed to fraud you out of your hard-earned money. While the amount and extent of computer
crime is frightening, it's a reality and therefore it's necessary for consumers to protect themselves by
purchasing from trusted retailers or using third-party payment services to protect their money.
Communication Issues
Computers have completely altered the way humans interact with each other. With the invention of
electronic mail, online messaging and social networking sites, face-to-face conversation seems to be a
dying art. Because the communication landscape has changed over time, so have the challenges and
ethics that accompany proper communication, such as discussing certain issues via email, exchanging
personal information without the proper security and forming relationships online.
11. Explain in detail the various advantages and Disadvantages of MNCs.[Nov 2016]
Multinational corporations are enterprises that operate in several countries worldwide. These
organizations have assets and goods or services being offered in more than one country. International
corporations can range from car manufacturers to food chains that exist, a result of globalization, with
consumers and profit in mind. However, these transnational companies are not spared from criticisms
since they also have some negative aspects. Let’s take a look at the benefits and setbacks of
multinational corporations.
1. Cheaper Labor
One of the advantages of multinational corporations is the opportunity to operate in countries where
labor is not as expensive. This is one of the perks that smaller companies do not enjoy. Multinationals
can set up their offices in several countries where demand for their services and products are high
while cheaper labor is available.
2. Broader Market Base
By opening establishments or offices in several countries, multinationals increase their chances of
reaching out to customers on a global scale, a benefit which other companies limited to regional
offices and establishments do not have. The access to more customers gives them more opportunities
to develop and cater their products and services that will fit the needs of potential customers.
3. Tax Cuts
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Multinationals can enjoy lower taxes in other countries for exports and imports, an advantage that
owners of international corporations can take at any given day. And although not all countries can
have lower tariffs, there are those that give tax cuts to investors to attract more international
companies to do business in these countries.
4. Job Creation
When international companies set up branches in other countries, employees and members of the
team are locals. That said, more people are given employment opportunities especially in developing
countries.
List of Disadvantages of Multinational Corporations
1.Potential Abuse of Workers
Multinational companies often invest in developing countries where they can take advantage of
cheaper labor. Some multinational corporations prefer to put up branches in these parts of the world
where there are no stringent policies in labor and where people need jobs because these
multinationals can demand for cheaper labor and lesser healthcare benefits.
2. Threat to Local Businesses
Another disadvantage of multinationals in other countries is their ability to dominate the marker.
These giant corporations can dominate the industries they are in because they have better products
and they can afford to even offer them at lower prices since they have the financial resources to buy
in bulk. This can eat up all the other small businesses offering the same goods and services. Chances
are, local businesses will suffer and worse, close down.
3. Loss of Jobs
With more companies transferring offices and centering operations in other countries, jobs for the
people living in developed countries are threatened. Take the case of multinationals that create
offices
in developing countries for their technical operations and manufacturing. The jobs given to the locals
of the host country should be the jobs enjoyed by the people where the head office is located.
Multinational corporations have both advantages and disadvantages since it creates jobs but can also
end up in the exploitation of workers, among other things. And since they are most likely to stay, it’s
best to create policies to make globalization equitable.
In order to facilitate effective implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the Ministry
of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has released a Circular on ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ (FAQs) with
regard to CSR under Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013. The Circular follows closely on the
heels of the release of a report by the High Level Committee set up by the MCA to suggest measures
for improved monitoring of the implementation of CSR policies in October 2015, and provides clarity
on some of the topics covered in the report. The key highlights of the Circular are:
Applicability of CSR
Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 is applicable to every company registered under the
Act, and any other previous Companies Law, with a net worth of Rs 500 crore or more, or a turnover
of over Rs 1,000 crore or a net profit exceeding Rs 5 crore in any financial year. The circular further
explains that ‘any financial year’ implies any of the three preceding financial years.
No role for government in CSR monitoring
The Circular emphasizes that the government has no role in monitoring CSR activities; it lays
the onus on the board of the company to ensure the quality and efficacy of a CSR project.
The circular states that the government has no role in appointing an appropriate authority for
approving and implementing CSR programmes of a company or in engaging external experts in
monitoring the efficacy of CSR expenditure of companies such as for impact assessments.
Companies’ boards will decide all aspects of CSR
The board of the company takes a call on the CSR expenditure and qualifying activities as
CSR.
CSR projects (and any changes thereof) and their monitoring are subject to the approval of
the company’s board on recommendations of its CSR committee.
Boards or committees are fully competent to engage third parties to have an impact
assessment of CSR programmes to validate compliance of the CSR provisions of the law.
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Current tax exemptions valid for CSR spend
No specific tax exemptions are extended to CSR expenditure. However, certain activities such as
contribution to Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (Section 80G), scientific research (Sections
35(1)(ii), 35(1)(iia), 35(1)(iii), 35(2AA)), rural development projects (Section 35AC), skill
development projects (Section 35CCD), agricultural extension projects (Section 35CCC), etc. aligned
to Schedule VII already enjoy exemptions under different sections as indicated under the Income Tax
Act, 1961. Further, the Finance Act 2014 clarifies that the CSR expenditure does not form part of
business expenditure.
No carry forward for CSR spend
The Circular provides clarification that in case of CSR spend greater than the prescribed CSR
spend (2% of average net profit of three preceding financial years), then the excess cannot be carried
forward to the subsequent years against that year’s prescribed CSR spend.
For any unspent amount of the prescribed CSR spend, the board can chose to carry forward to
the subsequent years, provided it is over and above that year’s prescribed CSR spend.
CSR policy and reporting must for all qualifying companies
The Circular confirms that the contents of the board-approved CSR Policy must be disclosed
in the board of directors’ report and on the company’s website.
All qualifying companies must report in the format provided by the Companies (CSR Policy)
Rules, 2014 on the annual report on CSR.
Further, a foreign company unless otherwise exempted by the central government, should
attach a report on its CSR activity as an annexure to the balance sheet document that it submits to the
Registrar of Companies every calendar year.
Investing in government schemes as CSRThe Circular states that the objective of the CSR Law is to
promote innovative ideas and corporate’s enhanced management skills in discharging social
responsibility that results in greater efficiency and better outcomes. Therefore, CSR should not be
interpreted as a source of financing the resource gaps in government schemes.
The board may decide to supplement government schemes should it be deemed to qualify
under the CSR provisions of the law.
Employee volunteering and in-kind donations
The Circular states that while companies should be encouraged to involve employees in their
CSR activities, monetisation of the pro-bono services provided by employees will not be counted
towards CSR expenditure.
Contribution in kind cannot be monetised to be shown as CSR expenditure unless the
company spends the amount as per Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013.
The Circular reiterates that those activities that benefit only the employees or their families, one-off
events, expenses towards fulfilment of regulatory statutes, contribution to political parties, activities
as part of normal course of business or those undertaken outside of India do not qualify as CSR
expenses. It also reiterates that the contribution to corpus of a trust/ society/ Section 8 companies etc.
will qualify as CSR expenditure as long as the entity is created exclusively for undertaking CSR
activities or where the corpus is created exclusively for a purpose directly relatable to a Schedule VII
item.
13. Explain the role of engineers as consultant and expert witnesses.[May 2017][April/May2018]
An expert witness is a witness who has knowledge beyond that of the ordinary lay person enabling
him/her to give testimony regarding an issue that requires expertise to understand.” USLEGAL goes
on to explain, “Experts are allowed to give opinion testimony which a non-expert witness may be
prohibited from testifying to. In court, the party offering the expert must lay a foundation for the
expert’s testimony. Laying the foundation involves testifying about the expert’s credentials and
experience that qualifies him/her as an expert. Sometimes the opposing party will stipulate (agree to)
to the expert’s qualifications in the interests of judicial economy.”
Practitioner Seminar
Mike Drerup, P.E. of Walter P. Moore just delivered a great practitioner lecture on the topic to
students in the AE 537 Building Failures class in architectural engineering at Penn State. His
lecture is a must see if you ever get the chance to attend one. In addition to covering terminology
such as “standard of care”, depositions, chain of custody on evidence, etc., Mr. Drerup discussed the
14. Discuss the ethical roles of engineers in weapon development with suitable examples.
[April/May 2018]
The first two seek to clarify the subject of this conference, ethical issues in the global arms industry.
The third sketches the role engineers have in much of the global arms industry. The last part
considers one way that engineers might help with resolving some of the industry’s ethical issues.
While the first part of this paper should contain few surprises,
Dilemmas and Defense Let me begin with two differences between the official title of this conference
and the title of my paper. First, I have substituted “issues” for “dilemmas”. Second, I have substituted
“arms” for “defense”. The purpose of these changes is to avoid unnecessary disputes rather than to
change the subject of the conference. Let me explain. A “dilemma” is a situation in which a difficult
choice has to be made between two (or more) equally undesirable alternatives.1 If the alternatives
were not equally undesirable, the choice would be easy: choose the more desirable alternative. There
would be no dilemma (though the choice might, like most good choices, have its cost). My
impression is that the main ethical issues, questions, problems, or quandaries posed by the global
arms industry are not dilemmas (in this sense) but complex situations in which most of the choices on
offer are hard to assess and many of the best choices have yet to be devised. Indeed, many of the
issues, questions, problems, or quandaries are so ill-defined that we cannot say what a good choice
would look like. We are dealing with a subject requiring the work philosophers typically do. We must
understand the issues before we can have anything so tidy as a dilemma. Hence, my substitution of
“issue” for “dilemma”. I might have used “problem”, “question”, “quandary”, or some other catch-all
instead of “issue”.
Ethical issues “Ethics” has at least three uses potentially relevant here. First, it can be a synonym for
ordinary morality, those standards of conduct that apply to all moral agents simply because they are
moral agents—“Don’t kill”, “Keep your promises”, “Help the needy”, and so on. Second, “ethics”
can refer to those morally binding standards that apply to members of a group simply because they
are members of that group. Legal ethics applies to lawyers and no one else; business ethics to people
in business and no one else; and so on. Third, “ethics” can refer to a field of philosophy, that is, the
attempt to understand morality (including its special standards) as part of a reasonable undertaking.
Other names for “ethics” in this third sense include “moral theory” and “ethical theory”. I shall
hereafter reserve “ethics” for the special-standards sense, using “morality” for the first sense and
“moral theory”
Engineers in the global arms industry Engineers have had a significant role in the arms industry since
at least the 1700s. Their role has only increased as the products of the arms industry have become
more sophisticated. Today one in ten US engineers works in military-related industry, including
about 39,000 electrical engineers (just under 14% of all US electrical engineers) and about 6,000
aerospace engineers (just under 19% of all aerospace engineers).8 Engineers design weapons and
other equipment the military needs, test them, sell them, and oversee their manufacture, maintenance,
and even disposal. Indeed, it is hard to imagine today’s arms industry without engineers, not only
“bench engineers” but technical managers up to, and often including, senior management.9 So, for
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example, of Lockheed Martin’s eight vice presidents, three are engineers.10 There is no reason to
think that engineers do not have a similar part with respect to most products of the global arms
industry or, at least, most of its most distinctive products.
Examples:
Suppose, for example, that a certain large African country contacts a US manufacturer of modern jet
fighters in order to buy twenty for its air force. The sale is likely to be a long process, lasting months
or even years. At an early stage, the US manufacturer would have to send out engineers to assess the
African country’s airbases, maintenance practices, pilot training, local suppliers, and so on. A jet
fighter requires a complex technological system to operate. The would-be customer may be surprised
to learn that its runways are too short, that its fuel storage is inadequate, that its maintenance staff
will have to be larger, better trained, and provided with more sophisticated tools, and so on. While
some of this information is typically public, some is not, being proprietary or classified. Much of it
will, in any case, be in a form engineers are used to and others are not.
The African country will need its own engineers to talk to those of the US manufacturer. The African
country need not agree to all the requirements that the US manufacturer seeks to impose as part of the
sale. It may suggest changes in the design of the jet fighters so that, for example, they can use fuel
that the African country is already using for other aircraft. Indeed, after a full assessment, the parties
may agree on a less sophisticated fighter. In any case, the final specifications for the fighter,
including training, support, munitions, replacement parts, and so on, should be the result (in part) of
extensive negotiations between the engineers of the US manufacturer and those of the African
country.11 Though the terms of such a sale are, in principle, entirely under the control of the US
manufacturer’s senior management and theAfrican country’s senior government officials, in practice
many of the decisions, perhaps most, will be made by engineers, some quite junior, no one else
having the information, time, and skills to appreciate their import.
The involvement of engineers typically does not end with the writing of specifications or even with
the signing of the sales contract. Engineers will oversee the manufacture of the planes, not only
making sure that every part satisfies the specifications and the whole is constructed
properly but also changing the specifications if, say, there is difficulty getting a specified part or a
better part has become available. Given that there will typically be several years between the initial
writing of specifications and the delivery of the last jet fighter, there may be many changes in the
specifications, most quietly made by agreement among engineers. Some of these changes will, of
course, be “no brainers”, but a substantial number may involve painful balancing of cost, reliability,
timeliness, and so on. So, for example, a new part may be cheaper and, based on experience, as good
as the old. But, since the part is new, experience with it must be short. The part may fail long before it
should. Who knows? The engineers will have to rely on experience with parts analogous in one way
or another to forecast the probable failure date of the new part— and decide accordingly. There may
be a good deal of discussion between the manufacturer’s engineers and those of the African country.
The relationship between the engineers of the US manufacturer and those of the African country
should not end when the last fighter is delivered. The US engineers should keep the African
engineers informed of problems identified in similar aircraft elsewhere in the world and the solutions
devised. The African engineers in turn should advise the US engineers of any problems they identify
in the jets they purchased, anything from unusual wear on engine blades to difficulty getting ground
crews to comply with required maintenance procedures. The purpose of this exchange of technical
information between the manufacturer’s engineers and those of the African country is not simply to
maintain the fighters; it is in part to improve them where possible, not only the fighters that the
African country has purchased but other fighters in that family, both those yet to be built and those
already in use elsewhere in the world. In principle, this exchange of information should continue until
the last fighter delivered has ceased to exist. That is normal engineering.
While much of this exchange of information will go on long-distance, some of it may require “site
visits”, for example, to see the troublesome dust clouds possibly contributing to unusual engine wear
or the conditions under which maintenance must actually be performed. The relationship between a
manufacturer’s engineers and those of a customer can be both intimate and enduring. There is often a
tension between the legal department’s “arm’s length” conception of how information should be
shared and the engineers’ conception (something more like a long hug than a handshake). For
example, engineers of a manufacturer can seldom do a good job of designing a sophisticated piece of
equipment without knowing how it will be used,under what conditions, and for how long. Similarly, a
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customer purchasing such equipment cannot be as helpful in its design as it could be unless it knows
the details of manufacture, including some trade secrets and (in the case of a fighter jet) even some
highly classified information.
15. Explain the significance of Environmental Ethics for an Engineer by giving examples of environmental issue.
[May 2019]
Environmental Ethics
Environmental ethics is the study to explore the ethical roots of the environmental movement and to
understand what ethics tells us about our responsibility to
the environment.
Engineers and the environment
It is evident that engineers are usually creators of technology that contributes to environmental
degradation as well as environmental improvement;
Therefore they should have a professional obligation to protect the environment.
Also as agents of change and experimenters, engineers have a vital role to play in protecting
the environment.
Types of Concern for Environment
There are two types of concern for the environment. They are:
1. Health-related concern
Engineers can be concerned for the environment when environmental pollution poses a direct
and clear threat to human health.
This is called as a health-related concern for the environment.
2. Non-health-related concern
Engineers can also be concerned for the environment even when human wealth
Environmental Ethics
Environmental ethics is the study to explore the ethical roots of the environmental movement and to
understand what ethics tells us about our responsibility to the environment.
Engineers and the environment
It is evident that engineers are usually creators of technology that contributes to environmental
degradation as well as environmental improvement;
Therefore they should have a professional obligation to protect the environment.
Also as agents of change and experimenters, engineers have a vital role to play in protecting the
environment.
Types of Concern for Environment
There are two types of concern for the environment. They are:
1. Health-related concern
Engineers can be concerned for the environment when environmental pollution poses a direct and
clear threat to human health.
This is called as a health-related concern for the environment.
2. Non-health-related concern
Engineers can also be concerned for the environment even when human wealth