Ethics in Engineering Practice

Lecture No (1,2,3): Introduction to Ethical Reasoning and Engineering Ethics

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

1
Outline of the module
Engineering Profession – Own self views vs. Public views
Why Ethics in Engineering
Professional vs. Personal ethics
What is Engineering Ethics?
Situations of ethical issues for Engineers
Understanding the distinction between Ethics, Morals and Laws
Opinions vs. Judgments – Can we base our ethics on opinions and judgments ?
An overview of ethical theories
Which theory should we use
The Classic Case on Engineering ethics – The Aberdeen Three
Source: Engineering Ethics, Fourth edition Charles B. Fleddermann, Prentice Hall and
Ethics in Engineering Practice and Resercah, Caroline Whitback, Cambridge University Press
Introduction to Engineering Ethics, Martin and Schinzinger, McGraw-Hill

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Herbert Hoover (views on engineering)
• “The great liability of the engineer compared to men
of other professions is that his works are out in the
open where all can see them. His acts, step by step,
are in hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in
the grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them
into thin air or blame the judge like the lawyers….He
cannot, like the politician, screen his shortcomings
by blaming his opponents and hope that the people
will forget. The engineer simply cannot deny that
he did it. If his works do not work, he is damned
forever.”
(Terman, 1965)

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 The Engineering Profession
How Engineers view themselves? How Public views
How engineers view themselves: engineering ?
Problem-solvers
The Engineer’s Role
Engineering is enjoyable; esprit de
corps • Engineers as Utilitarians
Engineering benefits people, • Engineers as Positivists
provides a public service
• Applied Physical Scientists
Engineering provides the most
freedom of all professions A socialist approach – Engineers are drivers for
(Florman, 1976) converting technology to their benefit
Engineering is an honorable Rational, logical and systematic approaches to
profession problem solving tend to alienate the engineer
from the public because of the technicalities

Faculty Name
Department Name 4
 Why Ethics in engineering?

The National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) is most widely recognized

governing body of engineers which decides the overall standards and codes of
ethics for all the engineering professions in US and serves as a reference point for
others bodies in the world.
The Preamble of the NSPE Code of Conduct for Engineers (2007) states
“Engineers shall at all times recognize that their primary obligation is to protect
the safety, health, property, and welfare of the public. If their professional
judgment is overruled under circumstances where the safety, health, property, or
welfare of the public are endangered, they shall notify their employer or client and
such other authority as may be appropriate.”

5
 Continued
Engineering occurs at the confluence of technology, social
science, and business
Engineering is done by people and for people
Engineers’ decisions have a impact on all three areas in the confluence
The public nature of an engineer’s work ensures that ethics will always play a role

Thus, it becomes importance for engineers to make sure that the interest of the
groups to be affected prevails over their own interest of profit.

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 Personal vs. Professional Ethics
It is important to make a distinction between personal ethics and professional, or
business, ethics, although there isn’t always a clear boundary between the two.

Personal ethics deals with how we treat others in our day-to-day lives. Many of these
principles are applicable to ethical situations that occur in business and engineering.

However, professional ethics often involves choices on an organizational level rather than
a personal level. Many of the problems will seem different because they involve
relationships between two corporations, between a corporation and the government, or
between corporations and groups of individuals.
(Fleddermann, 2012)

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 What is Engineering Ethics
According to Martin and Schinzinger (1996), Engineering ethics relate to;

“(1) the study of the moral issues and decisions confronting individuals and
organizations involved in engineering;

(2) the study of related questions about moral conduct, character, policies,
and relationships of people and corporations involved in technological
activity”

(Martin and Schinzinger 1996, pp. 23)

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 Situations of Ethical issues
Engineering ethics is concerned with the question of what the standards in engineering ethics
should be and how to apply these standards to particular situations. (Harris, Pritchard, and
Rabins 1995, pp. 14)

Situations where ethical issues can arise:

Conceptualization, Design, Testing, Manufacturing, Sales, Service
Supervision and Project Teams
Project timelines and budgets Other fields where ethics are
Expectations, opinions, or judgments critical
Products: Unsafe or Less than Useful Medical Ethics
Designed for obsolescence Legal Ethics
Inferior materials or components Business Ethics
Unforeseen harmful effects to society Scientific Ethics

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Engineering Tasks and Possible Outcomes

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Engineer’s ethical decisions have a far reaching
impact on :

•The Products and Services (safety and utility)

•The Company and its Stockholders
•The Public and Society (benefits to the people)
•Environment (Earth and beyond
•The Profession (how the public views it)
•The Law (how legislation affects the profession and industry)
•Personal Position (job, internal moral conflict)

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Mistakes (made by engineers) can be costly

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 Ethics, Morals, and the Law
Morals
Principles of right and wrong
Ethics
A set of moral principles guiding
behavior and action
Laws
Binding codes of conduct;
formally recognized and
enforced
Company Policies

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Opinions vs. Judgments

(Ref: Whitbeck , 2011)

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 Ethical theories that are a matter of concern
There are There are four ethical theories that will be considered here, each differing according to what is held to be
the most important moral concept.

Utilitarianism seeks to produce the most utility, defined as a balance between good and bad consequences of an
action, taking into account the consequences for everyone affected.

A different approach is provided by duty ethics. Duty ethics contends that there are duties that should be
performed (for example, the duty to treat others fairly or the duty not to injure others) regardless of whether these
acts lead to the most good.

Rights ethics emphasizes that we all have moral rights, and any action that violates these rights is ethically
unacceptable. Like duty ethics, the ultimate overall good of the actions is not taken into account.

Finally, virtue ethics regards actions as right that manifest good character traits (virtues) and regards actions as bad
that display bad character traits (vices); this ethical theory focuses on the type of person we should strive for to be.

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 Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism – Utilitarianism holds that those actions are good that serve to maximize
human well-being. emphasis in utilitarianism is not on maximizing the well-being of the
individual, but rather on maximizing the well-being of society as a whole, and as such it
is somewhat of a collectivist approach.

An example of this theory that has been played out in this country many times over
the past century is the building of dams.

Dams often lead to great benefit t to society by providing stable supplies of drinking
water, flood control, and recreational opportunities. However, these benefits often
come at the expense of people who live in areas that will be flooded by the dam and
are required to find new homes, or lose the use of their land. Utilitarianism tries to
balance the needs of society with the needs of the individual.

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 Tenets of utilitarianism
Act utilitarianism focuses on individual actions rather than on rules. The best
known proponent of act utilitarianism was John Stuart Mill (1806–1873), who
felt that most of the common rules of morality (e.g., don’t steal, be honest,
don’t harm others) are good guidelines derived from centuries of human
experience.

Rule utilitarianism differs from act utilitarianism in holding that moral rules are
most important. As mentioned previously, these rules include “do not harm
others” and “do not steal.” Rule utilitarians hold that although adhering to
these rules might not always maximize good in a particular situation, overall,
adhering to moral rules will ultimately lead to the most good.

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 Criticism of Utilitarian approach

Sometimes what is best for everyone may be bad for a particular individual or a
group of individuals.

Another objection to utilitarianism is that its implementation depends greatly

on knowing what will lead to the most good. Frequently, it is impossible to know
exactly what the consequences of an action are.

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 Cost–Benefit Analysis in engineering
In cost–benefit analysis, the costs of a project are assessed, as are the
benefits. Only those projects with the highest ratio of benefits to costs will
be implemented. This principle is similar to the utilitarian goal of
maximizing the overall good.
The Pitfalls of Cost-benefit analysis
For eg. from a pure cost–benefit discussion, it might seem that the
building of a dam is an excellent idea. But this analysis won’t include other
issues such as whether the benefits outweigh the loss of a scenic wilderness
area or the loss of an endangered species with no current economic value.
Finally, it is also important to determine whether those who stand to reap
the benefits are also those who will pay the costs. It is unfair to place all of
the costs on one group while another reaps the benefits.

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 Duty ethics
Two other ethical theories—duty ethics and rights ethics—are similar to each other and will be
considered together.
These theories hold that those actions are good that respect the rights of the individual. Here, good
consequences for society as a whole are not the only moral consideration.
A major proponent of duty ethics was Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), who held that moral duties are
fundamental. Ethical actions are those actions that could be written down on a list of duties: be honest,
don’t cause suffering to other people, be fair to others, etc.
These actions are our duties because they express respect for persons, express an unqualified regard for
autonomous moral agents, and are universal principles [ Schinzinger and Martin, 2000 ].
Once one’s duties are recognized, the ethically correct moral actions are obvious. In this formulation,
ethical acts are a result of proper performance of one’s duties.

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 Rights ethics

Rights ethics was largely formulated by John Locke (1632–1704), whose

statement that humans have the right to life, liberty, and property was
paraphrased in the Declaration of Independence of the soon-to-be
United States of America in 1776. Rights ethics holds that people have
fundamental rights that other people have a duty to respect.

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 Criticism of Rights and Duty Ethics
First the basic rights of one person (or group) may conflict with the
basic rights of another group.
How do we decide whose rights have priority? Using our previous
example of the building of a dam, people have the right to use their
property. If their land happens to be in the way of a proposed dam,
then rights ethics would hold that this property right is paramount and
is sufficient to stop the dam project. A single property holder’s
objection would require that the project be terminated.
The second problem with duty and rights ethics is that these theories
don’t always account for the overall good of society very well.

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 Virtue Ethics
Virtue ethics is interested in determining what kind of people we should be.
Virtue is often defined as moral distinction and goodness. A virtuous person
exhibits good and beneficial qualities.
In virtue ethics, actions are considered right if they support good character
traits (virtues) and wrong if they support bad character traits (vices) [
Schinzinger and Martin, 2000 ].
Virtue ethics focuses on words such as responsibility, honesty, competence,
and loyalty, which are virtues. Other virtues might include trustworthiness,
fairness, caring, citizenship, and respect. Vices could include dishonesty,
disloyalty, irresponsibility, or incompetence.

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 Continued
We can use virtue ethics in our engineering career by answering questions
such as:
Is this action honest? Will this action demonstrate loyalty to my
community and/or my employer? Have I acted in a responsible fashion?
Often, the answer to these questions makes the proper course of action
obvious. To use virtue ethics in an analysis of an ethical problem, you should
first identify the virtues or vices that are applicable to the situation. Then,
determine what course of action each of these suggests.
In using virtue ethics, it is important to ensure that the traits you identify
as virtues are indeed virtuous and will not lead to negative consequences

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McCuen’s Ethical Dimensions

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 Which theory to use?
Now that we have discussed four different ethical theories, the
question arises: How do we decide which theory is applicable to a
given problem?
The good news is that in solving ethical problems, we don’t have to
choose from among these theories.
Rather, we can use all of them to analyze a problem from different
angles and see what result each of the theories gives us.
This allows us to examine a problem from different perspectives to
see what conclusion each one reaches. Frequently, the result will be
the same even though the theories are very different.

26
 Continued
Take, for example, a chemical plant near a small city that discharges a hazardous waste
into the groundwater. If the city takes its water from wells, the water supply for the city
will be compromised and significant health problems for the community may result.
Rights ethics indicates that this pollution is unethical, since it causes harm to many of the
residents.
A utilitarian analysis would probably also come to the same conclusion, since the
economic benefits of the plant would almost certainly be outweighed by the negative
effects of the pollution and the costs required to ensure a safe municipal water supply.
Virtue ethics would say that discharging wastes into groundwater is irresponsible and
harmful to individuals and so shouldn’t be done. In this case, all of the ethical theories
lead to the same conclusion.

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Classic case of engineering ethics

28
Continued

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 Other ethical theories for reference

Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning development which is Built

on Jean Piaget’s theory of developmental stages

Cognitive-Dissonance and Ethical Reasoning - C-D Theory proposed by Leon

Festinger (1959)

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 Faculty Name
Department Name 31
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No (4,5) :Professional Practice in Engineering

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

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Outline of the module
Defining Profession
Attributes of a profession
Engineering as profession
Difference in Engineering and other professions
Ethical dilemma
 Code of Ethics
What a code of ethics is not
 Essentialities of a code of ethic
Abuse of codes
Ethical Relativism
Cases for discussion
Source: Ethics in Engineering Practice and Resercah, Caroline Whitback, Cambridge
Code of ethics for engineers in India University Press and Introduction to Engineering Ethics, Martin and Schinzinger, McGraw-Hill
 Defining Profession
Professions are those occupations that both require advanced study and
mastery of a specialized body of knowledge, and undertake to promote,
ensure, or safeguard some aspect of others’ well-being.
Attributes of a profession-

1. Work that requires sophisticated skills, the use of judgment, and the
exercise of discretion. Also, the work is not routine and is not capable of being
mechanized.

2. Membership in the profession requires extensive formal education, not

simply practical training or apprenticeship.

3
34
 Continued
The public allows special societies or organizations that are controlled by
members of the profession to set standards for admission to the profession,
to set standards of conduct for members, and to enforce these standards.

4. Significant public good results from the practice of the profession [

Schinzinger and Martin, 2000 ].

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 Essence of Judgment and Discretion
The terms “judgment” and “discretion” mentioned in attributes of a profession
require a little amplification. In a profession, “judgment” refers to making significant
decisions based on formal training and experience. In general, the decisions will have
serious impacts on people’s lives and will often have important implications regarding
the spending of large amounts of money.

Discretion” involves being discrete in the performance of one’s duties by keeping

information about customers, clients, and patients confidential. This confidentiality is
essential for engendering a trusting relationship and is a hallmark of professions. One
thing not mentioned in the attributes of a profession is the compensation received by
a professional for his services. Although most professionals tend to be relatively well
compensated, high pay is not a sufficient condition for professional status.

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 Well-being and Profession
What is distinctive about the ethical demands professions make on their practitioners
is the combination of the responsibility for some aspect of others’ well-being and the
complexity of the knowledge and information that they must integrate in acting to
promote that well-being.

Professional practice requires acquisition of the special knowledge and skill peculiar to
one’s profession and application of that knowledge to achieve certain ends.

The further requirement for an occupation to be a profession, namely, that the ends it
seeks are to preserve or promote some aspect of human well-being, distinguishes
professions from disciplines, such as mathematics or philosophy. Code of ethics are
formulated to make sure that professions clearly address aspects of human well-being.

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 Engineering as a Profession
Certainly, engineering requires extensive and sophisticated skills. Otherwise,
why spend four years in college just to get a start in engineering? The essence
of engineering design is judgment: how to use the available materials,
components, and devices to reach a specified objective.

Discretion is required in engineering: Engineers are required to keep their

employers’ or clients’ intellectual property and business information
confidential.

38
 Continued

Engineering requires extensive formal training. Four years of undergraduate

training leading to a bachelor’s degree in an engineering program is essential,
followed by work under the supervision of an experienced engineer. Many
engineering jobs even require advanced degrees beyond the bachelor’s
degree. The work of engineers serves the public good by providing
communication systems, transportation, energy resources, and medical
diagnostic and treatment equipment, to name only a few.

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 Differences between Engineering and Other
Professions
Although we have determined that engineering is a profession, it should be noted that
there are significant differences between how engineering is practiced and how other
professions like law and medicine are practiced.

Lawyers are typically self-employed in private practice, essentially an independent

business, or in larger group practices with other lawyers. Relatively few are employed
by large organizations such as corporations.

Until recently, this was also the case for most physicians, although with the
accelerating trend toward managed care and HMOs in the past decade, many more
physicians work for large corporations rather than in private practice.

40
 Continued
Training for engineers is different than for physicians and lawyers.

Finally, engineering doesn’t have the social stature that law and medicine
have (a fact that is partly reflected in the lower pay that engineers receive as
compared to that of lawyers and doctors). Despite these differences, on
balance, engineering is still clearly a profession

In contrast, engineers generally practice their profession very differently from

physicians and lawyers.

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 Continued
Most engineers are not self-employed, but more often are a small part of larger
companies involving many different occupations, including accountants,
marketing specialists, and extensive numbers of less skilled manufacturing
employees

The exception to this rule is civil engineers, who generally practice as

independent consultants either on their own or in engineering firms similar in
many ways to law firms.

When employed by large corporations, engineers are rarely in significant

managerial positions, except with regard to managing other engineers.
Although engineers are paid well compared to the rest of society, they are
generally less well compensated than physicians and lawyers.

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 Ethical dilemmas
Ethical (or moral) dilemmas are situations in which moral reasons come
into conflict, or in which the applications of moral values are unclear,
and it is not immediately obvious what should be done.

Ethical dilemmas arise in engineering, as elsewhere, because moral

values are many and varied and can make competing claims. Yet,
although moral dilemmas comprise the most difficult occasions for
moral reasoning, they constitute a relatively small percentage of moral
choices, that is, decisions involving moral values.

Code of ethics serve as guide for resolving ethical dilemmas.

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 Code of Ethics
Codes of ethics are not limited to professional organizations. They can
also be found, for example, in corporations and universities as well.
These codes express the rights, duties, and obligations of the members
of the profession.
Primarily, a code of ethics provides a framework for ethical judgment
for a professional.
Codes serve as a starting point for ethical decision making.
A code defines the roles and responsibilities of professionals [Harris,
Pritchard, and Rabins, 2000 ].

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 What a code of ethics is not
It is important also to look at what a code of ethics is not. It is not a
recipe for ethical behavior; as previously stated, it is only a framework
for arriving at good ethical choices.

A code of ethics is never a substitute for sound judgment. A code of

ethics is not a legal document.

A code of ethics doesn’t create new moral or ethical principles.

45
 Right-wrong or Better-worse
We might divide ethical dilemmas into two broad categories. On the
one hand, many dilemmas have solutions that are either right or wrong.

“Right” means that one course of action is obligatory, and failing to do

that action is unethical (immoral). In most instances a code of ethics
specifies what is clearly required:

 Obey the law and heed engineering standards,

 do not offer or accept bribes,
 speak and write truthfully, maintain confidentiality, and so forth.

46
 Continued

On the other hand, some dilemmas have two or more reasonable

solutions, no one of which is mandatory, but one of which should be
chosen. These solutions might be better or worse than others in some
respects but not necessarily in all respects.

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Code of Ethics – Resolving situations of conflict

Codes of ethics play at least eight essential roles:

1. serving and protecting the public,
2. providing guidance,
3. offering inspiration,
4. establishing shared standards,
5. supporting responsible professionals,
6. contributing to education,
7. deterring wrongdoing, and
8. strengthening a profession’s image.

48
 Continued
1. Serving and protecting the public.
Engineering involves advanced expertise that professionals have
and the public lacks, and also considerable dangers to a
vulnerable public. Accordingly, professionals stand in a fiduciary
relationship with the public: Trust and trustworthiness are
essential. A code of ethics functions as a commitment by the
profession as a whole that engineers will serve the public health,
safety, and welfare. In one way or another, the remaining
functions of codes all contribute to this primary function.

49
 Continued
2. Guidance.
Codes provide helpful guidance by articulating the main obligations of
engineers. Because codes should be brief to be effective, they offer
mostly general guidance. Nonetheless,
when well written, they identify primary responsibilities. More
specific directions may be given in supplementary statements
or guidelines, which tell how to apply the code.

50
 Continued
3. Inspiration.
Because codes express a profession’s collective commitment to ethics,
they provide a positive stimulus (motivation) for ethical conduct. In a
powerful way, they voice what it means to be a member of a profession
committed to responsible conduct in promoting the safety, health, and
welfare of the public. Although this paramount ideal is somewhat
vague, it expresses a collective commitment to the public good that
inspires individuals to have similar aspirations.

51
 Continued
4. Shared standards.
The diversity of moral viewpoints among individual engineers makes
it essential that professions establish explicit standards, in particular
minimum (but hopefully high) standards. In this way, the public is
assured of a standard of excellence on which it can depend, and
professionals are provided a fair playing field in competing for clients.

52
 Continued
5. Support for responsible professionals.
Codes give positive support to professionals seeking to act ethically. A
publicly proclaimed code allows an engineer, under pressure to act
unethically, to say: “I am bound by the code of ethics of my profession,
which states that . . .” This by itself gives engineers some group backing
in taking stands on moral issues. Moreover, codes can potentially serve
as legal support for engineers criticized for living
up to work-related professional obligations.

53
 Continued
6. Education and mutual understanding.
Codes can be used by professional societies and in the classroom to
prompt discussion and reflection on moral issues. Widely circulated an
officially approved by professional societies, codes encourage a shared
understanding among professionals, the public, and government
organizations about the moral responsibilities of engineers. A case in
point is NSPE’s BER, which actively promotes moral discussion by
applying the NSPE code to cases for educational purposes.

54
 Continued
7. Deterrence and discipline.
Codes can also serve as the formal basis for investigating unethical conduct.
Where such investigation is possible, a deterrent for immoral behavior is
thereby provided. Such an investigation generally requires paralegal
proceedings designed to get at the truth about a given charge without violating
the personal rights of those being investigated. Unlike the American Bar
Association and some other professional groups, engineering societies cannot
by themselves revoke the right to practice engineering in the United States. Yet
some professional societies do suspend or expel members whose professional
conduct has been proven unethical, and this alone can be a powerful sanction
when combined with the loss of respect from colleagues and the local
community that such action is bound to produce.

55
 Continued
8. Contributing to the profession’s image.
Codes can present a positive image to the public of an ethically
committed profession. Where warranted, the image can help engineers
more effectively serve the public. It can also win greater powers of self
regulation for the profession itself, while lessening the demand for
more government regulation. The reputation of a profession, like the
reputation of an individual professional or a corporation, is essential in
sustaining the trust of the public.

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 Abuse of Codes
When codes are not taken seriously within a profession, they
amount to a kind of window dressing that ultimately increases.
Probably the worst abuse of engineering codes is to restrict
honest moral effort on the part of individual engineers to
preserve the profession’s public image and protect the status
quo.
Preoccupation with keeping a shiny public image may silence
healthy dialogue and criticism.

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 Ethical Relativism
Does a profession’s code of ethics create the obligations that are
incumbent on members of the profession, so that engineers’ obligations
are entirely relative to their code of ethics? Or does the code simply
record the obligations that already exist?
One view is that codes try to put into words obligations that already
exist, whether or not the code is written.
As Stephen Unger writes, codes “recognize” obligations that already
exist: “A code of professional ethics may be thought of as a collective
recognition of the responsibilities of the individual practitioners”; codes
cannot be “used in cookbook fashion to resolve complex problems,” but
instead they are “valuable in outlining the factors to be considered.

58
 Continued
Michael Davis disagrees, and he places far greater emphasis on
professional codes of ethics. In his view, codes are conventions
established within professions to promote the public good. As such,
they are morally authoritative. The code itself generates obligations: “a
code of ethics is, as such, not merely good advice or a statement of
aspiration. It is a standard of conduct which, if generally realized in the
practice of a profession, imposes a moral obligation on each member of
the profession to act accordingly.”

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 An important point for discussion

Are codes a substitute for individual responsibility

in grappling with concrete dilemmas?

60
An engineer who sacrificed his life for ethical concerns

61
A case of negligence

62
Code of Ethics for engineers in India

63
Continued

64
Continued

Source: http://www.cidc.in/new/support/PE/ECI-Code%20of%20%20Ethics

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66
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No (6,7): Central Professional Responsibilities of Engineers

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

1
Outline of the module

Professional responsibilities of an engineer

Confidentiality and Proprietary Information - What types of information
should be kept confidential? And why?
Conflict of interest – Types and how to avoid the situations of conflict
Competitive bidding
Rights of an Engineer

2
A case to see whether Rights and Responsibilities of engineers
matter or not?

In the case above, Do you think that rights and responsibilities of engineers were respected by BART?

3
 Introduction
Despite the fact that the codes of ethics of the professional engineering
societies clearly point out the responsibilities of an engineer, the codes don’t
discuss any of the professional rights that engineers enjoy.

An engineer has a duty to protect the public, by blowing the whistle if

necessary, when he perceives that something improper is being done in his
organization. The engineer has a right to do this even if his employer feels
that it is bad for the organization.

The same point has been highlighted in the case mentioned in the previous
slide as well.
Faculty Name
Department Name 4
 Professional responsibilities of an Engineer

(A) Confidentiality and Proprietary Information

(B) Conflict of Interest
(C) Competitive Bidding
And
(D) Is safety an emerging and much talked about new right of engineers?

5
 Confidentiality and Proprietary Information
A unique characteristic of the majority of professions is the requirement that
members of the profession ‘shall or should’ keep certain information of their
client secret or confidential.

The clause of Confidentiality is also mentioned in most of the draft of the

engineering codes of ethics. This is a well-established principle in other
professions as well such as medicine, where the patient’s medical information
must be kept confidential, and in law, where attorney–client privilege is a
well-established doctrine. This applies to engineering profession as well.

6
 Why must some engineering information be
kept confidential?
The information is of great value if it relates to a unique formula about how a
product is being manufactured or even if its is about how a business is being
run or who are the core suppliers who are providing raw materials at very
competitive rates

The information if leaked can help the competitors surpass us or even destroy
our business to a major extent

So must be kept confidential.

7
 What types of information should be kept
confidential?
Confidential Data
Results
Information about upcoming unreleased products
Information about designs or formulas for products.
Business information concerning the number of employees working on a
project, the identity of suppliers, marketing strategies, production costs, and
production yields.
Engineers today are required to sign a non disclosure agreement which
binds them from sharing any information with outsiders.
Government organizations like in Defense sector have more stringent rules
because of the security issues.

8
 Conflict of Interest
• It is important for any professional to avoid the conflict of interest
and the same applies to engineer profession as well.
• A situation of conflict of interest arises “when an interest, if
pursued, could keep a professional from meeting one of his
obligations [ Martin and Schinzinger, 2000].
• For example, The chief engineer who is entrusted with the
responsibility to select the best bid for construction project by the
government has its own company bidding for the same project - an
obvious case of actual conflict of interest

9
 Types of conflict of interests
• Actual conflicts of interest – as mentioned in the previous example

• Potential conflict of interest - An engineer becoming friends with

cement supplier for a project could in future lead to a compromising
situation

• Appearance of a conflict of interest – An engineering creating

expensive designs because he is paid the fee as a certain percentage
of the overall cost of design. He might end up making very expensive
designs to earn a large fee.

10
 Avoiding conflict of interest

• Follow the guidance of the company policy

• Take opinion from manager or co-workers

• Use your own judgment to decide if it is ethical or not.

11
 Competitive Bidding
• In simplest of terms, competitive bidding is a process by which a contracting
firm selects from amongst the competing vendors or contractors who have
submitted bids for a project.

• Engineers are restricted from competitive bidding for a variety of reasons.

• This seems to undignified for a profession like engineering which has the
potential to impact so many lives.

• This would make the “price” the most important and determining factor for
contacts which would lead to engineers cutting corners on design work and
could ultimately undermine engineers’ duty to protect the safety and
welfare of the public.

12
 The Emerging Consensus on the Responsibility
for Safety among Engineers
• Engineering students are often taught that safety is their responsibility.
• Do you agree ?Please refer to the case below and provide your views on the same

Source (cf): Ethics in Engineering Resercah and practice, Whitbeck

13
 Rights of an engineer
• Engineers also have rights that go with their profession.

• There are basic fundamental rights as well like the right to privacy,
the right to participate in activities of one’s own choosing outside of
work, the right to reasonably object to company policies without
fear of retribution, and the right to due process.

• As per Martin and Schinzinger, 2000, the most fundamental right of

an engineer is the right of professional conscience. The right to
apply own professional judgment while discharging duties.

14
 The right to Whistle blowing
• Whistle-blowing occurs when an employee informs the public or
higher management of unethical or illegal behavior being conducted
by an employer or supervisor.
• Engineers undoubtedly have a duty to protect and health of the
general public. In many cases engineers may be compelled to blow
the whistle as it happened in the opening a case given in the
beginning of the module.
• Whistle blowing could be acknowledged or anonymous whistle
blowing.

15
 Continued
• Anonymous whistle blowing occurs when the employee who is
blowing the whistle refuses to reveal his name when making
allegations. This can be done by sending a mail or an anonymous
memo to upper management.
• On the other hand, acknowledged whistle-blowing occurs when the
employee points out the accusations openly and is willing to
withstand the inquiry brought on by his accusations.
• Whistle-blowing can be very bad from a corporation’s point of view
because it can lead to distrust, disharmony, and an inability of
employees to work together.

16
 When should whistle blowing should be
attempted?
Follow the four point rule:
• Need: Make sure whistle blowing is required to avoid the
prospective harm.
• Proximity: First hand knowledge is essential before you blow the
whistle. The things should be happening in proximity from they can
be detected or evaluated.
• Capability : The whistle-blower must have a reasonable chance of
success in stopping the harmful activity.
• Last resort : Make sure it is only option left with you

17
 Preventing Whistle-Blowing
• From an employer’s perspective it is equally important to see if the
whistle blowing can be prevented as it may substantially harm the
image of the organization as a whole. Following measures can help a
great deal in making sure that the need to blow the whistle never arises;
• There must be a strong corporate ethics culture. Clear commitment to
ethics must be established in the organization.
• There should be clear lines of communication. Openness can help a lot
in curbing the situations well in advance.
• All employees must have meaningful access to high-level managers in
order to bring their concerns forward.
• There should be willingness on the part of management to admit
mistakes, publicly if necessary.

18
 Faculty Name
Department Name 19
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No (8,9): Workplace Rights and Responsibilities

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

20
Outline of the module
 Meaning of Rights and Responsibility
 Duty of confidentiality
The criteria for deciding the confidential clause
What types of information should be kept confidential?
Changing Jobs, Confidentiality and Management Policies
Justification for Confidentiality
Conflict of Interest and sample situations for conflict of Interest
An Ethical Corporate Climate and its defining feature
Right of Professional Conscience, Conscientious Refusal and Employee
Rights Source: Introduction to Engineering Ethics, Second Edition, Martin and Schinzinger
 Rights and Responsibilities of an Engineer

Right: a legal entitlement to have or do something

Responsibility: A duty or obligation to satisfactorily perform or complete a task

(assigned by someone, or created by one's own promise or circumstances) that
one must fulfill, and which has a consequent penalty for failure.

22
 Duty of confidentiality

It is the duty to;

keep secret all information deemed desirable to kept under covers

Deemed by whom?
Basically, it is any information that the employer or client would like to have
kept secret to compete effectively against business rivals. It could be any data
concerning the company’s business or technical processes that are not
already public knowledge.

Faculty Name
Department Name 23
 The criteria for deciding the confidential
clause
There is no fixed criteria.

It is what an employer considers to be confidential shall be kept confidential .

Faculty Name
Department Name 24
 What types of information should be kept
confidential?
Confidential Data
Results
Information about upcoming unreleased products
Information about designs or formulas for products.
Business information concerning the number of employees working on a
project, the identity of suppliers, marketing strategies, production costs, and
production yields.
Engineers today are required to sign a non disclosure agreement which
binds them from sharing any information with outsiders.
Government organizations like in Defense sector have more stringent rules
because of the security issues.

25
 Confidentiality and Changing Jobs
The responsibility to protect the information does not ends when an employee leaves
the job. If this was the case than there would be no way to protect the information.
Previous employees would quickly give away it to their new employers or, perhaps for
a price, sell it to competitors of their former employers.

Thus, the relationship of trust between employer and employee in regard to

confidentiality continues beyond the formal period of employment.

Unless the employer gives consent, former employees are barred indefinitely from
revealing trade secrets. This provides a clear illustration of the way in which the
professional integrity of engineers involves much more than mere loyalty to one’s
present employer.

26
 Do you think?

Do you think that the issue concerning the disclosure of secrets after leaving the job
is a clear illustration of the way in which the professional integrity of engineers
involves much more than mere loyalty to one’s present employer?

27
 A high profile case of trade secret violations
A high-profile case of trade secret violations was settled in January 1997
(without coming to trial) when Volkswagen AG (VW) agreed to pay General
Motors Corporation (GM) and its German subsidiary Adam Opel $100 million
in cash and to buy $1 billion in parts from GM over the next seven years.

Why?

Because in March 1993, Jose Ignacio Lopez, GM’s highly effective

manufacturing expert, left GM to join VW, a fierce competitor in Europe, and
took with him not only three colleagues and knowhow, but also copies of
confidential GM documents.

28
 Confidentiality and Management Policies
One approach is to use employment contracts that place special restrictions
on future employment. Like restrictions related to the geographical location
of future employers, the length of time after leaving the present employer
before one can engage in certain kinds of work, and the type of work it is
permissible to do for future employers.

But the issue is such contracts threaten the right of individuals to pursue their
careers freely. Thus are not recognized as binding by the courts.

29
 Continued
Another approach, is to offer certain benefits like portable plans, say pension
plans to engineers for not working with competitors on certain kinds of
projects after leaving the company. Or could relate to offering special post
employment annual consulting fees on the condition that he or she not work
for a direct competitor during that period.

The best way is to generate a sense of professional responsibility among their

staff that reaches beyond merely obeying the directives of current employers.

30
 Justification for Confidentiality
The primary justification is to respect the autonomy (freedom, self-
determination) of individuals and corporations and to recognize their
legitimate control over some private information concerning
themselves.

All the major ethical theories recognize the importance of autonomy,

whether it is understood in terms of rights to autonomy, duties to
respect autonomy, the utility (as in utilitarian ethics) of protecting
autonomy, or the virtue of respect for others.

31
 Continued
Trustworthiness is also one of the justifications for maintaining
confidentiality.

When clients go to attorneys or tax accountants or even doctors they

expect them to maintain confidentiality, and the professional ethics
indicate that confidentiality will be maintained.

Similarly, employees often make promises (in the form of signing

contracts) not to divulge certain information considered sensitive by the
employer. Revealing the relevant information would surely account for
the breach of trust.

32
 Continued

There are public benefits in recognizing confidentiality relationships as well

within professional contexts.

For example, if confidentiality is not maintained, patients may shy away from
sharing all the important information with their doctors and as it requires trust
that the physician will not divulge private information.

33
 Conflict of Interest
Professional conflicts of interest are situations where professionals have an
interest that, if pursued, might keep them from meeting their obligations to
their employers or clients.

Concern about conflicts of interest largely centers on their potential to distort

good judgment in faithfully serving an employer or client.

Exercising good judgment means arriving at beliefs on the basis of expertise

and experience, as opposed to merely following simple rules.

34
 Conflict of interest and Conflicting interests

“Conflicting interests” means a person has two or more desires that

cannot all be satisfied given the circumstances. But there is no
suggestion that it is morally wrong or problematic to try pursuing them
all.

But, in professional conflicts of interest it is often physically or

economically possible to pursue all of the conflicting interests but doing
so would be morally problematic

35
 Sample situations for conflict of Interest

(1) gifts, bribes, and kickbacks,

(2) interests in other companies,
(3) insider information.

36
 Continued
(i) gifts, bribes, and kickbacks

A bribe is a substantial amount of money or goods offered beyond a

stated business contract with the aim of winning an advantage in
gaining or keeping the contract, and where the advantage is illegal or
otherwise unethical.
Bribes are illegal or immoral because they are substantial enough to
threaten fairness in competitive situations

Gifts are not bribes as long as they are small gratuities offered in the
normal conduct of business.

37
 Continued
(i) interests in other companies

Some conflicts of interest consist in having an interest in a competitor’s

or a subcontractor’s business.

It could occur if an employee is actually working for the competitor or

subcontractor as an employee or consultant
.
Another example is partial ownership or substantial stockholdings in
the competitor’s business.

38
 Continued
(iii) sharing insider information

An especially sensitive conflict of interest consists in using “inside” information

to gain an advantage or set up a business opportunity for oneself, one’s family,
or one’s friends.

The information might concern one’s own company or another company with
which one does business. For example, engineers might tell their friends about
the impending announcement of a revolutionary invention, which they have
been perfecting, or of their corporation’s plans for a merger that will greatly
improve the worth of another company’s stock.

39
 Moral Status of Conflicts of Interest

Do you think that situations of conflict of interest are always unavoidable?

Or

Is it morally incorrect to pursue conflicting inertest as an employee?

40
 Continued
In fact, it is not always unethical to pursue conflicts of interest. In practice, some
conflicts are thought to be unavoidable, or even acceptable. One illustration of
this is that the government allows employees of aircraft manufacturers, such as
Boeing or McDonnell Douglas, to serve as government inspectors for the
Federal Aviation Agency (FAA). The FAA is charged with regulating airplane
manufacturers and making objective safety and quality inspections of the
airplanes they build. Naturally the dual roles—government inspector and
employee of the manufacturer being inspected—could bias judgments. Yet with
careful screening of inspectors, the likelihood of such bias is said to be
outweighed by the practical necessities of airplane inspection

41
 Think Tank
Has Ken acted unethically?

Who owns your knowledge?

Ken is a process engineer for Stardust Chemical Corp., and he has signed a secrecy agreement
with the firm that prohibits his divulging information that the company considers proprietary.
Stardust has developed an adaptation of a standard piece of equipment that makes it highly
efficient for cooling a viscous plastics slurry. (Stardust decides not to patent the idea but to keep
it as a trade secret.) Eventually, Ken leaves Stardust and goes to work for a candy-processing
company that is not in any way in competition. He soon realizes that a modification similar to
Stardust’s trade secret could be applied to a different machine used for cooling fudge and, at
once, has the change made.

42
 In the following case, are the actions of Client A morally
permissible?
Client A solicits competitive quotations on the design and construction of a chemical plant facility. All the
bidders are required to furnish as a part of their proposals the processing scheme planned to produce
the specified final products. The process generally is one which has been in common use for several
years. All of the quotations are generally similar in most respects from the standpoint of technology.

Contractor X submits the highest-price quotation. He includes in his proposals, however, a unique
approach to a portion of the processing scheme. Yields are indicated to be better than current practice,
and quality improvement is apparent. A quick laboratory check indicates that the innovation is
practicable.

Client A then calls on Contractor Z, the low bidder, and asks him to evaluate and bid on an alternate
scheme conceived by Contractor X. Contractor Z is not told the source of alternative design. Client A
makes no representation in his quotation request that replies will be held in confidence

43
 An Ethical Corporate Climate
An ethical climate is a working environment that is conducive to
morally responsible conduct.

Within corporations it is a combination of formal organization and

policies, informal traditions and practices, and personal attitudes and
commitments.

Engineers can make a vital contribution to such a climate, especially as

they move into technical management and then more general
management positions.

44
 Defining features of an ethical corporate
climate
•Ethical values in their full complexity are widely acknowledged and
appreciated by managers and employees alike.

•The use of ethical language is honestly applied and recognized as a

legitimate part of corporate dialogue.

•Setting of moral tone by the top management

•Conflict resolution policies

45
 Rights of Engineers
Engineers have several types of moral rights, which fall into the
sometimes overlapping categories of human, employee, contractual,
and professional rights.

As humans, engineers have fundamental rights to live and freely pursue

their legitimate interests, which implies, for example, rights not to be
unfairly discriminated against in employment on the basis of sex, race,
or age.

46
 Right of Professional Conscience.
The right of professional conscience is the moral right to exercise
professional judgment in pursuing professional responsibilities.
Pursuing those responsibilities involves exercising both technical
judgment and reasoned moral convictions.

As with most moral rights, the basic professional right is an

entitlement giving one the moral authority to act without
interference from others. It is a “liberty right” that places an
obligation on others not to interfere with its proper exercise.

47
 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 honor 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.

48
 Continued
The troublesome cases concern situations where there is no shared agreement
about whether a project or procedure is unethical.

The challenge for the engineer lies in tackling these situations.

49
 Right of Recognition
Engineers have a right of professional recognition for their work and
accomplishments. Part of this involves fair monetary remuneration, and part
nonmonetary forms of recognition.

If in any job employees are not paid well. Most of their time will be taken up by
money worries, or even by moonlighting to maintain a decent standard of living

50
 Employee Rights
Employee rights are any rights, moral or legal, that involve the status of being an
employee. They overlap with some professional rights, of the sort just discussed,
and they also include institutional rights created by organizational policies or
employment agreements, such as the right to be paid the salary specified in one’s
contract.

It includes;
Privacy Right
Right to Equal Opportunity: Preventing Sexual Harassment
Right to Equal Opportunity: Nondiscrimination

51
 Privacy Right
The right to pursue outside activities can be thought of as a right to personal privacy in
the sense that it means the right to have a private life off the job.

Situations in which the functions of employers conflict with the right employees have
to privacy
A supervisor unlocks and searches the desk of an engineer who is away on vacation without the permission of that
engineer. The supervisor suspects the engineer of having leaked information about company plans to a competitor
and is searching for evidence to prove those suspicions.

A supervisor unlocks and searches the desk of an engineer who is away on vacation without the permission of that
engineer. The supervisor suspects the engineer of having leaked information about company plans to a competitor
and is searching for evidence to prove those suspicions.

52
 Right to Equal Opportunity: Preventing Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment is defined as : “the unwanted imposition of sexual
requirements in the context of a relationship of unequal power.”

It takes two main forms:

quid pro quo and hostile work environment;

53
 Continued
Quid pro quo includes cases where supervisors require sexual favors as a condition for
some employment benefit (a job, promotion, or raise). It can take the form of a sexual
threat (of harm) or sexual offer (of a benefit in return for a benefit).

Hostile work environment, by contrast, is any sexually oriented aspect of the workplace
that threatens employees’ rights to equal opportunity. It includes unwanted sexual
proposals, lewd remarks, sexual leering, posting nude photos, and inappropriate
physical contact.

Both these forms are completely unacceptable at work.

54
 Right to Equal Opportunity: Nondiscrimination
One’s sex, race, skin color, age, or political or religious outlook should not at all
affect how they are perceived at work.

Human rights to fair and decent treatment at the workplace and in job training are
vitally important.

55
56
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No 10 :Ethics as Design – Doing Justices to Moral Problems

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

57
Outline of the module
 Engineering and ethical situations
Ethical Dilemmas
Ethical theories : As a solution for resolving ethical issues
What is a moral theory?
Utilitarian, Tenets of utilitarian and criticism
Cost benefit analysis in engineering
Duty ethics, Right ethics and Virtue ethics
Which theory to use
Issues and Techniques while solving ethical issues
Steps for solving ethical dilemmas
Code of ethics as a solution Source: Introduction to Engineering Ethics, Second Edition, Martin and Schinzinger
 Engineering and Ethical situations
Caroline Whitbeck suggests that engineering design is in many respects a
model for “designing” courses of action in many moral situations, in
engineering and elsewhere.

Understanding the crossings between engineering and moral situations

through the assignment she gave in class (see next slide)

59
 continued
The assignment was to design a child seat that fits on top of standard suitcases with wheels. She specified
several constraints. Some pertained to size: The child seat must be easily removable and storable under airplane
seats and in overhead storage. bins. Others pertained to use: The seat must have multiple uses, including the
possibility of strapping it into a seat on an airplane.

Still others set safety limits: conformity to applicable safety laws plus avoiding unnecessary dangers. Yet there
were many areas of uncertainty and ambiguity surrounding how to maximize safety (for example, when carrying
the infant in the seat) and how many convenience features to include, such as storage spaces for baby bottles
and diapers.

The students arrived at strikingly different designs, varying in size and shape as well as in the basic structure of
the crossbar that held the infant in place. Several were reasonable solutions to the design problem. Yet no design
was ideal in every regard, and each had strengths and weaknesses. For example, one was larger and would
accommodate older infants, but the added size increased the cost of manufacturing. Again, the bar securing the
infant was more convenient in some directions of motion and less convenient in other directions.

Faculty Name
Department Name 60
 Five aspects of engineering decisions that highlight important aspects of
many moral decisions in general
First, usually there are alternative solutions to design problems, more than one of
which is satisfactory or “satisfices.”

Second, multiple moral factors are involved, and among the satisfactory solutions
for design problems, one solution is typically better in some respects and less
satisfactory in other respects when compared with alternative solutions.

Third, some design solutions are clearly unacceptable. Like while designing a chair
for an old person, the issue may be to make a char at low cost which might in log
term lead to back ache problems.

Faculty Name
Department Name 61
 continued
Fourth, engineering design often involves uncertainties and ambiguities, not only
about what is possible and how to achieve it, but also about the specific problems
that will arise as solutions are developed.

Finally, design problems are dynamic.

62
 Ethical or Moral dilemmas
Ethical (or moral) dilemmas are situations in which moral reasons come into
conflict, or in which the applications of moral values are unclear, and it is not
immediately obvious what should be done.

Ethical dilemmas arise in engineering, as elsewhere, because moral values are

many and varied and can make competing claims.

Yet, although moral dilemmas comprise the most difficult occasions for moral
reasoning, they constitute a relatively small percentage of moral choices, that
is, decisions involving moral values.

Faculty Name
Department Name 63
 Ethical theories- As a solution for resolving moral
problems
Ethical problem solving is as simple solving problems in engineering.

In engineering, there is generally one theory that is considered when tackling a

problem. In studying engineering ethics, there are several theories that will be
considered in solving just one problem.

The relatively large number of theories doesn’t indicate a weakness in theoretical

understanding of ethics or a “fuzziness” of ethical thinking. Rather, it reflects the
complexity of ethical problems and the diversity of approaches to ethical problem
solving that have been developed over the centuries.

64
 What Is a Moral Theory?
A moral theory defines terms in uniform ways and links ideas and problems
together in consistent ways [Harris, Pritchard, and Rabins, 2000 ].

This is exactly how the scientific theories used in other engineering classes
function. Scientific theories also organize ideas, define terms, and facilitate
problem solving.

There are four ethical theories that will be considered here, each differing
according to what is held to be the most important moral concept.

- Utilitarianism - Duty ethics -virtue ethics -Rights ethics

65
 Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism – Utilitarianism holds that those actions are good that serve to maximize
human well-being. emphasis in utilitarianism is not on maximizing the well-being of the
individual, but rather on maximizing the well-being of society as a whole, and as such it
is somewhat of a collectivist approach.

An example of this theory that has been played out in this country many times over
the past century is the building of dams.

Dams often lead to great benefit t to society by providing stable supplies of drinking
water, flood control, and recreational opportunities. However, these benefits often
come at the expense of people who live in areas that will be flooded by the dam and
are required to find new homes, or lose the use of their land. Utilitarianism tries to
balance the needs of society with the needs of the individual.

66
 Tenets of utilitarianism
Act utilitarianism focuses on individual actions rather than on rules. The best
known proponent of act utilitarianism was John Stuart Mill (1806–1873), who
felt that most of the common rules of morality (e.g., don’t steal, be honest,
don’t harm others) are good guidelines derived from centuries of human
experience.

Rule utilitarianism differs from act utilitarianism in holding that moral rules are
most important. As mentioned previously, these rules include “do not harm
others” and “do not steal.” Rule utilitarians hold that although adhering to
these rules might not always maximize good in a particular situation, overall,
adhering to moral rules will ultimately lead to the most good.

67
 Criticism of Utilitarian approach

Sometimes what is best for everyone may be bad for a particular individual or a
group of individuals.

Another objection to utilitarianism is that its implementation depends greatly

on knowing what will lead to the most good. Frequently, it is impossible to know
exactly what the consequences of an action are.

68
 Cost–Benefit Analysis in engineering
In cost–benefit analysis, the costs of a project are assessed, as are the
benefits. Only those projects with the highest ratio of benefits to costs will
be implemented. This principle is similar to the utilitarian goal of
maximizing the overall good.
The Pitfalls of Cost-benefit analysis
For eg. from a pure cost–benefit discussion, it might seem that the
building of a dam is an excellent idea. But this analysis won’t include other
issues such as whether the benefits outweigh the loss of a scenic wilderness
area or the loss of an endangered species with no current economic value.
Finally, it is also important to determine whether those who stand to reap
the benefits are also those who will pay the costs. It is unfair to place all of
the costs on one group while another reaps the benefits.

69
 Code of Ethics – A solution for ethical decision
making
Codes of ethics state the moral responsibilities of engineers as seen by the
profession and as represented by a professional society.

Because they express the profession’s collective commitment to ethics, codes are
enormously important, not only in stressing engineers’ responsibilities but also in
supporting the freedom needed to meet them

70
 Faculty Name
Department Name 71
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No 11 :Ethics as Design – Doing Justices to Moral Problems

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

1
Outline of the module
Ethical theories : As a solution for resolving ethical issues
What is a moral theory?
Utilitarian, Tenets of utilitarian and criticism
Cost benefit analysis in engineering
Duty ethics, Right ethics and Virtue ethics
Which theory to use
Issues and Techniques while solving ethical issues
Steps for solving ethical dilemmas
Code of ethics as a solution

Source: Introduction to Engineering Ethics, Second Edition, Martin and Schinzinger

 Cost–Benefit Analysis in engineering
In cost–benefit analysis, the costs of a project are assessed, as are the
benefits. Only those projects with the highest ratio of benefits to costs will
be implemented. This principle is similar to the utilitarian goal of
maximizing the overall good.
The Pitfalls of Cost-benefit analysis
For eg. from a pure cost–benefit discussion, it might seem that the
building of a dam is an excellent idea. But this analysis won’t include other
issues such as whether the benefits outweigh the loss of a scenic wilderness
area or the loss of an endangered species with no current economic value.
Finally, it is also important to determine whether those who stand to reap
the benefits are also those who will pay the costs. It is unfair to place all of
the costs on one group while another reaps the benefits.

3
 Duty ethics
Two other ethical theories—duty ethics and rights ethics—are similar to each other and will be
considered together.
These theories hold that those actions are good that respect the rights of the individual. Here, good
consequences for society as a whole are not the only moral consideration.
A major proponent of duty ethics was Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), who held that moral duties are
fundamental. Ethical actions are those actions that could be written down on a list of duties: be honest,
don’t cause suffering to other people, be fair to others, etc.
These actions are our duties because they express respect for persons, express an unqualified regard for
autonomous moral agents, and are universal principles [ Schinzinger and Martin, 2000 ].
Once one’s duties are recognized, the ethically correct moral actions are obvious. In this formulation,
ethical acts are a result of proper performance of one’s duties.

4
 Rights ethics

Rights ethics was largely formulated by John Locke (1632–1704), whose

statement that humans have the right to life, liberty, and property was
paraphrased in the Declaration of Independence of the soon-to-be
United States of America in 1776. Rights ethics holds that people have
fundamental rights that other people have a duty to respect.

5
 Criticism of Rights and Duty Ethics
First the basic rights of one person (or group) may conflict with the
basic rights of another group.
How do we decide whose rights have priority? Using our previous
example of the building of a dam, people have the right to use their
property. If their land happens to be in the way of a proposed dam,
then rights ethics would hold that this property right is paramount and
is sufficient to stop the dam project. A single property holder’s
objection would require that the project be terminated.
The second problem with duty and rights ethics is that these theories
don’t always account for the overall good of society very well.

6
 Virtue Ethics
Virtue ethics is interested in determining what kind of people we should be.
Virtue is often defined as moral distinction and goodness. A virtuous person
exhibits good and beneficial qualities.
In virtue ethics, actions are considered right if they support good character
traits (virtues) and wrong if they support bad character traits (vices) [
Schinzinger and Martin, 2000 ].
Virtue ethics focuses on words such as responsibility, honesty, competence,
and loyalty, which are virtues. Other virtues might include trustworthiness,
fairness, caring, citizenship, and respect. Vices could include dishonesty,
disloyalty, irresponsibility, or incompetence.

7
 Which theory to use?
Now that we have discussed four different ethical theories, the
question arises: How do we decide which theory is applicable to a
given problem?
The good news is that in solving ethical problems, we don’t have to
choose from among these theories.
Rather, we can use all of them to analyze a problem from different
angles and see what result each of the theories gives us.
This allows us to examine a problem from different perspectives to
see what conclusion each one reaches. Frequently, the result will be
the same even though the theories are very different.

8
 Continued
Take, for example, a chemical plant near a small city that discharges a hazardous waste
into the groundwater. If the city takes its water from wells, the water supply for the city
will be compromised and significant health problems for the community may result.
Rights ethics indicates that this pollution is unethical, since it causes harm to many of the
residents.
A utilitarian analysis would probably also come to the same conclusion, since the
economic benefits of the plant would almost certainly be outweighed by the negative
effects of the pollution and the costs required to ensure a safe municipal water supply.
Virtue ethics would say that discharging wastes into groundwater is irresponsible and
harmful to individuals and so shouldn’t be done. In this case, all of the ethical theories
lead to the same conclusion.

9
 Analysis of issues while solving ethical problems

First step in solving any ethical problem is to completely understand all of the
issues involved. Once these issues are determined, frequently a solution to the
problem becomes apparent.

The issues involved in understanding ethical problems can be split into three
categories:

factual, conceptual, and moral [ Harris, Pritchard, and Rabins, 2000 ].

10
 Factual issues
Factual issues involve what is actually known about a case—i.e., what the facts
are. Although this concept seems straightforward, the facts of a particular case
are not always clear and may be controversial.

In engineering, there are controversies over facts as well. For example, global
warming is of great concern to society as we continue to emit greenhouse gases
into the atmosphere.

This issue is of great importance to engineers since they might be required to

design new products or redesign old ones to comply with stricter environmental
standards if this warming effect indeed proves to be a problem.

11
 Conceptual issues
Conceptual issues have to do with the meaning or applicability of an idea. In
engineering ethics, this might mean defining what constitutes a bribe as
opposed to an acceptable gift, or determining whether certain business
information is proprietary.

Like factual issues, conceptual issues are not always clear-cut and will often
result in controversy as well.

12
 Moral issues
Once the factual and conceptual issues have been resolved, at least to the extent
possible, all that remains is to determine which moral principle is applicable to
the situation. Resolution of moral issues is often more obvious.

Once the problem is defined, it is usually clear which moral concept applies, and
the correct decision becomes obvious.

For eg, in case when a “gift” is offered by a sales representative, once it is

determined whether it is simply a gift or is really a bribe, then the appropriate
action is obvious. If we determine that it is indeed a bribe, then it cannot ethically
be accepted.

13
 Understanding through a case study – Paradyne Computers
In 1980, Paradyne, a computer company, bid to supply the Social Security Administration (SSA) with new computer systems.
We’ll look at the factual issues first. The request for proposals clearly specified that only existing systems would be considered.
Paradyne did not have any such system running and had never tested the operating system on the product they actually
proposed to sell to the SSA. The employment of a former SSA worker by Paradyne to help lobby SSA for the contract is also
clear. In this case, the factual issues do not appear particularly controversial. The conceptual issues involve whether bidding to
provide an off-the-shelf product when the actual product is only in the planning stages is lying or is an acceptable business
practice. Is placing a Paradyne label over the real manufacturer’s label deceptive? Does lobbying your former employer on
behalf of your current employer constitute a conflict of interest? These questions will certainly generate discussion. Indeed,
Paradyne asserted that it had done nothing wrong and was simply engaging in common business practices. The issue of the
conflict of interest is so hard to decide that laws have been enacted making it illegal for workers who have left government
employ to lobby their former employers for specified periods of time.

The moral issues then include the following: Is lying an acceptable business practice? Is it alright to be deceptive if
doing so allows your company to get a contract? The answers to these questions are obvious: Lying and deceit are no
more acceptable in your business life than in your personal life. So, if conceptually we decide that Paradyne’s practices
were deceptive, then our analysis indicates that their actions were unethical.

14
 Techniques for solving Ethical issues
Line Drawing: The line-drawing technique is especially useful for situations in which the
applicable moral principles are clear, but there seems to be a great deal of “gray area”
about which ethical principle applies.

Line drawing is performed by drawing a line along which various examples and
hypothetical situations are placed. At one end is placed the “positive paradigm,” an
example of something that is unambiguously morally acceptable.

At the other end, the “negative paradigm,” an example of something that is

unambiguously not morally acceptable, is placed.

15
 Application of Line Drawing to the Pentium Chip Case
In 1994–95, it was discovered and widely reported that the latest version of the Intel Pentium chip had flaws.
At first, Intel sought to hide this information, but later came around to a policy of offering consumers chips in
which the fl aw had been corrected. We can use line drawing to get some insight into this problem.

For our positive paradigm, we will use the statement that “products should perform as advertised.” The
negative paradigm will be “Knowingly sell products that are defective and that will negatively affect
customers’ applications.” A few examples that we can add to the line are as follows:

1. There is a fl aw in the chip, but it truly is undetectable and won’t affect any customer’s
applications.
2. There are flaws in the chip, the customer is informed of them, but no help is offered.
3. A warning label says that the chip should not be used for certain applications.
4. Recall notices are sent out, and all fl awed chips are replaced.
5. Replacement chips are offered only if the customer notices the problem.

16
Continued

17
 Continued
Where does our situation— “there is a flaw, customers aren’t informed, and the
magnitude of the problem is minimized”—fit on this line? One possible analysis is
the following:

According to this line-drawing analysis, the approach taken by Intel in this case wasn’t the
best ethical choice.

18
 Flow Charting
Flow charts are very familiar to engineering students. They are most often used in
developing computer programs, also find application in other engineering disciplines and
are often used to describe business processes and procedures.

In engineering ethics, flow charting will be helpful for analyzing a variety of cases,
especially those in which there is a sequence of events to be considered or a series of
consequences that flows from each decision.

An advantage of using a flow chart to analyze ethical problems is that it gives a visual
picture of a situation and allows you to readily see the consequences that flow from
each decision.

19
 Continued

Illustration through flow chart technique concerning what happened at Union

Carbide’s plant in Bhopal, India, where MIC, a toxic substance, was mixed with
water, creating toxic fumes.

(See next slide)

20
Flow Chart

Application of a simple flow chart to

the Bhopal case, emphasizing potential
decisions made during consideration of
locating a plant in India.

21
Continued

An alternative flow chart

for the Bhopal case,
emphasizing decisions
made when considering
deactivating the fl are
tower for maintenance.

22
 Conflict Problems
An area of ethical problem relates to a choice between two conflicting moral
values, each of which seems to be correct.

How do we make the correct choice in this situation?

Conflict problems can be solved in three ways [ Harris, Pritchard, and Rabins,
2000 ].

Often, there are conflicting moral choices, but one is obviously more significant
than the other. For example, protecting the health and safety of the public is more
important than your duty to your employer. In this type of case, the resolution of
the conflict involves an easy choice.

23
 Continued
A second solution is sometimes called the “creative middle way” [ Harris,
Pritchard, and Rabins, 2000]. This solution is an attempt at some kind of a
compromise that will work for everyone.

The emphasis here should be on the word “creative,” because it takes a great
deal of creativity to find a middle ground that is acceptable to everyone and a
great deal of diplomacy to sell it to everyone.

24
 Steps for solving ethical dilemmas
a) Moral clarity: Identify the relevant moral values – identifying moral
values and reasons in the situation

b) Conceptual clarity: Be clear about key concepts – be clear about the

conceptual issues involved. What you are asked to do may not be
good for the organization in long run

a) Informed about the facts: Obtain relevant information. This means

gathering information that is pertinent in light of the applicable
moral values

25
 Continued
d) Informed about the options: Consider all (realistic) options. Initially,
ethical dilemmas seem to force us into a two-way choice: Do this or do
that. Either bow to a supervisor’s orders or blow the whistle to the
town authorities. A closer look often reveals additional options.
e) Well-reasoned: Make a reasonable decision. Arrive at a carefully
reasoned judgment by weighing all the relevant moral reasons
and facts. This is not a mechanical process that a computer
or algorithm might do for us. Instead, it is a deliberation aimed
at integrating all the relevant reasons, facts, and values—in a
morally reasonable manner. If there is no ideal solution, as is
often the case, we seek a satisfactory one, what Herbert Simon
dubbed “satisficing.”

26
 Code of Ethics – A solution for ethical decision
making
Codes of ethics state the moral responsibilities of engineers as seen by the
profession and as represented by a professional society.

Because they express the profession’s collective commitment to ethics, codes are
enormously important, not only in stressing engineers’ responsibilities but also in
supporting the freedom needed to meet them

27
 Continued
Codes of ethics play at least eight essential roles:
I. serving and protecting the public
II. providing guidance
III. offering inspiration
IV. establishing shared standards
V. supporting responsible professionals
VI. contributing to education
VII. deterring wrongdoing
VIII. strengthening a profession’s image.

28
29
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No (12,13) : Intellectual Property Rights and Ethics

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

30
Outline of the module
 What is Intellectual property Right?
 Categories of IPR
IP Chain of Activities
Intellectual property as Intangible property
 Why intellectual property needs protection?
Managing IPR Today
Patent – meaning, protection, rights of patent owners, what can be
patented etc
 Trademark – meaning, purpose, what can be protected as a
trademark?
 Industrial design – meaning, why protect industrial designs and what
can be protected as industrial design
Geographical indications – meaning, why geographical indications
need protection, geographical indications vs. a trademark
Copyrights and related rights – meaning, what protect copyrights, rights
of holders, advances in technology and copyrights, benefits of copyrights
and other related rights
WIPO - World Intellectual Property Organization

Source: Handout of WIPO

 What is Intellectual Property?
A category of property that includes;

“intangible creations” of the human intelligence,

and

mainly covers copyrights, patents, and trademarks along with other types of
rights, such as trade secrets, publicity rights, moral rights, and rights
against unfair competition.

33
 Categories of IPR
Intellectual Property rights can be divided into two categories;

Industrial Property: This includes patents for inventions, trademarks,

geographical indications and industrial designs.

Copyright : This covers literary works like novels, poems and plays, films,
music, artistic works like drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures and
architectural designs.

34
The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again.
The IP Chain of Activities

35
 Continued
Creation – “ coming up with a new product”

Innovation – “ not seen before”

Commercialization- “ execution and availability for selling”

Protection – “registering under law”

Enforcement – “cannot be copied or stolen as per law”

36
 INTELLECTUAL PRPERTY AS INTANGIBLE PROPERTY

Tangible Property

• can be physically touched. For eg. Land, houses, bikes, cars etc

Intangible property

• cannot be seen or touched,

• can be easily appropriated,
•cost of reproduction is negligible

37
 Why Intangible property needs protection?
 High Expenditure in creation of new product or designs

 High research and development activities

Avoiding free riding problems – usage of own property by others for free

Maintaining loyal followers and inhibiting “me too” creations in grey

markets

To retain profits

38
Managing Intellectual Property Rights Today

Industrial Geographical
Patents Trademarks Copyrights
Design Indicators

39
 What is a Patent?
A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention – a product or process that provides
a new way of doing something, or that offers a new technical solution to a problem.

A patent provides patent owners with protection for their inventions. Protection is
granted for a limited period, generally 20 years.

Are patents necessary?

Yes! As they offer incentives and rewards to individuals by recognizing their creativity to
encourage them to come up with new marketable inventions for benefit of the common
people.

40
 Continued

Protection offered by patents

Patent protection implies that invention under patents cannot be

commercially or otherwise used by the other persons for generating profits or
any commercial returns.

And cannot be recreated, sold or shared with owner’s consent

Patents are usually enforced in courts and courts can also cancel patents in
case the claims of the third party are found right if any at a alter stage.

41
 Continued
Right of Patents owners

Patent owners have the right to decide who can or cannot use the patented invention.
Owners have this right to give permission to or offer license to other parties on mutually
agreed terms. Owners can also sell their rights to other person if they wish to do so who
then becomes the new owner of the patent.

Patents in public domain

Once the patent expires, protection ends and it enters the public domain.
This is also called as off-patent in which the current owner of the patent, no longer
ceases to be the owner.

42
 Continued
Role of Patents in our everyday life
Patents inventions have invaded our all aspects of day to day life. Even the
shape and design of the coffee mug or the fans on the ceiling above our head
could be patented. Like it is well known that in case of electric lightening
(patents held by Edison and Swan) and sewing machines (patents held by Howe
and Singer), and the iPhone (patents held by Apple), these are the things we see
very normally in our surroundings.
All patent owners are required to share their information in public domain. This
information can be used by the other people for carrying out derive inspiration
for carrying out further creativity and innovation.

43
 Continued
What Kind of Inventions can be patent protected?
Must be of practical use
Must carry some novelty
New characteristics must exist which is not a part of an existing
knowledge
In many countries, scientific theories, mathematical methods, plant or
animal varieties, discoveries of natural substances, commercial
methods or methods of medical treatment (as opposed to medical
products) are not generally patentable.

44
 Trademark

Trademark is the distinctive design which identifies certain goods or services

produced or provided by an individual company.

Its origin can be traced back to ancient times where weavers or craftsmen
would mark their signatures or remarks on their artistic works.
These marks in the present scenario are called as trademarks. It helps
consumers to identify and purchase a product or service based on whether its
explicit characteristics and quality – as indicated by its unique trademark –
meet their needs.

45
 Continued
Purpose of Trademarks

Trademarks ensure that the people who own these trademarks have the right to
use these to help others identify the goods and services and to also allow others
to use these in return of a pre-determined payment.

In a broader sense, trademarks promote enterprises globally by rewarding their

owners with recognition and financial profit.

Trademarks also protect someone’s unique property from being used by others
for creating counterfeit products (which use similar signs to sell fake products).

46
 Continued
What can be registered as Trademarks?

A combination of words, letters and numerals

They may consist of drawings, symbols or three dimensional
signs, such as the shape and packaging of goods.
Holograms, motions, color and non-visible signs (sound, smell
or taste).
Eg. ISO certifications

47
 Continued

Some other categories of trademarks;

Collective marks- owned by an association whose members use them

collectively. Such associations might represent professionals like
accountants, engineers or architects

48
 Continued

Applying for Trade-marks

Application for registration of a trademark needs to be filed with the

appropriate national or regional trademark office.
The application must contain a clear reproduction of the sign filed for
registration, including any colors, forms or three-dimensional features.
Finally, the right applied for cannot be the same as, or similar to, rights
already granted to another trademark owner.

49
 Industrial Design

It refers to the ornamental or aesthetics aspects of an article.

Design may consist of the shape of the article, pattern, size, color or two
dimensional features.

Industrial designs are applied to a wide variety of products and handicrafts.

These products may include medical equipments, watches, jewelry, luxury
items, electrical items, house wares, textile designs and luxury goods etc.

50
 Continued

To be protected, an industrial design must be;

New – should be different from designs already protected.

Non functional – technical features cannot be protected under designs, they can
only be covered under patents.

51
 Continued
Why protect Industrial designs

Designs make a product appealing and increases its marketability so must be protected.

When an industrial design is protected, the owner which could be an individual or a firm
are assured an exclusive right against unauthorized imitation of the design by others.

This helps the owners to assure a fair return on investment.

It also promotes fair competition and honest trade practices.

It helps to promote creativity as people feel assured that their designs will not be stolen.

52
 Continued
Which industrial designs can be protected?

Those designs which carry an element of newness.

Being new here means they should not be similar to designs which have already
been protected

Normally, the term of protection granted is generally five years, with the
possibility of further renewal, in most cases for a period of up to 15 years.

53
 Geographical Indication
It is a sign used on goods that denotes the belongingness of the goods or
reputation to a particular geographical location.

Commonly, it consists of name of the place of the origin of the goods.

Geographical indications have been most commonly used in case of agricultural

products. Like here in India, people are very much willing to pay a extra price for
apples that hail from Himachal or globally Swiss chocolates command an extra
price as they are produced in Switzerland.

54
 Continued
But the use of geographical indications is not limited to agricultural products, now
days it is being extended to other products as well like automobiles from Japan and
much more.

55
 Continued
A generic geographical indication

It occurs when the name of the place is used to designate a particular type of
product, rather than to indicate its place of origin, the term no longer functions
as a geographical indication.

56
 Continued
Why geographical indications need protection?

Geographical indications are mainly treated by the consumers as synonymous to

quality and trust.

These in a way depict the valuable reputations which have been earned by y=the
company over years and could be used by other for misrepresentation.

False use of geographical indications could be done by others to sell products at a

higher price and cheat consumers. Like selling tea in the name of Darjeeling tea,
though it is not grown there but the name is just used to command a high price.

57
 Continued
Difference between a geographical indication and a trademark

While, a trademark a sign used by a company to distinguish its goods and services
from those produced by others, geographical indication offers the guarantee for
production of a product in particular place.

Protection of Geographical indications

These are protected in accordance with the national laws which might vary from
one country to another.

58
 Copy rights and related rights

Copy rights laws usually grant authors the protection for their literary and artistic
work.

Another field of related rights also exists and provides protection to performers
like actors and musicians and to sound recordists as well as broad casting
organizations like radio and television.

59
 Continued

Works covered by copyright include, but are not limited to:

Novels, poems, plays, reference works, newspapers, advertisements, computer

programs, databases, films, musical compositions, choreography, paintings,
drawings, photographs, sculpture, architecture, maps and technical drawings.

60
 Continued
Rights of holders of Copy rights and other related rights;

Can authorize or stop others from:

•Reproducing their work

•Using it elsewhere without taking permission
•Creating copies and selling it for a profit or otherwise
•Translating into other languages
•Performing it and enchasing it without permission etc.

61
 Continued
Advances in Technology and Copyrights

With the advances in technology, copyrights and related rights have expanded
enormously because of the new ways of disseminating creations by such forms of
communication as satellite broadcasting, compact discs and DVDs.

This in a way has also made it easier for people to copy other works and thus in
today’s technological area, copyrights and related rights command enormous
importance.

62
 Continued
Benefits of Copy rights and other related rights;

Essential for fostering human creativity

Giving recognition and protection boosts the confidence of the artists and
enhances their activity and creative output

It encourages companies to invest in the creation, development and global

dissemination of their works.

63
 World Intellectual Property Organization

Established in 1970

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is an international organization

devoted to serving and ensuring that the rights of creators and owners of intellectual
property are protected worldwide, and that inventors and authors are therefore
recognized and rewarded for their creativity.

By providing a stable environment for marketing products protected by intellectual

property, it oils the wheels of international trade as well.

64
 Continued
WIPO serves as a forum for its Member States to establish and harmonize rules
and practices for the protection of intellectual property rights

WIPO also services global registration systems for trademarks, industrial designs
and appellations of origin, and a global filing system for patents. These systems
are under regular review by WIPO’s Member States and other stakeholders to
determine how they can be improved to better serve the needs of users and
potential users.

65
 Continued

WIPO works with its Member States to make available information on intellectual
property and outreach tools for a range of audiences – from the grassroots level
through to the business sector and policymakers – to ensure its benefits are well
recognized, properly understood and accessible to all.

66
67
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No 14 : TRADE-RELATED ASPECTS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

68
Outline of the module
 Introduction to TRIPS
 Objective behind formulating TRIPS
Nature and scope of the member obligations under TRIPS
Why was TRIPS included in WTO?
Which IPRs are covered under TRIPS?
Link between TRIPS and WTO
Relevance of Doha Declaration for public health

Source: The content of the slides has been drawn from FAQ module of Centre of WTO studies, IIFT Delhi
And https://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/27-trips.pdf
 TRADE-RELATED ASPECTS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

The Agreement on Trade related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights of the

World Trade Organization is commonly known as the TRIPS Agreement or just
TRIPS.

It is one of the main agreements of the World Trade Organization which was
negotiated as was negotiated as part of the eighth round of multilateral trade
negotiations in the period 1986-94 under General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade (GATT) commonly referred to as the Uruguay Round extending from
1986 to 1994.

70
 Continued
It appears as Annex 1 C of the Marrakesh Agreement which is the name for the
main WTO Agreement.

The Uruguay Round introduced Intellectual Property Rights into the

multilateral trading system for the first time. The uniqueness of the TRIPS lies
in the fact that it applies to all the members mandatorily.

71
 The objective behind formulation of TRIPS
TRIPS was signed /formed with the main the objective of;

(As exactly mentioned in Annexure 1 c)

Desiring to reduce distortions and impediments to international trade, and

taking into account the need to promote effective and adequate protection of
intellectual property rights, and to ensure that measures and procedures to
enforce intellectual property rights do not themselves become barriers to
legitimate trade;

72
 Continued
Recognizing, to this end, the need for new rules and disciplines concerning:

(a) the applicability of the basic principles of GATT 1994 and of relevant
international intellectual property agreements or conventions;

(b) the provision of adequate standards and principles concerning the

availability, scope and use of trade-related intellectual property rights;

(c) the provision of effective and appropriate means for the enforcement of
trade-related intellectual property rights, taking into account differences in
national legal systems;

73
 Continued

(d) the provision of effective and expeditious procedures for the multilateral
prevention and settlement of disputes between governments; and

(e) transitional arrangements aiming at the fullest participation in the results

of the negotiations.

74
 Nature and Scope of member counties
As mentioned in Article 1;

Members shall give effect to the provisions of this Agreement. Members may,
but shall not be obliged to, implement in their law more extensive protection
than is required by this Agreement, provided that such protection does not
contravene the provisions of this Agreement.

Members shall be free to determine the appropriate method of implementing

the provisions of this Agreement within their own legal system and practice.

75
 Continued
For the purposes of this Agreement, the term "intellectual property" refers to
all categories of intellectual property that are the subject of Sections 1
through 7 of Part II.

(Copyrights and related rights, Trademarks, Geographical Indications,

Industrial design, Patents)

76
 Continued
Members shall accord the treatment provided for in this Agreement to the
nationals of other Members.

In respect of the relevant intellectual property right, the nationals of other

Members shall be understood as those natural or legal persons that would
meet the criteria for eligibility for protection provided for in the Paris
Convention (1967), the Berne Convention (1971), the Rome Convention and
the Treaty on Intellectual Property in Respect of Integrated Circuits, were all
Members of the WTO members of those conventions.

77
 Continued
Any Member availing itself of the possibilities provided in paragraph 3 of
Article 5 or paragraph 2 of Article 6 of the Rome Convention shall make a
notification as foreseen in those provisions to the Council for Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (the "Council for TRIPS").

78
 Why was TRIPS included in WTO?
GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) which was a precursor to the
WTO had already resulted in low tariffs and increasing trade among nations.
Due to which even domestic policies of the nations came into focus of trading
nations. Developed countries, including the United States started facing
increasing competition in manufactured exports from Newly Industrializing
Countries (NICs) of Asia.

Developed countries, including the United States started facing increasing

competition in manufactured exports from Newly Industrializing Countries
(NICs) of Asia.

79
 Continued

For issues concerning IPR, these countries were required to “clarify GATT
provisions and elaborate as appropriate new rules and disciplines” in order to
reduce distortions and impediments to international trade.

As the role of technology became much bigger, having higher proportion of

invention and designs, IPR gained a dominant role in trade among nations
globally.

As a result, in the Uruguay Round negotiations, the intellectual property rights

dominated the discussions.

80
 Which IPRs are covered under TRIPS

•Copyright and related rights (i.e. the rights of performers, producers of sound
recordings and broadcasting organizations)

•Trademarks, including service marks

•Geographical indications including appellations of origin

•Industrial designs

81
 Continued
•Patents including the protection of new varieties of plants

•Layout-designs (topographies) of integrated circuits

•Undisclosed information, including trade secrets and test data

82
 Link between TRIPS and WTO
WTO through the TRIPS Agreement provides rules for trade and investment in
ideas and creativity by incorporating standards laid down in certain exact
provisions of the major IPR conventions.

The WTO provides that “intellectual property” should be protected when trade
is involved. Thus, through the TRIPS, the WTO makes it mandatory for all its
member countries to follow basic minimum standards of IPR provided for under
TRIPS and bring about a degree of harmonization of domestic laws in this field.

83
 Relevance of Doha Declaration for public health

The framework of rigid intellectual property rights established by the TRIPS

Agreement allows pharmaceutical manufacturers to charge prices above
marginal cost of production.

This affects the ability of governments to monitor and protect public health
because of their obligations to protect IPRs of these medicines producers.
This in a way restricts the ability of the government to ensure affordable
access of these medicines to common public.

84
 Continued
In order to come over these issues, mainly with reference to the developing
countries, regarding limited or no access to medicines at affordable prices,
the WTO members agreed to issue the Doha Declaration to clarify the TRIPS
Agreement in the context of Public Health.

The declaration made it clear that TRIPS Agreement does not restricts its
member countries from taking steps to protect public health and give them
the right to create exceptions to its IPR laws to enable it to grant compulsory
licenses for manufacture of essential goods such as life-saving drugs, even if
the consent of the holder of the IPR is not forthcoming. But it was on the
countries to decide when the compulsory licenses can be granted or
determine situations of national emergency.

85
 Continued
Member states were also allowed to grant a compulsory license for limited
export and import of medicines where the receiving country lacks
manufacturing capacity, this was decided based on the decision taken by
WTO in 2003.

86
87
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No 15 : Indian obligations under TRIPS

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

88
Outline of the module
 Impact of TRIPS on relevant Indian legislation
Is there any special or unique provision on Patents in the Indian law?
Under what conditions is a trademark granted in India?
How is an Industrial design defined in India?
The IPR of Design is covered by the Designs Act, 2000.
 Important aspects in Indian Design Act 2000
Protection of Copyrights in India
Challenges in negotiations on various IPRs under TRIPS for India
Source: The content of the slides has been drawn from FAQ module of Centre of WTO studies, IIFT Delhi
 Impact of TRIPS on relevant Indian legislation
In order to meet the requirements and comply with the international
obligations, a number of domestic IPR laws were amended.
The Indian Patent Act, 1970 was amended to conform to the requirements of
TRIPS.

The first amendment to the Patent Act 1970 was effected through the Patents
(Amendment) Act, 1999 that was brought into force retrospectively from 1st
January, 1995.

“It allowed for filing of patents in the areas of drugs, pharmaceuticals and agro
chemicals even though such patents were not allowed”

90
 Continued
The second amendment to the 1970 Act was made through the Patents
(Amendment) Act, 2002.

New patents rules were introduced, which came into force on 20 May, 2003
and the earlier Patents Rules passed in 1972 were replaced by it.

With these amendments, India met all its obligations relating to patent
protection that it was required to meet by the year 2000 under the TRIPS
Agreement. It also brought the Patents Act in conformity with the
requirements of the Patent Cooperation Treaty of WIPO as modified until
2001.

91
 Continued
The third amendment to the Patents Act, 1970 was initiated through the
Patents (Amendment) Ordinance, 2004 with effect from 1st January, 2005.

This Ordinance was later replaced by the Patents (Amendment) Act 2005 (Act
15 of 2005) on 4th April, 2005 which was brought into force from 1-1-2005.

This amendment provides access to India to start providing patents for drugs
and medicines, food and chemical products. This final amendment brought
India in full compliance with its TRIPS obligations.

92
 Continued
Similarly, in the case of trademarks, the governing law in India now is Trade
Marks Act, 1999 and this was brought into force with effect from September
15, 2003 to bring it in compliance with TRIPS by repealing the Trade and
Merchandise Marks Act, 1958.

The Copyright Act, 1957 today is compliant with most international

conventions and treaties in the field of copyrights. India is a member of the
Berne Convention of 1886 (as modified at Paris in 1971), the Universal
Copyright Convention of 1951 and TRIPS. Though India is not a member of the
Rome Convention of 1961, the Copyright Act, 1957 is fully compliant with the
provisions of this Convention.

93
 Continued

Two new treaties, collectively termed as Internet Treaties, were negotiated in

1996 under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO). These treaties are the 'WIPO Copyrights Treaty (WCT)' and the 'WIPO
Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT)'.

These treaties were negotiated essentially to provide for protection of the

rights of copyright holders, performers and producers of phonograms in the
Internet and digital era. India is not a member of these treaties.

94
 Is there any special or unique provision on Patents in
the Indian law?
Patent act has a set of exceptions mentioned in Section 3 by which certain
things cannot be protected by the law.

One unique provision is clause d mentioned in Section 3.

“This provision prevents patenting of minor improvements in chemical and

pharmaceutical entities unless the invention results in the enhancement of
known efficacy of that substance”

95
 Continued

This prevents patenting of mere discovery of any new property or new use for
a known substance or of the mere use of a known process, machine or
apparatus. This provision is a safeguard for public health purposes and sets a
higher threshold which has been interpreted as therapeutic efficacy for the
grant of a patent on pharmaceuticals.

96
 Under what conditions is a trademark granted in India?
Under the Indian Trademarks Act, 1999, the following conditions have been
included for the grant of a trademark:

• Definition of trademark has been enlarged to include shape of goods,

packaging and combination of colors which can be adopted as a trade mark.

• Registration of Service Marks allowed in addition to Trademarks for goods.

• Single Registration of trademark; no separate application necessary for each

category/class of goods or services, a single application would do; however
filing fee will be charged separately for each class of goods/services.

•. 97
 Continued
• Some offences relating to trademark made cognizable.

• Extension of application of convention countries in India

98
 Who provides Patents in India?
In India, the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks is
responsible for the administration of the Patents Act, 1970 through the Patent
Offices located at Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai.

99
 Under what conditions is a trademark granted in India?
Under the Indian Trademarks Act, 1999, the following conditions have been included
for the grant of a trademark:

• Definition of trademark has been enlarged to include shape of goods, packaging and
combination of colors which can be adopted as a trade mark.

• Registration of Service Marks allowed in addition to Trademarks for goods.

• Single Registration of trademark; no separate application necessary for each

category/class of goods or services, a single application would do; however filing fee
will be charged separately for each class of goods/services.

100
 Continued
•Enhanced punishment for the offences relating to trademark on par with the
Copyright Act, 1957 to prevent the sale of spurious goods.

• Term of registration of trademark is ten years, subject to renewal thereafter.

• Registration of Collective Marks owned by associations allowed.

• Some offences relating to trademark made cognizable.

• Extension of application of convention countries in India

101
 How is an Industrial design defined in India?
The IPR of Design is covered by the Designs Act, 2000.

“This means only the features of shape, configuration, pattern, ornament or

composition of lines or colours applied to any article whether in two dimensional or
three dimensional or in both forms, by any industrial process or means, whether
manual, mechanical or chemical, separate or combined, which in the finished article
appeal to and are judged solely by the eye; but does not include any mode or principle
of construction or anything which is in substance a mere mechanical device, and does
not include any trade mark as defined in clause (v) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the
Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, 1958 or property mark as defined in section 479 of
the Indian Penal Code or any artistic work as defined in clause (c) of section 2 of the
Copyright Act, 1957 43 of 1958”

102
 Continued
• identification of non-registerable designs

• introducing a classification system (Locarno classification)

• elimination of secrecy period of two years for a registered design

• provision of public inspection after notification

•introduction of rights of registered proprietor of design

103
 Continued
• initial term of protection is 10 years followed by another 5 years on request

• provision of restoration of lapsed design.

104
 Protection of Copyrights in India

The Indian Copyright Act, 1957 protects original literary, dramatic, musical and
artistic works and cinematograph films and sound recordings from unauthorized
uses.

Unlike the case with patents, copyright protects the expressions and not the
ideas. There is no copyright protection for ideas, procedures, methods of
operation or mathematical concepts as such. In India, the duration of copyright
for authors is life of the author plus 60 years after his/her death and for
cinematograph films and sound recordings 60 years from the year of production.

After the death of the owner, the rights pass on to his/her legal heirs.

105
Challenges in negotiations on various IPRs under TRIPS for
India
There is current debate on patenting of life forms, whether access to medicines
through Doha declaration has been achieved.
Other issues of concern are biodiversity and its link with sui generic systems of
plant protection and technology transfer.
There is also debate on whether to extend enhanced protection for geographical
indications beyond wines and spirits. Internet access and sharing of electronic
files has questioned some of the established rules in copyright. On all these issues
India needs to examine world trends and proactively develop informed policy
interventions.

106
107
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No 16: A Brief on Paris Convention,1967 and The Berne Contract, 1971

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

1
Outline of the module
 Paris Convention, 1967
 Scope of Industrial property
Provisions of National treatment
Rights of Property
Common rules
The Berne Contract, 1971
Principles of Berne Contract, 1971
 Principle of National Treatment
Outline of the module
 Principle of "automatic" protection
 Principle of "independence" of protection
 Minimum Standards of Protection
 Common rules under Berne Contract, 1971

Source: The content for slides has been drawn from the Official website of WIPO
(World Intellectual Property Organization)(http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/)
 Introduction
Paris Convention, 1967

It is one of the first; in a way intellectual property rights treaties which was
signed in Paris, France on 20th March, 1883.

Its objective was to establish a union for protecting the industrial property.
The provisions of the convention broadly fall into three main categories;

National treatment
Priority right and
Common rules.

4
 Continued
The Paris Convention, concluded in 1883, was revised at Brussels in 1900, at
Washington in 1911, at The Hague in 1925, at London in 1934, at Lisbon in
1958 and at Stockholm in 1967, and was amended in 1979.

The Paris Convention applies to industrial property in the widest sense,

including patents, trademarks, industrial designs, utility models (a kind of
"small-scale patent" provided for by the laws of some countries), service
marks, trade names, geographical indications and the repression of unfair
competition.

(The meaning of all these has already been discussed in earlier slides)

5
Establishment of the Union; Scope of Industrial Property
(Article 1)

(1) All the member countries to which convention applies constitute Union for
protecting the industrial property.

(2) The protection of industrial property is applicable to patents, utility

models, industrial designs, trademarks, service marks, trade names,
indications of source or appellations of origin, and the repression of unfair
competition.

6
 Continued
(3) Industrial property shall be understood in the broadest sense and shall
apply not only to industry and commerce proper, but likewise to agricultural
and extractive industries and to all manufactured or natural products, for
example, wines, grain, tobacco leaf, fruit, cattle, minerals, mineral waters,
beer, flowers, and flour.

(4) Patents shall include the various kinds of industrial patents recognized by
the laws of the countries of the Union, such as patents of importation, patents
of improvement, patents and certificates of addition, etc.

7
 Provisions on National Treatment
‘The Convention provides that, as regards the protection of industrial
property, each Contracting State must grant the same protection to nationals
of other Contracting States that it grants to its own nationals. Nationals of
non-Contracting States are also entitled to national treatment under the
Convention if they are domiciled or have a real and effective industrial or
commercial establishment in a Contracting State’

In simple words, it calls for the application of same rules to the nationals of all
the states that are a member to the convention with respect to the application
and granting of industrial property rights, provided they hold an establishment
in that respective state.

8
 Right of Property

The Convention provides for the right of priority in the case of patents (and
utility models where they exist), marks and industrial designs.

This right means that, on the basis of a regular first application filed in one of
the Contracting States, the applicant may, within a certain period of time (12
months for patents and utility models; 6 months for industrial designs and
marks), apply for protection in any of the other Contracting States.

9
 Continued
These subsequent applications will be regarded as if they had been filed on
the same day as the first application. In other words, they will have priority
(hence the expression "right of priority") over applications filed by others
during the said period of time for the same invention, utility model, mark or
industrial design.

Moreover, these subsequent applications, being based on the first application,

will not be affected by any event that takes place in the interval, such as the
publication of an invention or the sale of articles bearing a mark or
incorporating an industrial design.

10
 Continued
One of the great practical advantages of this provision is that applicants
seeking protection in several countries are not required to present all of their
applications at the same time but have 6 or 12 months to decide in which
countries they wish to seek protection, and to organize with due care the
steps necessary for securing protection.

11
 Common rules
The Union lays down some common rules which all member states are
required to follow;

Patents: Patents granted in different Contracting States for the same invention
are independent of each other.

The granting of a patent in one Contracting State does not oblige other
Contracting States to grant a patent; a patent cannot be refused, annulled or
terminated in any Contracting State on the ground that it has been refused or
annulled or has terminated in any other Contracting State.

12
 Continued
The inventor has the right to be named as such in the patent.

The grant of a patent may not be refused, and a patent may not be invalidated, on the
ground that the sale of the patented product, or of a product obtained by means of the
patented process, is subject to restrictions or limitations resulting from the domestic
law.

13
 Continued
In case of Marks, The Paris Convention does not regulate the conditions for
the filing and registration of marks which are determined in each Contracting
State by domestic law.

No application for the registration of a mark filed by a national of a

Contracting State may be refused, nor may a registration be invalidated, on
the ground that filing, registration or renewal has not been affected in the
country of origin.

14
 Continued
The registration of a mark obtained in one Contracting State is independent of
its possible registration in any other country, including the country of origin;
consequently, the lapse or annulment of the registration of a mark in one
Contracting State will not affect the validity of the registration in other
Contracting States.

15
 Continued

In case of Industrial design:

Industrial designs must be protected in each Contracting State, and protection

may not be forfeited on the ground that articles incorporating the design are
not manufactured in that State.

Trade Names:

Protection must be granted to trade names in each Contracting State without

there being an obligation to file or register the names.

16
 Continued
Indications of Source

Measures must be taken by each Contracting State against direct or indirect use
of a false indication of the source of goods or the identity of their producer,
manufacturer or trader.

Unfair competition

Each Contracting State must provide for effective protection against unfair
competition.

17
 The Berne Contract, 1971

Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1886).

The Berne Convention deals with the protection of works and the rights of
their authors.

It is based on three basic principles and contains a series of provisions

determining the minimum protection to be granted, as well as special
provisions available to developing countries that want to make use of them.

18
 Continued

The Berne Convention, concluded in 1886, was revised at Paris in 1896 and at
Berlin in 1908, completed at Berne in 1914, revised at Rome in 1928, at
Brussels in 1948, at Stockholm in 1967 and at Paris in 1971, and was
amended in 1979.

19
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1886).

The Berne Convention deals with the protection of works and the rights of
their authors.

It is based on three basic principles and contains a series of provisions

determining the minimum protection to be granted, as well as special
provisions available to developing countries that want to make use of them.

20
 Principles of Berne Contract, 1971

A. Principle of National Treatment

B. Principle of "automatic" protection

C. Principle of "independence" of protection

21
 Principle of National Treatment

Works originating in one of the Contracting States (that is, works the author
of which is a national of such a State or works first published in such a State)
must be given the same protection in each of the other Contracting States as
the latter grants to the works of its own nationals (principle of "national
treatment")

22
 Principle of Automatic protection

Protection must not be conditional upon compliance with any formality

(principle of "automatic" protection)

This principle implies that copyright protection exists automatically from the
time a qualifying work is fixed in a tangible medium.

23
 Principle of Independence of protection
Protection is independent of the existence of protection in the country of
origin of the work (principle of "independence" of protection).

This principle indicates that the protection in question is independent of the

existence of protection in country of origin where the work was produced.

In case a Contracting State provides for a longer term of protection than the
minimum prescribed by the Convention and the work ceases to be protected
in the country of origin, protection may be denied once protection in the
country of origin ceases.

24
 Minimum standards of protection
The minimum standards of protection relate to the works and rights to be
protected, and the duration of the protection:

Works: the protection must include “every production in the literary, scientific
and artistic domain, whatever may be the mode or form of its expression”.

Exclusive rights recognized (subject to certain limitations/exceptions):

•the right to translate,
•the right to make adaptations and arrangements of the work,
•the right to perform in public dramatic, dramatic-musical and musical
works,

25
 Continued
•the right to recite in public literary works,
•the right to communicate to the public the performance of such works,
•the right to broadcast,
•the right to make reproductions in any manner or form,
•the right to use the work as a basis for an audiovisual work, and the
right to reproduce, distribute, perform in public or communicate to the
public that audiovisual work.

26
 Continued
The Convention also provides for "moral rights", that is, the right to claim
authorship of the work and the right to object to any mutilation, deformation
or other modification of, or other derogatory action in relation to, the work
that would be prejudicial to the author's honor or reputation.

27
 Duration of the Protection
As to the duration of protection, the general rule is that protection must be
granted until the expiration of the 50th year after the author's death.

There are, however, exceptions to this general rule.

In the case of unidentified or pseudonymous works, the term of protection

expires 50 years after the work has been lawfully made available to the
public, except if the pseudonym leaves no doubt as to the author's identity or
if the author discloses his or her identity during that period; in the latter case,
the general rule applies.

28
 Continued
In the case of audiovisual (cinematographic) works, the minimum term of
protection is 50 years after the making available of the work to the public
("release") or – failing such an event – from the creation of the work. In the
case of works of applied art and photographic works, the minimum term is 25
years from the creation of the work

29
 Rights and Limitations on Rights
The Berne Convention allows certain limitations and exceptions on economic
rights, that is, cases in which protected works may be used without the
authorization of the owner of the copyright, and without payment of
compensation.

These limitations are commonly referred to as "free uses" of protected works,

and are set forth in Articles 9(2) (reproduction in certain special cases), 10
(quotations and use of works by way of illustration for teaching purposes),
10bis (reproduction of newspaper or similar articles and use of works for the
purpose of reporting current events) and 11bis(3) (ephemeral recordings for
broadcasting purposes).

30
 Continued
The Appendix to the Paris Act of the Convention also permits developing
countries to implement non-voluntary licenses for translation and
reproduction of works in certain cases, in connection with educational
activities. In these cases, the described use is allowed without the
authorization of the right holder, subject to the payment of remuneration to
be fixed by the law.

31
 Continued
The Berne Union has an Assembly and an Executive Committee. Every country
that is a member of the Union and has adhered to at least the administrative
and final provisions of the Stockholm Act is a member of the Assembly. The
members of the Executive Committee are elected from among the members
of the Union, except for Switzerland, which is a member ex officio.

Under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property

Rights (TRIPS Agreement), the principles of national treatment, automatic
protection and independence of protection also bind those World Trade
Organization (WTO) Members not party to the Berne Convention.

32
 Continued
In addition, the TRIPS Agreement imposes an obligation of "most-favored-
nation treatment", under which advantages accorded by a WTO Member to
the nationals of any other country must also be accorded to the nationals of
all WTO Members. It is to be noted that the possibility of delayed application
of the TRIPS Agreement does not apply to national treatment and most-
favored obligations.

Under the TRIPS Agreement, an exclusive right of rental must be recognized in

respect of computer programs and, under certain conditions, audiovisual
works.

33
 Continued
Under the TRIPS Agreement, any term of protection that is calculated on a
basis other than the life of a natural person must be at least 50 years from the
first authorized publication of the work, or – failing such an event – 50 years
from the making of the work. However, this rule does not apply to
photographic works, or to works of applied art.

It is to be noted that WTO Members, even those not party to the Berne
Convention, must comply with the substantive law provisions of the Berne
Convention, except that WTO Members not party to the Convention are not
bound by the moral rights provisions of the Convention.

34
 For more information
Please visit the link below:

http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/text.jsp?file_id=288514#P77_5133

35
36
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No (17,18): Computers , Software and Digital Information

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

37
Outline of the module
 Emergence of Computer ethics
 Issues in Computer ethics
Power relationships – job elimination, customer relations, biased softwares,
military weapons
 Property issues – Embezzlement and Data sand software issues
 Privacy issues – Inappropriate access, Data bank errors, Hackers
Professional issues – Computer failures and health conditions

Source : Ethics in Engineering, Martin and Schinzinger, Mc-Graw hill publication

38
Continued
What makes digital systems and digital information different?
Software as Intellectual property
Hacking
Changing culture of cloud computing – Facilitating downloads- equally a
crime
Challenges in this information age

Source : Ethics in Engineering Resercah and practice, Whitbeck

39
 Computer Ethics

Today computers occupy an important place in our society. To a very great

extent, they can be considered as the technical backbone of our society.

There is hardly any field today where computers are not being used, whether
its personal or professional

With the increasing use of consumers across the globe, a new area of
computer ethics have emerged

Faculty Name
Department Name 40
 Continued
These ethics hold special importance for new group of professionals emerging
with the growth of computer technology like computer engineers, designers,
programmers, system analysts and computer operators

41
 Issues in Computer ethics
Power relationships

Property issues

Issues of privacy

Professional issues

42
 Power Relationships
Computers have dramatically increased the ability of the organizations to not
just manage huge heaps of data easily but also carry out many jobs effectively

When the computers were introduced social critics were alarmed that
computers would lead to concentration of power in few hands

The emergence of micro computers that portable and can be used at multiple
locations has created a lot of ethical concerns for those in control of these

43
 Continued
Job Elimination
Computers have led and will continue to eliminate some of the jobs. The
emergence of computers in any organization leads to the removal of a few
people as computers can handle many tasks with just one operator.

However in large organizations there is possibility of readjust work

assignments, adjust work loads or assign other tasks of people but such
possibilities do not exists in small organizations

There is a need to weigh moral considerations of human costs attached with

emergence of computers in the organizations

44
 Continued
Customer Relations

There are also questions about public accountability of businesses using

computer based services. The personal and financial details of consumers are
usually taken by there companies and maintained as records, it should be
made sure that these companies do not use details of computers unethically.

There are other issues to be dealt with this as well. For eg, a grocery tore
which issues computerized bill should not use codes to display items as
computers may not get complete picture about what they actually purchased
and what they are paying for

45
 Continued
Biased Software

The computer software used for running the programs should be neutral.
They should not be created to get biased results. The coding and algorithm
designed for running the software should be created to get unbiased results,
not what the developer intends to get.

Engineers, who design soft wares for checking feasibility scores for projects
should make sure that they never show results that re biased in one direction

46
 Continued
Stock Trading

Stock trading is the automatic, hands off, computer trading of the stocks,
futures and options on the stock market

What assurances exists with respect to the fact the power controllers in
organizations who have control over the algorithms that are developed to run
these soft wares do not exercise power to manipulate markets and control
the prospective selling and purchases processes keeping their interests in
mind

47
 Continued
Military weapons

Many countries today are creating autonomous weapons that can be aimed
and fired onboard through new emerging technologies

Computerized defense softwares have created a dangerous instability, even if

they are working perfectly

One wrong command can prove to be costly beyond imagination

48
 Continued
This can also make countries who are in control of these computerized
nuclear weapons to dominate others and get their undue demands fulfilled

49
 Property
Two of the most widely publicized forms of computer crimes are;

Embezzlement of funds

Stealing money or financial assets

With the control of computer technology, in just a few clicks, millions of

money can be transferred from one account to another, creating the
bankruptcy in seconds for the other

50
 Embezzlement
Computers have been many times found to be incidentally involved when
extortions are attempted via phones which is covered under computerized
telephone system

Sometimes unauthorized persons use computers to obtain private phone

numbers or use them for malicious activities

The computer technology has made it easy for people to contact people by
hiding their identity and make fools out of them by embezzling their funds

51
 Continued
There are two factors that make computers troublesome and where the need
for ethics arises with respect to their wise usage arises;

Their speed and geographical coverage which allows large number of people
to be victimized

The difficulty of tracing the underlying transactions to get hold of the theives

This problem becomes more acute when calls are made lonling lines by
crossing national boundaries

52
 Continued
Some of the commonly discussed cases of computer abuse relate to the
embezzlement of funds by people from accounts of others by hacking their
passwords or stealing their private and financial confidential information
online

These cases have been reported in many forms with respect to stealing or
cheating by employees at work, stealing by non-employees to former
employees, cheating clients, violating contracts of computer sale etc

53
 Receiving mails

I am sure many of you must received mails from anonymous ids who declare
millions of rupees as rewards for you and for processing ask you to provide
you important personal and private financial information online.

Beware of such mails!!

54
 Data and Software
Data here denotes information stored in computer, Softwares refers to
programs that direct an electronic machine to perform certain tasks specially
solving problems

Because of the developments in technology it has become quite easy for

people to steal huge heaps of information and store them in small chips or
devices like hard disks

Softwares makes it people even to decode the information written inc odes
and use them for their own purposes.

55
 Privacy

Storage and retrieval of huge data bases has become quite easy because of
the developments in technology and it has thus made easy for people to
access the private information of people

By making data easily available to people , computers have made it difficult

for people to protect their privacy

56
 Issues in privacy

Inappropriate access

Because of the advancements in technology, it is quite easy for the people

who know how to hack to inappropriately access the information of
individuals or even organizations

Suppose if the data pertaining to the account (financial) details of the people
is inappropriately accessed by the people planning a crime, it can lead to
many blunders and can even led to bankrupsy for a lot of people

57
 Continued
Data recording errors

Sometimes the errors made while making records in data bases or not
updating the records on time could prove to be very costly

For eg, while maintaining record of the criminals, photos of two criminals are
replaced by the innocent people

Or Mr. Yen had already cleared the loan amount but the details were not
updated by the bank officials in the system. Because of his visibility of name
under defaulters, a case was lodged against him.

58
 Continued

Hackers

These are people who compulsively challenge any computer security system

Some even carry the art to place “Trojan horses”, (unwanted codes that copy
themselves into larger programs) that choke networks with dead end tasks
and spew out false information, erase files or even destroy equipments

59
 Continued

This form of vandalism can be extremely harmful and is majorly a clear case
of violation of property rights

Just think for a minute, someone hacking your bank account, you would have
nothing left in the account in next few seconds and it may even not be
possible to get hold of the hacker because of the complexities in the system
involved

60
 Professional issues

Many of the issues in engineering ethics arise within the context of computer
work.

New variations of difficulties may be involved , often owing to the high

degree of job complexity and required technical proficiency introduced by
computers.

61
 Professional issues involved
Computer failures

Failures can occur because of errors in software and hardware

Software error are indeed serious and can lead to the collapse of the
designed applications . Like because of a wrong code, deaths of several
patients happened when several patients received uncontrolled amounts of
radiations from radiation therapy machines

62
 Continued
Errors can occur because of faulty logic in the design formulation or could occur
because of the faulty coding instructions

Thus, it is essential that engineers carry out trials ethically and should not let
the issues evolve so that they can once again charge the clients for resolving
these issues

63
 Continued
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 the
occurrence of health problems to the users of such systems.

64
 Digital systems and Digital information
Digital systems and digital information undoubtedly have special
characteristics that sets them apart and hence, influence the moral significant
problems

Like the ability to steal the digital information without entering the premises,
from a distance poses new challenges for the legal system relating to theft of
the digital information.

The plasticity of digital information increases the possibility of transferring to

it to small devices which increases the chances of forgery and thus requires
more checks.
Faculty Name
Department Name 65
Distinctive characteristics of Digital information
No tangible form

Carry high intrinsic value

Even when stolen or pirated, it is not gone . Someone may be selling your
licensed software to others without your knowledge

 Easy to create unlicensed copies of software, music or videos which

threatens artistic integrity

66
 Continued
Can be easily copied online if it is made available by other people in public
forums

That’s how copyrights and intellectual property rights become significant

(Discussed in detail in further sections of the module)

67
 Software as Intellectual property
The software code may be either patentable or covered by copyright
depending upon how novel the software is as a technology.

Other technologies are subject to patent only. However software is a written

work and therefore subject to copyright. It also possesses functionality unlike
other written work.

Because any one can use the source code without reading it, property
protections for digital information work differently as they work for other
technologies.

68
 Continued

Even if one buys software, there are by law only bound to use it for themselves
only and specifically not allowed to do reverse engineering to create one of
their own, as the license forbids them from doing so.

For better understanding and insights, refer to the case

Lotus development corporation vs. Paperback software international and
Stephenson Software ltd.

69
The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again.
Case for Reference

70
 Hacking
Hacking is a way of making something function the way, it was not designed
to. Unfortunately, it is celebrated as “a clever, benign and ethical prank or a
joke which is both challenging the perpetrators and amusing”
It is also referred in a sense to gaining unauthorized access to computers,
phone systems and so on, which is illegal.
Is it considered to be illegal and prima facie wrong?
If there is a reasonable suspicion that something is being planned and would
harm the nation or a group or a society at large, hacking may be justified but
the questions that arise relate to, who shall do it?

71
Changing culture of cloud computing – Facilitating downloads- equally a crime
The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again.

72
 Privacy in Information age

• Express your views on how safe is private information in this new

age of technology?

73
 Challenges in this information age
Authentication – It is harder to prove that you are you and somebody else is not
you. You can be anything and anyone on internet

Phishing – Deceiving people and churning out their financial important

information like their account passwords

Spam – unwarranted messages usually advertisements sent to a large number

of people without taking their permission

74
 Faculty Name
Department Name 75
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No (19,20) :Engineers, Nuclear Testing and Weapons

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

76
 Outline of the module
Introduction
Nuclear ethics
Importance of Nuclear ethics
Role of engineers
Special code of ethics for organizations as well as people working in
Nuclear
Agencies
General and specific duties of Nuclear Engineers
Formation of ethical policies
Is it ethical for engineers to develop nuclear weapons
 Continued
 View of Utilitarianism on Nuclear weapons
 Theory of deontology and Nuclear weapons
From the point of view of ‘Nuclear Deterrence

(source: Yue Zhao , Student Conversations about Professional Responsibilities of the Engineer @ The University of Sheffield), IAEA Nuclear
Energy Series Guides Establishing a Code of Ethics for Nuclear Operating Organizations No. NG-T-1.2)
https://wwwpub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/P_1311_web.pdf, , //www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/nuclear-
engineers.htm#tab-2)
 Introduction
Almost all countries in the world today are aspiring to be nuclear states today.

This is primarily for their own security as well as freedom from dependence from
other countries like United States of America.

The need for countries as well as the aspiration to emerge as nuclear states has led
to the emergence of new branch called nuclear ethics.

79
 Nuclear Ethics

An emerging branch of ethics which examines the issues pertaining to;

nuclear warfare
nuclear deterrence,
nuclear arms control,
nuclear disarmament, or
nuclear energy

from the lens of ethical theories or moral conduct

Faculty Name
Department Name 80
 Nuclear Warfare
It is a from of conflict leading to mass destruction in which nuclear weapons are
used by the country to inflict damage on the enemy.

Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction and can cause a much extensive
damage in a very short period of time and can have a long-lasting radiological
warfare result.

81
 Nuclear Deterrence
It is a strategy to prevent war.

It follows the rationale of first user principle, which states the right of the
country to use nuclear weapons for self defense in situation of an armed
attack for protecting its security.

Nuclear deterrence is merely the possibility of thwarting an enemy’s plans

with nuclear weapons.

82
 Nuclear disarmament

Nuclear disarmament is the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons.

The objective is to create a world free of nuclear weapons, in which nuclear

weapons are not used by nay of the states.

It can also be described as denuclearization, which denotes the process of is

complete nuclear disarmament.

83
 Continued

Arms control refers to treaties made between potential adversaries that

reduce the likelihood and scope of war, usually imposing limitations on
military capability.

Although disarmament always involves the reduction of military forces or

weapons, arms control does not.

84
 Nuclear arms control
It is a term that is mainly used to describe the international restrictions
relating to the development, production, stocking, proliferation and usage of
small arms, conventional weapons and weapons of mass destruction .

What is the difference between nuclear arms control and nuclear

disarmament?

85
 Importance of Nuclear ethics
Consequences of nuclear accidents can be monumental

Emissions from nuclear reactors can cause huge harm to the life around them

Tragic incidents can occur if unethical choices are made by engineers like
selecting a wrong a site for testing of the nuclear weapons.

Reactor meltdowns, which have been identified amongst the serious nuclear
accidents usually occurs when proper security measures are not taken.
This in a way highlights the role of the engineers.
Faculty Name
Department Name 86
 Continued
It is important to avoid accidents like meltdowns as these can cause death
and injury to the surrounding community through explosions and leakage
of radioactive material.

Disposition of nuclear waste is another major issue. Nuclear waste can

again be deadly to both human and animal life as well the environment.

It is needless to say that huge money and resources are involved, which also
makes creates an ethical responsibility for engineers to make sure that
resources are not wasted.

Faculty Name
Department Name 87
 Needless to say about the role of engineers
One group that plays an eminent role with respect to nuclear weapons
development and testing is undoubtedly the group of engineers.

This is because they not just play an important role in designing but are also
supposed to make sure that testing is done in such a way that no harm reaches
mankind.

International atomic energy agency has given a special code of behavior for the
people working in as well as for nuclear facility operating organizations.

Faculty Name
Department Name 88
 Code of Ethics specially for people working in
Nuclear agencies

Adopt a conservative, risk-based approach to decision making

Always place safety before commercial gain

Accept personal responsibility for own and others’ safety

Integrate safety and environmental considerations into business practices

Faculty Name
Department Name 89
 Continued
Ensure that there are effective mechanisms for communication between the
Board and operational level managers in order that Board-level decision making
is done with appropriate consideration of safety and environmental risks

Communicate openly and honesty with regulators, employees and all other
stakeholders

 Maintain a “blame-free” reporting culture that encourages full reporting of

unsafe or unethical practices, incidents and near misses, and that uses this
information to continually improve the organization
Faculty Name
Department Name 90
 Continued
Openly share operating experience information with other industry operating
organizations, including benchmarking, and make effective use of the experiences
of others, while respecting commercial confidentiality

Participate objectively and honestly in local, national and global discussions

and policy making processes regarding energy supply decisions

Bribery and corruption are not tolerated at any level, or in any area of the
organization.

Faculty Name
Department Name 91
 Continued
Materials, technology, and information regarding nuclear activities are not
illegally sold or distributed, or otherwise misused.

 Being a good neighbour to, and supporter of, the local community, including
advising them of measures taken to protect their health and safety, and the local
environment.

(Source: https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/P_1311_web.pdf)

Faculty Name
Department Name 92
 General Duties of Nuclear Engineers
Designing or developing nuclear equipments like reactor cores, radiation
shielding, and associated instrumentation

Direct operating or maintenance activities of operational nuclear power

plants to ensure that they meet safety standards

Write operational instructions to be used in nuclear plant operation or in

handling and disposing of nuclear waste

Monitor nuclear facility operations to identify any design, construction, or

operation practices that violate safety regulations and laws

93
 Continued
Perform experiments to test whether methods of using nuclear material,
reclaiming nuclear fuel, or disposing of nuclear waste are acceptable

Take corrective actions or order plant shutdowns in emergencies

Examine nuclear accidents and gather data that can be used to design
preventive measures

(source://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/nuclear-engineers.htm#tab-2)

94
 Specific Duties of Nuclear Engineers with respect to
Nuclear weapons testing

Designing and testing weapons for building a strong base for ensuring the
security of the country

Making sure that complete secrecy is maintained and no information is

leaked out which could hamper the security of the country, this is in a way like
the rule of confidentiality

Implementing tests in such a way that it doesn’t hampers the mankind as well
as the animal life in the surroundings.

95
 Continued
This implies that several precautionary measures should be taken. Like testing
should be done in ranges which are quite far from densely or even medium
populated areas

All loopholes while testing should be indentified and properly recorded by the
engineers, such that these mistakes are not repeated as can be very deadly
for the mankind.

Disposition of nuclear waste should be done in such a way that it leaves

minimum negative impact on our environment.

96
 Formation of ethical policies
There is a need for formulating ethical policies in nuclear organizations with
respect to

Conducting operations at nuclear facilities

Management systems including quality management and safety culture

Human resource management including human performance improvement

Training and qualification of personnel

97
 Continued
Open and transparent decision making and communication methods

Physical protection and control of nuclear materials

 Experience feedback and corrective action systems.

98
Is it ethical for engineers to continue developing nuclear
weapons
Nuclear weapons undoubtedly have disastrous effects due to their
destructive power.

Their bad effects on environment can only be marginalized but cannot be

completely eradicated, hence, a few humanitarians have although raised
voices for their abolition to protect humanity,

But the paradox.. Relates to not compromising with the security of the
country and it is considered ethical for engineers to develop nuclear weapons
for the purpose of defense of the country defense.

99
 Continued
The main stakeholders include;

 Government
 Alliances (Government partnership with other countries in form of any
 treaties signed with respect to nuclear weapons developments and
testing)
 Nuclear weapons manufacturers
 Engineers and Scientists
 Common public

100
 Continued
While the companies want to shoot up the production to make more
money,

The common people of the public want to live in a safe environment,

And

Governments’ main interest lies in protecting the country from foreign

invasion and threat.

101
 Continued

Hence, the relevant values should include

National sovereignty
Territorial integrity,
Public welfare
World peace
Sustainability of environment
and
integrity of the engineer.

(source: Yue Zhao , Student Conversations about Professional Responsibilities of the Engineer @ The University of Sheffield)

102
 Continued
The disputed fact can be whether the nuclear weapons should still exist in the
world.

Options for actions include

(1) Use nuclear deterrence as an important instrument for security

(2) Every country gives up the nuclear weapon at the same time.

(source: Yue Zhao , Student Conversations about Professional Responsibilities of the Engineer @ The University of Sheffield)

103
 Theory of Utilitarianism and Nuclear weapons

Theory of Utilitarianism : “Those actions should be chosen that lead to

maximum amount of happiness”

This indicates that out of the various options available only that option
should be picked up which results in greatest happiness for the people.

As everyone in the world pursues peace, people will feel happier if

there are fewer wars and deaths.

104
 Continued
On grounds of Utilitarian ethics,

Is it right if few people are killed or animal life is affected or harmful

radiations are released in environment to assure you the security of
nation of millions or billions of people? - A point of debate

105
 Continued
From the theory of deontology,

Deontology focuses on whether the action is right or wrong instead of

analyzing the consequences.

As nuclear weapons often claim innocent lives in both the opponent and
retaliatory countries at risk, then it too is intrinsically wrong

106
 From the point of view of ‘Nuclear Deterrence’
Nuclear deterrence, means that any country say X is very much unlikely to attack
another country Y, if it (X) knows that Y has more nuclear weapons.

Nuclear deterrence is very much essential to safeguard a country and protect its
people from invasion and attacks from other countries.

A balance of nuclear weapons is very much essential for reducing the aggression
as well as chances of large scale wars as it restricts other countries from attacking
You.

107
 Continued
As a result, nuclear deterrence makes the country safer.

So it is ethically justified for engineers to continue developing nuclear

weapons as they do the best for the most people in the end.

108
109
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No (21,22) :Responsibility to the Environment

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

1
Outline of the module
The changing perspectives on Environment
Engineering, Ecology and Economics
The invisible hand and the Tragedy of the Commons
Role of engineers in Sustainable development
Codes of Ethics for engineers
Environmental Leadership
A vision for environmental Leadership for Asia
Environmental Laws
Preventing disasters and Changing the way for costing
Social Activism
 The changing perspectives on Environment
The new ways of thinking about the environment have increased the
complexity of defining the responsibility of engineers and other applied
scientists towards the environment.

Before 1970, the environment simply denoted ‘the surroundings and the
assemblage of the things nearby’

Today it is a complex mix of combination of factors that are external to

organisms and influence their living in any capacity. Additionally the
challenges like human growth population, global warming, depletion of
natural resources and over use of resources is making it further complex.
Faculty Name
Department Name 3
 Continued
The modern day tone of environment has mainly originated from the emergence
of the branch of ecology which was considered as altogether a new scientific
discipline depicting ‘the study of the relationship between organisms and their
environment’.

The emergence of ecology has also given rise to the many new areas of
engineering practice like chemical engineering and civil engineering etc.

Rachel Carson, a marine biologist , stands credited for bringing a change in the
way environment is perceived today. The work done by her 1962, through her
book ‘Silent spring’ changed the consciousness of both public and policy makers
about the effect of pesticides on environment.
Faculty Name
Department Name 4
 Engineering, Ecology and Economics
Ecosystem - An ecosystem is a group of organisms that interact with each other
and with their physical environment in ways that affect the population of those
organisms.

Why ecosystem and Engineering?

Simply because the technology In case it messes up with the environment, it
can affect the health of many breeds that a re co-existing in the environment.

Thus a need arises for the environmental ethics which denotes , the study of
moral issues concerning the environment and moral perspectives, beliefs, and
attitudes concerning those issues

5
 The invisible hand and the tragedy of the
commons
These two metaphors have majorly dominated thinking about
the environment: the invisible hand and the tragedy of the
commons.

Both these highlight the unintended influence of the

marketplace on the environment, but one is optimistic and the
other is cautionary about those impacts.

6
 The ‘invisible hand’: Adam Smith, 1776,
“The Wealth of Nations”
Smith conceived of an invisible (and divine) hand governing the marketplace in a
seemingly paradoxical manner
– Business persons think of only their self-interest or benefits
– “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we
expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interests”
–“Yet, although “he intends only his own gain,” he is “led by an invisible hand to
promote an end which was no part of his intention. . . . By pursuing his own interest
he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really
intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to
trade for the public good.”
(Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, vol. 1 (New York: Oxford University Press,
1976),

7
 The issue is :
Invisible hand metaphor does not adequately take into account damage to the
environment
– Pollution caused to the environment
– Destruction of natural habitats residing together in the environment
– Depletion/damage of shared resources

Adam Smith could not have foreseen the cumulative impact of expanding populations,
unregulated capitalism, and market “externalities”—that is, economic impacts not included
in the cost of products. Regarding the environment, most of these are negative
externalities—pollution, destruction of natural habitats, depletion of shared resources, and
other unintended and often unappreciated damage to “common” resources.
From a larger perspective, think about the impact that various projects that are
undertaken, say like building a bridge or a road by cutting trees or making a mall by
removing a part of the forest.. How justified is it?

8
The tragedy of the commons - Garret Hardin,
1968
The thought is deeply rooted in Aristotle’s observation that we tend to
be thoughtless about things we do not own individually and which
seem to be in unlimited supply.

William Foster Lloyd was a believer this phenomenon, which was later
called as the tragedy of the commons by Garret Hardin, 1968
In simple words, it highlights the conflict between individual and
collective rationality. When we get unlimited assess to resources, a bit
of over use from our side (which others are also doing), in the long term
makes a huge impact.

9
 Continued
The same kind of aggressive, unmalicious but carelessness, exploitation
arises of natural resources that are held in common like air, land,
forests, lakes, oceans, endangered species, and indeed the entire
biosphere is leading to a destructive impact.

The tragedy of the commons still remains a powerful image in thinking

about environmental challenges in today’s era of increasing population
and decreasing natural resources.

10
 Role of Engineers in Sustainable development
Today engineers are expected to play a immense role, when it comes to sustainability
because of the large impact the work of engineers can have on society.
However, historically, engineers were not considered as responsible concerning the
environment as they should have been. That’s how the attitudes were predominant in
society. There were hardly any laws that governed, what if anything went wrong or it
affected the society tremendously in a negative way?
All engineers should reflect seriously on environmental values and how they can best
integrate them into understanding and solving problems. This is because
-Projects, products, or processes designed by engineers can release toxic wastes that
can have detrimental effect on environment. Like in case of pesticides .
-Some engineering developments flood farmlands, drain wetlands, and destroy
forests.
-On the other hand engineers work on improvements to reduce/eliminate negative
that impact environment.

11
 Continued
As rightly put by Caroline Whitback in her book Ethics in engineering practice
and research,

The professional responsibility of engineers and applied scientists for

environmental protection, like their responsibility for ensuring public safety,
requires attention to two sorts of risks:
“Hazards that have gone unrecognized, at least by some key decision makers,
and that pose a grave or excessive threat to safety or the environment”; and
“Hazards that are a recognized feature of the situation but that cannot be
completely eliminated and are mitigated only by increasing other risks and
costs”.
This mainly emerges from the technical aspect of risk which talks about risk
assessment before implementing any engineering project..

12
 Code of Ethics for Engineers and Sustainable
development
ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers), 1997:
– Engineers shall hold paramount to the safety, health, and welfare of the public
and shall strive to comply with the principles of sustainable development in the
performance of their professional duties.
Section 1 (f) states that “Engineers should be committed to improving the
environment to enhance the quality of life”
– Also have requirement to notify “proper authorities” when the principles of
sustainable development are violated by employers, clients and other firms
The ASCE Code makes recommendations and explicitly states the requirements
for engineers with respect to the environment stating what “engineers shall”
(requirements) and what “engineers should” (recommendations)

13
 Continued
IEEE Code of Ethics (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)

The IEEE Code of Ethics begins with point 1 as

“to hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public, to
strive to comply with ethical design and sustainable development
practices, and to disclose promptly factors that might endanger the
public or the environment”

The IEEE Code also commits its members to disclose the possible
threats to the public in case any engineering practice is expected to
cause any harm to the public in general.

14
Refer to the snapshot taken from the official website of
IEEE

15
 Continued
ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) Code of Ethics of
Engineers
The Fundamental Principles
Engineers uphold and advance the integrity, honor, and dignity of the
Engineering profession by:
using their knowledge and skill for the enhancement of human welfare;
being honest and impartial, and serving with fidelity the public, their
employers and clients; and
striving to increase the competence and prestige of the engineering
profession.
(Source ; http://web.mit.edu/course/2/2.95j/Codes-of-Ethics/ASME_Code_of_Ethics.html)

16
 Continued
The Fundamental Canons

1. Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public
in the performance of their professional duties.

2. Engineers shall perform services only in areas of their competence.

3. Engineers shall continue their professional development throughout their

careers and shall provide opportunities for the professional development of
those engineers under their supervision.

4. Engineers shall act in professional matters for each employer or client as

faithful agents or trustees, and shall avoid conflicts of interest.

5 17
 Continued
Engineers shall build their professional reputation on the merit of
their services and shall not compete unfairly with others.
6. Engineers shall associate only with reputable persons or
organizations.
7. Engineers shall issue public statements only in an objective and
truthful manner.
(Source ; http://web.mit.edu/course/2/2.95j/Codes-of-
Ethics/ASME_Code_of_Ethics.html)

18
 Sustainable development and Engineers
United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development, Our
Common Future, 1987:
“ defines sustainable development as “the development that meets the needs
of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs”
ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) defines sustainable development
as “a process of change in which the direction of investment, the orientation of
technology, the allocation of resources, and the development and functioning
of institutions [is directed] to meet present needs and aspirations without
endangering the capacity of natural systems to absorb the effects of human
activities, and without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs and aspirations”.

19
 Continued
Engineers and applied scientists, because of their education and
training, are in a special position to recognize both environmental
hazards and safety hazards.
Their specialized knowledge and training are the basis for the growing
consensus that engineers and applied scientists have a professional
responsibility to bring environmental as well as safety hazards to light.
This has not only highlighted the role of engineers towards led
sustainable development but also led to the emergence of concept of
environmental leadership in general and more specifically in
engineering organizations as well

20
 Environmental Leadership
“Environmental leaders are those who look at environmental problems in light
of their own experience and moral values, are committed to leveraging their
area of expertise to realize sustainable development in their professional and
private lives, and exercise leadership in fulfilling their social responsibilities”
(United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development) (UNDESD)
Two types of people are needed to attain sustainable development;
Environmentally-conscious citizens: people whose lifestyles have a minimal
environmental impact
Environmental leaders: leaders who have the ability to make the socioeconomic
system more harmonious with the environment through environmentally-
friendly products, services, businesses, technologies, and policies

21
A vision for training such environmental leaders in Asia

https://edu.env.go.jp/asia/en/about/vision.html

22
Three requirements for promoting sustainability

https://edu.env.go.jp/asia/en/about/vision.html

23
 Responsibility of engineers for assuring
sustainability
•Cost-benefit and risk-benefit calculations are frequent component of
environmental impact statements.
•Analysis of environment risks is often the official responsibility of
engineering teams, they should make sure that goals of sustainable
developmental are met.
•Engineers are expected to be honest while preparing reports of these
evaluation projects. If the costs of implementation go much beyond
than what our environment can afford, engineers should make sure that
such projects are scrapped.
•Human wellbeing should be kept on utmost priority while undertaking
engineering activities.
•Only those projects, products or machines should be given a go ahead,
that cause no harm to environment or human well being.

24
 Environmental Laws
Environmental Laws…
• National Environmental Policy Act, 1969
• Occupational Safety and Health Act, 1970
• Clean Air Act, 1970
• Clean Water Act, 1972
• Toxic Substances Control Act, 1976

25
 Preventing of Natural disasters
Communities at the local and even state level have special responsibility
to conserve natural resources and beauty for future generations.
They have special responsibility, as well, for preventing natural events—
such as hurricanes, floods, fires, and earthquakes—from becoming
disasters. There are four sets of measures communities can take to
avert or mitigate disasters.
For instance, homes should not be built in floodplains, homes in prairie
country should have tornado shelters, hillsides should be stabilized to
prevent landslides, structures should be able to withstand earthquakes
and heavy weather, roof coverings should be made from nonflammable
materials, and roof overhangs should be fashioned so flying embers will
not be trapped.

26
 Changing the way, costing is done
There is a need to change the way, costing is done. It would not only
increase the awareness but also make engineers more concerned while
passing or undertaking any projects.
Classically, only direct costs of labor, raw materials and use of facilities
are included.
But if true costs like;
– Effects of pollution
– Depletion of energy and raw materials
– Disposal
are also included this would help in achieving a more sustainable
orientation.

27
 Promoting Social activism
Social activism by concerned citizens has played a key role in raising public
awareness. As examples, we cite Rachel Carson, Sherwood Rowland, and
Engineers Without Borders.
In the United States the environmental movement had many roots, but its
catalyst was Rachel Carson’s 1962 book Silent Spring. Carson made a
compelling case that pesticides, in particular
dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), were killing creatures beyond their
intended target, insects. DDT is a broad-spectrum and highly toxic
insecticide that kills a variety of insects. It also persists in the environment
by being soluble in fat, and hence storable in animal tissue, but not soluble
in water, so that it is not flushed out of organisms. As a result, DDT enters
into the food chain at all levels, with increasing concentrations in animals at
the higher end of the chain.

28
 Faculty Name
Department Name 29
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No 23: Environmental Ethics and Spirituality

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

30
Outline of the module
 Introduction to the topic
Transcendentalism
Deep Ecology
Ecofeminism
The Gaia Hypothesis
The Judeo-Christian Tradition
Asian religions
Animistic Religions
Modern Pantheism
Source: Engineering, Ethics and the Environment , Vesilind and Gunn, Cambridge University Press
 Introduction
It is quite evident that classical ethical theories provide no solid ground for
protecting our environment

For eg, building a dam as per Utilitarianism may be justified but if it costs a lot in
terms of harming the habitat and the natural ecosystem it may not be justified.

The theorists who neglected the idea of classical theorists and were dominated
by the real concern for individual organisms, places, eco-systems and future
generations started the search for environmental ethics in spirituality

32
 Transcendentalism
Earliest attempts to incorporate the spirituality of nature into a religion

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) and Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

rejected the idea of understanding nature thorough scientific rationality and
proposed the concept of transcendentalism , which denotes moving beyond the
scientific logics for understanding nature

Emerson advocated the idea of yielding oneself to nature for attaining spirituality

33
 Continued
But how is this making sense for engineers?

This is related to engineering in some sense as transcendentalism led the

foundation of the movements of conservation and preservation of
natural resources which in a way restricts the actions of the engineers
which might harm nature like cutting trees, using excessive water for
industrial purposes etc.

34
 Deep Ecology
This in a way was an extension of transcendentalism.

This movement was formalized with the writings of Norwegian philosopher Arne
Naess, who proposed two fundamental values :

Self-realization
Biocentric equality

as the basis for the evolution of environmental ethics.

35
 Continued
These values defy rational justification and rely more on connecting deeply with
ecology.

Self realization relates to the recognition of oneself as member of greater

universe, not just as single individual or a member of particular community.

As per Naess, this can only be achieved through reflection and contemplation.

Reflecting in terms of how it would affect us and contemplating the affect of an

action on long term

36
 Continued
Biocentric equality, follows self-realization and calls for understanding oneself a
one with other creatures in the world.

We cannot regard ourselves as superior and should accept that all creatures
have equal rights to flourish

We can eat and use other creatures only to the extent it is vital for our survival.

For a deep ecologist, collecting material wealth is considered unethical.

37
 Continued
Biocentric equality, follows self-realization and calls for understanding oneself a
one with other creatures in the world.

We cannot regard ourselves as superior and should accept that all creatures
have equal rights to flourish

We can eat and use other creatures only to the extent it is vital for our survival.

For a deep ecologist, collecting material wealth is considered unethical.

38
 Deep ecology and engineering ethics
Engineers should focus on developing sustainable societies for the greater
good of society

Using of resources should be restricted to the extent it is considered very

essential to meet vital needs

Engineers should respect the fact the other life whether human or non human
has a value in itself and engineers as individuals have no right to reduce its
richness for materialistic benefits.

39
 Ecofeminism
Ecofeminism as a term emerged in 1980’s

Its basic premise relates to constructing environmental ethic by incorporating

the problem of patriarchy into our thinking about humans and nature

In simple words, Ecofeminism, which is also called as ecological feminism, that

examines the connections between women and nature.

According to one of the proponents, Ecofeminism is “the potion that there are
important connections – historical, symbolic or theoretical between
domination of women and domination of non-human nature”

40
 Continued
Patsy Hallen, an influential American philosopher, believes that because
science is our chief means of understanding the environment, there is a need
to make it more feminine.

It emphasizes the ethics of caring, as opposed to the male oriented ethics of

justice.

It aims at nurturing the feelings of having care for Mother Earth .

41
 Continued
It is an alternative approach to environmental morality – a simple caring for
the living and non-living environment which in a way brings us a step closer to
the environment

It should be noted that Ecofeminism is not gender specific, all people

regardless of geneder can have a caring attitude towrads our enviornemnt.

42
 The Gaia Approach
In Greek mythology, Gaia means nurturing the goddess earth

It is largely the idea of a contemporary biologist, James lovelock, who suggested

that earth should be viewed as a single organism, Mother nature,which lives like
any other organism

The Gaia hypothesis postulates the idea of preserving earth like a living
organism

It restricts humans from destroying other creatures that co-exist with humans in
the mother earth

43
 The Judeo-Christian Tradition
Human beings are different from rest of the nature

We are the only creatures with a developed language

Humans have a domination over all other animals

Lynn Whites’s 1967 essay, “ The Historical roots of Our Ecological Crisis” best
described the influence of Judeo-Christianity on human use of natural
environment , which led to a severe ecological crises.

44
 Continued

A medieval historian, White (1907-1987) also strongly believed that Judeo-

Christianity traditions were largely responsible for exploitative attitude of
humans on nature leading to the ecologic crises.

Because of the fact that it never restricted humans from destroying plants and
killing animals

45
 Asian Religions
Taoist and Confucianism traditions in China

Zen Buddhist in Japan

Both these religions consider whole world in its organic sense , with nothing
existing in isolation and everything connected to each other.

Buddhism has main tenet principle as the principle of ‘ahimsa’, “do not destroy
life”

46
 Continued
Buddhism teaches compassion for all of life including trees, forests and wildlife.

Such oneness does not hinders development.

Taoism encourages technological advancements as long as it is in harmony with

nature.

In Japan, The Zen Buddhist movement also stresses oneness with nature.

47
 Continued
But unfortunately in both China and Japan, the presence of environmentally
enlightened religion does not seem to have prevented the massive destruction
and disregard for environmental equality.

The other major religion in Asia is Hindu tradition. Hindus believe that god
resides in all creatures and thus prohibit eating meat. The doctrine of ahimsa is
also shared by Hindus which advocates not destroying life.

The central tenets of Hinduism require care and compassion for animals and
nature but this does not seems to be the reflection in their practical Experience
like Japan and China.

48
 Animistic Religions
Most ancient religions, including Polynesian and Native American religions are
animistic and recognize the existence of spirits with nature.

In such religions, spirits do not take human form and are simply within tree or the
sky.

In many animistic religions killing of animals like deer or bear requires proper
appeasement.

Cutting down a tree requires an explanation to that spirit (tree) for cutting it

49
 Continued
Some modern environmentalists have looked upon animism with admiration
and have believed that such wisdom doesn’t exists anymore

50
 Modern Pantheism
It is considered to be an updated version of both transcendentalism and
animism.

Under modern pantheism, ecology is viewed as the scientific revelation of

god.

According to Harold Wood, modern pantheism offers three approaches to

achieving oneness with god – the way of knowledge, way of devotion and the
way of works

51
 Continued
Way of knowledge relates to studying nature deeply, and being observant
with what nature possesses

Way of devotion relates to celebrating the parts of nature as a way of being

and communion with nature

And the way of works denotes acting in the best interest of the ecosystem.

52
 The Point of Discussion
The Possibilities:

Stop worrying about environmental ethics

Abandon any attempt to develop and environmental ethic and just adopt
some ideas based on inner feelings

Adopt and environmental ethic that makes most of sense to us based on

understanding of the world and our own evaluation of ethics

53
54
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No 24: Engineering as Social experimentation

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

55
Outline of the module
 Introduction to Experimentation
Benefits of Experimentation
Similarities between engineering and standard experiments
Contrasting engineering and standard experiments
Engineers as responsible experimenters
Conscientiousness, Relevant information, Moral autonomy and
Accountability

Source: Ethics in Engineering, Martin and Schinzinger, McGraw-Hill (Third Edition)

 Introduction
Experimentation plays an important role in all projects that are a matter of
concern. Engineering projects in totality can be viewed as experiments.

Even in engineering projects, preliminary tests or simulations are conducted

out to make sure that the best prototype is prepared and taken further for
making it a reality.

More specifically, from the time it is decided a project is to be pursued into

reality , experimentation starts.

57
 Continued
The experimental tests conducted serve as basis for more detailed designs.

Like for example, before a road construction begins, researchers in civil

engineering labs might be asked to prepare different samples of the
aggregates to see which is well suited in terms of the strength of the material
used and proposed road load

Or Engineers at a beverage company might be asked to come up with special

design of the bottles and conduct experiments to find out which one is the
best for the grip

58
 Benefits of Experimentation
(1) Coming up with the best version of the product by trying various
iterations

(2) Utilizing experiments as a means to seek feedback and carrying out

further improvements

(3) Technically, it may seem a perfect product but it might vary when
executed behaviorally. Experiments help find out behavioral usage flaws
For eg. The design of a water bottle may seem perfect with respect to its
engineering specifications but might be a pain when holder for long by
the person using it

59
 Highlights of Engineering experiments
Like all projects, engineering projects are also carried out in partial ignorance.
Uncertainties can be found in the abstract model used for design calculations
or in the characteristics of the material purchased for execution of the projects
etc

Sometimes, engineers have to bypass the exploration and laboratory testing

for the sake of moving the projects ahead, and have to rely on their knowledge
and wisdom to make things work out in the field

Like other experiments, outcomes in case of engineering projects as well are

uncertain

60
 Continued
Often in engineering, it may not be known what the possible outcomes are.
Like even after a dam is built, it may not serve the purpose for which it was
built , however the damage to the region might have already been done

Like failure of a nuclear test is not just a failure, it may have a far reaching
impact of the area as well as the life surrounding it

The classic example is of Nano car – designed to fulfill the dream of millions of
Indians to own up their own car – but the fire out bursts were unexpected and
unpredictable

61
 Continued
Engineering experiments are an ongoing process. They are even carried out
after a product leaves the factory.

Constant monitoring can help a great deal in carrying out further

improvements in designing of the products

To monitor is about making periodic improvements to identify the unintended

side effects and it should not be restricted within the factory as ultimate
purpose of a product is solved when it delivers value to the society at large,
thus their feedback is essential.

62
Contrasting engineering experiments with other
experiments
Experimental Control – In standard experiments one group receives the
special experimental treatment , while the other called as control group does
not receives any such treatment. Their comparison is done at a later stage to
report results. This may not be possible in engineering experiments until and
unless they are carried out in laboratories.

In engineering experiments, clients or consumers exercise control because it is

they who choose to buy or use the product.

63
 Continued
Calls for an Informed Consent – Testing drugs on humans cannot be done until
and unless their consent is taken. Today society has come to realize the
primacy of the subject’s safety and free will to participate in medical
experiments

It involves two things:

Knowledge
and
Voluntariness

64
 Continued
Knowledge means giving complete information of the experiments to the
subjects, nothing should be hidden from them, more specifically the side effects

This just does not merely extends to experiments.

Even when products are sold, it is the duty of the engineers to make the general
public aware about the side affects of products, if there are any

They should be given full information about practical risks involved as well as
the benefits of the products as well.

65
 Continued
Voluntariness means that the subjects should agree to be part of the
experiments on their free will , not out of coercion or force. In total, an
informed consent is one;

When it is given voluntarily

It is based on the information that any rational person would want before
he/she says yes to be a subject

The subject has given the consent when he she was not too young or mentally ill or
under any intoxication

66
 Continued

Knowledge gained:

Scientific experiments are most probably conducted to gain knowledge but this
may not be the case for engineering experiments.

67
 Engineers are Responsible Experimenters
As engineers are the main technical enablers or the facilitators to carry out the
experiments, their expertise places them in a unique position , a position of
responsibility to be precise.

Apart from displaying technical competence, engineers are expected to;

Protect the safety of human subjects and respect their right of consent

Constant awareness and imaginative forecasting of possible side effects

68
 Continued
Personal involvement at all stages

Taking accountability for the results

69
 Conscientiousness
It calls for the engineers to exercise a full range of moral values and
responsibilities in a given situation

Engineers might be working in situations of pressure under large bureaucracies

and on salaries which in a way might restrict them from investing in seeing a
larger image

It highlights the role of the engineers as guardians of public interests, whose

duty is to guard the welfare and society of people who are affected by it.

70
 Relevant information

Conscientiousness is considered blind without relevant factual information.

It is the job a engineer to first get all the relevant information and properly
assess all the information for meeting the expected moral obligations.

It relates to getting full context of the one’s work

71
 Moral Autonomy
People are morally autonomous when their moral conduct and principles of
action are their own. The attitude of management plays a decisive role in how
much moral autonomy engineers feel they have.
It would surely be in the great interest of any organization if engineers are
given a great deal of latitude in exercising their personal judgment on moral
issues relevant to their jobs
It is comfortable illusion that working for an employer and performing acts to
serve company’s interests , relives one from being morally and personally
responsible for (immoral) actions but nothing like this exists

72
 Accountability

Responsible people accept moral responsibility of their actions

Engineers should be ready to submit their actions to moral scrutiny and be

open to assessment from others.

73
74
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No 25: Ethics in Changing Domain of Research

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

75
Outline of the module
 Trust as ingredient for research collaborations
Elements for trustworthy behavior
Values in science and engineering research
Breaking the Trust – Research misconduct
Composition of research misconduct – fabrication, falsification
and plagiarism
Finding of Research misconduct requires what?
Research misconduct vs. mistakes/errors
Outline of the module
 When does a Research misconduct qualifies as a fraud
 Falsification vs. Legitimate data selection
 Deterrents to ethical engineering research
 Self deception vs. observer bias
 Keys to Research integrity
 Factors that undermine research integrity
 Advantages of fostering responsible Research conduct
 Responsibilities of an author of a Research article
Source: Ethics in Engineering practice, Caroline Whitback, Cambridge University Press
 Introduction
The most important ingredient for Research and Research collaborations
for engineers is;
trust

Trust is described as the combination of ;

Confidence
and
Reliance

78
 Continued
Confidence means being sure that the other party is not going to do anything
to harm you or affect you in a way which is not acceptable or in an undesired
manner

Reliance means you can seek support from the other party or you are hopeful
of getting sincere help from them in times of need

If we have no alternative, we may continue to rely on people we have no

confidence eon but this in long term needs to a downward spiral

79
 Elements to responsible or trustworthy
behavior in professionals
Competence and Concern

Competence depicts the expertise to achieve good outcomes in domain of

expertise

Concern denotes a case where other party also does things for their as well as
your good

80
 Key values in science and engineering

A. Simplicity

B. Consistency

C. Ability to yield accurate predictability

81
 Breaking the Trust
Research misconduct – fabrication, falsification and plagiarism in proposing,
performing or reviewing or in reporting research results

Deterrents to trust in engineering research are;

Fabrication

Falsification

Plagiarism

82
 Continued
Fabrication: making up data or results or reporting them

Falsification: manipulating Research materials, equipments or processes or

changing or omitting data or results

Plagiarism: appropriation of another persons ideas, processes or results or

words without giving proper credit

83
 A finding of Research misconduct requires
 Significant departure from accepted practices of relevant Research
community

It should be committed intentionally

Allegation must be proven with evidence

If any of the above conditions is not satisfied, it does not qualify for a research
misconduct.

84
 Other issues

Cooking of data: Selecting only those data points which fit the hypothesis

Replication : Repeating an experiment without giving due credit. It is only

justified if proper reasons are produced for conducting the same experiment
in different settings

85
 Research Misconduct vs. Mistakes/Errors
The point of differentiation lies in:

Research misconduct is always intention, mistakes and errors may not be

committed intentionally

Only actions that seriously threaten Research integrity can qualify as a

Research misconduct

Research integrity relates to ensuring integrity of results, dealing fairly

with others in terms of giving them their due credit, acknowledging others
contribution

86
 What Research misconduct does not includes

Honest errors

Difference of opinion

87
When does a research misconduct qualifies as fraud

When a false representation is made

The perpetrator knows that misrepresentation is false and recklessly

disregards it to be true or false

It is done with the intention to deceive others

88
 Continued
Instances of research misconduct commonly stem from “cutting corners” which
means confirming to results that the perpetrator wants the others to believe to
be true

89
 Falsification vs. Legitimate data selection
What is data selection?

It is the differential treatment of data

-If done as per a legitimate criteria, data selection is an indispensable part of

science

-It is acceptable to drop a part of data if statistical methods that are being
employed warrant discarding some data for smooth running of the software

90
 Continued
What is not acceptable?

Changing data to fit one’s expectations

Changing value of data to get certain results

If data selection is done with out proper justification

91
 Continued
The crucial justification depends upon the characteristics of the data, how much
cleaning or sorting is required to make that data fit

Sometimes statistical software's themselves crunch the data

92
 Key points to remember while evaluating a report

Intuition vs. reasoning

The basis of your argument should be reasoning not the intuition

Intuition : ability to recognize what is going on in a situation on your gut

feeling
Reasoning : ability to recognize what is happening in a situation on the basis
of evidence

93
 Continued
Avoiding observer bias

Failing to notice what we do not want or expect to see

It can completely change the way how you report findings

94
 Deterrents to Ethical Engineering research
Recklessness:

Taking serious risks that ethically speaking should not be taken by one while
conducting research. It is like disregarding major ethical values and standards
of honesty and integrity

Cutting corners:

intentionally taking shortcuts to produce or show desired results or knowing

violating good research practices

95
 Self-Deception vs. observer bias

Self deception: failure to spell out even to one’s own self what one is doing –
even in circumstances under which one can normally tell

Observer bias: relates to seeing what one wants to see or does not wants to
see

The point of discussion is which one is more deadly for good research?

96
 Key to Research Integrity
Data falsification
Data fabrication
Plagiarism

Data today comes in many forms, it is no longer just observations.

It also comes in the form of recordings in laboratory notebook,
photographs as well as micrographs.

97
 Continued
Safeguarding that data and producing actual results is as much a matter of
being truthful as it is about using the accurate methods for producing right
results.

The large collaborations which are happening these days can create new
occasions of error, confusion and misrepresentation but all this should be
avoided.

98
 Factors that undermine Research integrity
Many surveys show that a majority of engineering students have admitted to
falsifying results, lets have a look at factors that lead to research integrity;

a. Cutbacks in research funding

b. Shortage of jobs – less opportunities – forces researchers to cut corners

c. Pressure to perform from research supervisors

99
 Continued

d. Lack of faculty supervisors or low guide scholar ratio

e. Prospect of major financial gains through falsifications of required results

f. Need for articles for promotion

g. Pressure from collaborators

100
 Emerging emphasis on fostering responsible
conduct
The correlation between misconduct charges and poor research environment
suggests that better responses to subtler problems of research conduct can
reduce the incidence of misconduct charges.

What can be done to foster reasonable conduct in research:

a. Strict supervision
b. Curbing guide-scholar ratio

101
 Continued
d. Awards to honest scholars

e. Strict punishment regimes

f. Fostering trust in relationships

g. Avoiding time bounds and purely Research based promotions

102
 Responsibilities of an Author of a research
article
1. Refrain from plagiarizing
2. Use journal space wisely
3. Reveal any hazards in conduct of experiments, if any
4. Report all sources of information properly
5. Reveal any financial or other sources of conflict

103
 Continued
6. Providing details about resercah so that others can replicate it with valid
justifications

7. Citing previous publications properly

8. Refraining from doing personal attacks by criticizing others work

9. Creating a clear distinction concerning those who quality as co-authors or

those who just need acknowledgement

104
 Continued
10. Avoiding duplicate publication, sending the same work in two or more
journals at one time

105
 Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest occurs when the party

Is in a position of trust that requires the exercise of judgment on behalf of

others

Has interests or obligation or responsibilities of the sort that might interfere

with the exercise of such judgment

Having those interests is neither obvious nor usual for others in the position
of trust

106
 Continued
And Financial conflict of interest occur when the agents interests are financial

Usually committees are formed in institutions to resolve conflict of interest

situations

107
108
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No 26: Responsible Authorship and Credit in Engineering Research

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

1
Outline of the module
 Introduction
Conditions for crediting as citation
Acknowledgement
Qualifications for authorship
IEEE norms for qualification for authorship
Responsibilities of an author
Categories of Author
Issues of Plagiarism
Outline of the module
 Sharing of Credit among authors

Source: Ethics in Engineering practice, Caroline Whitback, Cambridge University Press

 Introduction
Credit for research contribution can be assigned in three principle ways:

By Authorship (by making someone a part of the authors depending upon the
contribution made)

By Citation (for using someone’s previously published work)

Via a written acknowledgement ( for some contribution in present research

that neither qualifies for citation or authorship)

4
 Conditions for crediting as a citation
Widely accepted criteria for citations in research publications:

In case you drew results or ideas that already appeared in previously

published or formally presented in work

Citations should also be made in case references are drawn from any work
presented by others at conferences or disciplinary meetings

List of works cited should be sufficiently complete to allow readers to

understand where the reported research fits in

5
 Continued
All foundational research contributions that are not a part of common
knowledge for the readership of the publication should also be cited

Unpublished work, such as private correspondence , is only cited when no

readily obtainable written sources are available. Credit sourcing for such
courses can be better handled with acknowledgements

Sometimes in case of published work, permission needs to be sought from the

concerned person

6
 Continued

Citation of a person’s work does not make the person cited accountable for
the works in which he/she is cited and thus, it most of the times does not
requires permission of parties whose work is cited

7
 Acknowledgement
Contributions to the reported research that are sufficiently significant to
qualify a person to join the authors in writing up the research nor contained
in citable source should be recognized in the acknowledgements

A person whose research contribution is acknowledged in the report is only

accountable for specific contribution for which person is acknowledged, not
for the whole report

8
 Qualifications for Authorship
A person is eligible for authorship of report when at least both of these
conditions are met;

Person has made a significant contribution with respect to research design,

theory development, development of prototype, analysis and interpretation
etc to the research reported.

The person has reviewed or approved the final manuscript

Authorship makes a person accountable for report

9
 As per IEEE authorship should be only be
credited when
 A person has made a significant intellectual contribution with respect to
theoretical development, system or experiment design, prototype
development, or analysis of associated work of what is contained in the
manuscript

Contributed to drafting or reviewing or revising of the manuscript

Approved the final version of the manuscript

10
 Responsibilities of an Author of a Research
article
Each author is accountable for entire report.

Until and unless specific statements are made with respect to the
contribution made by each author,

In absence of any such statements, all are equally accountable for the
integrity and competence of research reported.

11
 Categories of Authors

Lead author

Submitting Author

Corresponding Author

Senior Author

12
 Lead Author

Holds principle responsibility for work

Is the one who has made greatest intellectual contribution to work

Bears responsibility for whole report, even if others specified contributions

are specified

13
 Submitting Author
One who submits the manuscript

Deals with journal editors

Only point of correspondence

Owns a special responsibility to see that all authors have fulfilled the criteria
for authorship

Make sure that special journal requirements are met

14
 Continued
Submitting author is often the lead author

15
 Corresponding Author
The one whom interested people can contact for the work published for any
clarifications or queries or doubts

Receives typically the most of the reprints of the authored article

Often an asterisk indicates the corresponding author by his/her name in the

author list

A co-author is usually the corresponding author

16
 Senior Author
The term is ambiguous and most of the time indicates the lead author or the
senior most author

Usually the one of highest academic rank

Or

Of the greatest reputation in the field

17
 Plagiarism – A major issue

It is generally understood to be the appropriation of another person’s

ideas, processes, results or words without giving any proper credit

It is considered as a serious research misconduct

It just doesn’t apply to text but also graphics representations such as

photographs, tables and charts as well

18
 Technical qualifications for plagiarism
Uncredited verbatim copying of a full paper

Uncredited verbatim copying of a large portion (greater than 20% - up to

50%)

Uncredited verbatim copying of individual elements like paragraphs,

sentences or illustrations

19
 Continued
Uncredited improper paraphrasing of pages or paragraphs
It occurs when only a few words or phrases have been changed or the order of the
original sentence has been rearranged and no credit note or reference appears in the
text
Credited verbatim copying of a major portion of paper without clear delineation. It
occurs when sections of an original paper are copied from another paper, credit
source is used but there is an absence of quotation marks

20
 Sharing of Credit among co-authors

As collaborations are becoming very common, it becomes essential that early

discussion are held and issues regarding sharing of co-authorship are resolved

It will help in avoiding misunderstandings as well as conflict of interest at a

later stage when work is in the final stages of submission or print

21
 Determination of order of authors

First author - usually used for the lead author

A lead author is usually indicated by keeping his name as the first author

Last Author – whose name appears as last in the manuscript

Usually implies the author who has made the least contribution

22
 Continued
The head of the laboratory where the research is carried is most often but not
always provides the leadership to the research team.

Inclusion of his/her name as the first or last or middle authors depends upon
the contribution made by him

23
 Avoiding Conflict and Misunderstandings
Conflicts and interests may arise in engineering laboratories.

These can be reduced if trainees and supervisors have a dialogue about credit
in advance and supervisor's crediting early in relationship

Engineering research supervisors typically have many competing

responsibilities which include;

For the advance of knowledge in their field of engineering

24
 Continued

For the education of their trainees

For the wise and appropriate use of grant funding

To their institutions and for various works assigned to them

All these issues must be well resolved in advance to avoid any conflict of
interest

25
26
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No (27,28,29) :Engineers as Managers, Consultants and Leaders

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

27
Outline of the module
 Engineers as managers
 Managers as professionals
 Promoting an ethical climate
Managing Conflicts
Principles for conflict resolution
Consulting engineers
Advertising, competitive bidding, safety and client needs
 Engineers as expert witnesses and advisors
Outline of the module
 Expert witnesses in courts
Abuses in courts
Advisors in Planning and policy making
Moral leadership
Habits of highly effective moral leaders
Engineering functions as managers and situations they must tackle

Source: Ethics in Engineering, Martin and Schinzinger, Mc-Graw Hill publications

 Engineers as Managers
Engineers undergo a full-fledged technical training as professionals, still in
their early careers many of these engineers move into managerial roles, for
which they do not actually have been through any professional training.

What does this transition happen?

Primarily because of two reasons;

Preference of companies for the dual role

An array of corporate incentives

30
 Continued
Many companies today prefer engineers who can also play the dual role of
managers because sometimes their technical understanding complements
managing technological corporations and it is easier to teach engineers the
business side of corporate work because of their high aptitude levels

Engineers general strengths in quantitative analysis and their confidence in

problem solving also makes them an apt choice for certain roles like managing
supply chains for reducing costs which requires a great deal of computational
skills

It helps companies to save the costs of an additional manpower as well.

31
 Continued
And another reason is, management field is quite inviting considering the salaries
and perks involved.

These incentives include higher salary, greater authorities, prestige and

recognition.

Dual ladder career options in large organizations also allow mangers to climb the
ladder of success easily by taking admnistrative or managerial roles

32
 Managers as professionals

The transition from being technically core engineers to managers requires

expanded skills in scheduling and finances, marketing as well as in managing
wide base of human resources, strengthened skills in coordinating and
motivating people, abilities to make risk making decisions with high precision

Engineers as managers are required to heavily work on their interpersonal

skills to manage a lot of people in the organization

33
 Continued

The primary responsibility of engineers as manager is to produce a valuable

product while maintaining respect for persons including customers, employees and
general public

Persons and safe products should come first not profits

There are two main responsibilities of engineer managers;

Promoting an ethical climate

Resolving conflicts

34
 Promoting an Ethical Climate
An ethical climate is a working environment which complements morally
responsible conduct while taking both short term and long term decisions in
the organizations

It is created via combination of formal procedures and policies as well as

informal practices and traditions, job attitudes and commitments .

Engineers as managers assume greater responsibility in creation of such

ethical climates.

35
 Continued
Ethical climate of organizations differ greatly.

At one extreme, there are organizations that are indifferent to ethics. Such
organizations reduce ethics within just the talks that are held in meetings of
the organization.

At other extreme are the organizations that not just imbibe ethical conduct in
mission and vision of the organization but make it a part of daily functions and
procedures in the organization.

36
 Managing Conflicts
Effectively dealing with conflicts, specially value disagreements , is very much
essential part of a managers job

Managers have the authority and responsibility to resolve or prevent conflicts

that threaten corporate efficiency

Managers should never at all use their designated authority to guide others
and just force their decisions on others

37
 Continued
The job of a manager is to create climates in which conflicts can be resolved
constructively.

In one of the studies, these seven conflicts were identified as the most
common confronted conflicts by engineering project managers.

a. Conflicts over schedules, more specially when support was needed from
other departments

b. Conflicts over projects and departments which are most important to

organization

38
 Continued
c. Conflicts over personnel resources

d. Conflicts over technical issues, in particular over alternative ways of solving

problems within cost, schedules and performance objectives

e. Conflicts over administrative procedures

f. Personality conflicts

g. Conflict over costs

39
 Four widely accepted principles for conflict resolution

a. People : Separate the people from the problem

a. Interests : Focus on interests not positions

b. Options : Generate a variety of possibilities

c. Criteria : Insist that results be based on some standard criteria

40
 People : Separate the people from the problem
This is no way indicates that only problem is important, people are not
important

It is important to do so as to avoid the personality clashes between people

The focus should be on solving the problems rather than blaming the people

Every party should be given a equal chance to present their point of view
before the final solution is reached

41
 Interests : focus on interests not positions
Positions here refers to stated views , not only those who are a party to the
bargaining ploys but those who can think correctly

The focus while resolving issues should be on meeting the interests of those
who are in positions of authority

But the focus should be on coming up with solutions that are in the interests
of all the parties concerned

42
 Options : Generate a variety of options before deciding what to
do
Often the best solutions are not compromises that split the differences
between the stated positions but the creative options that have not been
brought into focus

Especially in case of ethical issues, it is important to consider a variety of

options and select the one that seems best in meeting the needs of all the
parties involved not only financially but ethically as well

43
 Criteria : Result should be based on some objective
standard

Often in corporate, criteria that should be followed while solving problems

are clearly defined

It is important to develop a sense of fairness before these criteria are met

Otherwise, disagreements may easily develop into contests of will

44
 Express your views
You are the production engineer and technical manager for a corporation that
manufactures medical equipment. Injuries involving cuts and lacerations are
rare, but they do occur. Coworkers learn that one of the production specialist
under you supervision is HIV positive and may have developed aids. The
workers come to you asking either he or they should be transferred. You
indicate that no transfers to comparable positions are available but the
workers insist.

How might you best resolve or help resolve this conflict.

45
 Consulting Engineers
Consulting engineers are those who work in private practice.

They are compensated by fees for the services they render , not in the form of
salaries.

They have greater freedom to make decisions as they are not salaried
employees.

46
 Areas in which consultancies are common

1. Advertising

2. Competitive bidding

3. Contingencies

4. Resolution of disputes

47
 Advertising
Some corporate engineers are involved in advertising because of their work
experience in corporate sales.

Engineers have a responsibility to make sure that all the technical details
mentioned on products or communicated via ad campaigns should be a true.

A lay man may not be in a position to judge the accuracy of these details.
Hence it is the moral and ethical responsibility of the engineers to be sure that
communication is made in an easy way for understanding of consumers.

48
 Continued
It should be made sure that deceptive advertising is not done . This can be
done in many ways like;

By outright lies
By half-truths
By making false suggestions
Hiding implications
By creating ambiguity
Through subliminal manipulation of the conscious

49
 Continued
Marketers many times try hard to hide the negative impact of the products,
engineers as managers and advertising consultants should make sure that
right information reaches the consumers on time

50
 Competitive bidding
For many years code of ethics prohibited engineers from competitive bidding,
which relates to competing for jobs by submitting functional, technical as well
as financial bids

They were [prohibited as they were in better position to make right estimates
and many times being insiders it was easy for them to make lowest bids

Engineers are now allowed to work as consultants in helping others to make

competitive bids

51
 Safety and Client needs
Consultant engineers are under an obligation to take care of the safety needs
of the clients

This issue is more specific with respect to design only projects

In design only projects, consultant engineer contracts to design something

but do not have any supervisory role in its construction

Design only projects are sometimes problematic because of difficulties in

implementing the design provides by someone else and who is not available
for supervision

52
 Continued
It is important to have a designer for on site inspection while the projects are
being implemented

As this majorly could lead to loop holes in safety and other needs of the client

53
 Engineers as Expert Witnesses and Advisers
Engineers many times also serve as consultants who provide testimony in
adversarial and potential adversarial contests

The focus could be on explaining the causes of accidents, malfunctions or

other things that involve the usage of technology

The focus can also be on designing policies for public planning, like preparing a
draft for patents in technology

54
 Expert witness in courts
Engineers may be hired by either the plaintiff or the deference in both civil law
suits or criminal proceedings

Like forensic engineers play an important role in such cases

In other cases also engineers could be asked to give testimony for a bad
product, injuries caused to the consumers on using the product, or in case of
why the accident happened which could be done by automobile engineers

55
 Continued
The legal system distinguishes between eye witnesses and expert witnesses

Eye witnesses testify in matters of perceived facts

And

Expert witnesses are permitted a wider latitude in testifying on facts in their

area of expertise, in commenting on the views of opposite side expert witness

Role of expert witness is to identify the truth about the causes of accidents

56
 Abuses in courts
Hired guns:

This relates to helping the party at fault by giving wrong testimony

For eg. A person who fell from the ladder sued the manufacturer for its bad
quality

But the hired structural engineer wrote a report favoring the manufacturer for
the money that was paid to him

57
 Continued
Financial Bias:

Engineers who are paid by the party at fault to move the investigations in a
different direction

Ego biases:

Influencing engineers to identify their own side of the dispute

58
 Continued
Sympathy bias:

The courts are filled with drama where people suffering is too moving.

If engineers get identified with the plight of the people, investigations may be
influenced.

59
 Advisers in Planning and policy making
Technology is always involved in decisions about policies that affect people at
large

For eg. in framing policies for creating online services for the poor

Large amounts of money is involved in such projects

Sometimes millions of dollars are paid to engineers who ensure the designing
of technical systems which in turn guarantee the smooth execution of such
projects by simplifying the technology for the poor

60
 Continued
The job of engineers lies in overcoming the technical complexities

61
 Moral Leadership
Moral leaders aim at serving

Such leaders aim at developing the skills of others

Point of Discussion

Do you think that we need moral engineers today??

If yes.. Why?

62
 7 habits of highly moral leaders

Moral leaders have strong ethical character

Moral Leaders have a Passion to “do right

Moral Leaders are Morally Proactive

Moral Leaders are Stakeholder Inclusive

63
 Continued

Moral Leaders have an Obsession with Fairness

Moral Leaders are Principled Decision Makers

Moral Leaders Integrate Ethics Wisdom with Management Wisdom

(Archie B. Carroll, “Ethical Leadership: From Moral Manager to Moral Leader,” in Rights, Relationships & Responsibilities: Business
Ethics and Social Impact Management, Vol. 1, 2003. O. C. Ferrell, Sheb L. True, and Lou E. Pelton (eds.), pp. 7-17)

64
 Functions and questions that engineers must deal with as
managers
Function: Conceptual Design

Engineers as managers must tackle-

Will the product be useful? Will its design be safe for the thiose who are
going to use it?

65
 Functions and questions that engineers must deal with as
managers
Function: Market study

Engineers as managers must tackle-

Is the study unbiased or is it just going to be implemented to attract

investors?

66
 Functions and questions that engineers must deal with as
managers
Function: Specifications

Engineers as managers must tackle-

Do they meet established standards and codes? Are they physically

realizable?

67
 Functions and questions that engineers must deal with as
managers
Function: Contract

Engineers as managers must tackle-

Are cost figures and time schedules realistic? Is a bid made low to get the
job, with the hope of renegotiating ?

68
 Functions and questions that engineers must deal with as
managers
Function: Analysis

Engineers as managers must tackle-

Is there an experienced engineer who can judge if a computer program gives

reliable results?

69
Functions and questions that engineers must deal with as
managers
Function: Design

Engineers as managers must tackle-

Have all alternatives been explored? Safe exit provided? User friendliness
stressed? No patents violated?

70
 Functions and questions that engineers must deal with as
managers
Function: Purchasing

Engineers as managers must tackle-

Whether the parts and materials received for manufacturing of the products
have been tested for quality or not?

71
 Functions and questions that engineers must deal with as
managers
Function: Manufacturing parts

Engineers as managers must tackle-

Is the workplace safe, free of noise and free from emission of any toxic
fumes? Is time allowed for quality workmanship?

72
 Functions and questions that engineers must deal with as
managers
Function: Assembly, Construction

Engineers as managers must tackle-

Are workers familiar with the purpose and basic functions of the product?
Who supervises safety?

73
 Functions and questions that engineers must deal with as
managers
Function: Final test of the product

Engineers as managers must tackle-

Are testers sufficiently independent of the manufacturer or construction

management teams?

74
 Functions and questions that engineers must deal with as
managers
Function: Sale of Product

Engineers as managers must tackle-

Any bribes? Is advertising honest? Are customers given good advice? Is

informed consent required?

75
 Functions and questions that engineers must deal with as
managers
Function: Installation, Commissioning

Engineers as managers must tackle-

Do users get training? Is the safe exit tested? Are neighbors informed of
possible toxic emissions?

76
 Functions and questions that engineers must deal with as
managers
Function: Use of the Product

Engineers as managers must tackle-

Are users protected from harm? Are users informed of the risks? Are users
misguided while passing on information to them about the products?

77
 Functions and questions that engineers must deal with as
managers
Function: Maintenance and Repair

Engineers as managers must tackle-

Is maintenance regularly carried out by the competent staff? Does the

manufacturer still carry spare parts?

78
 Functions and questions that engineers must deal with as
managers
Function: Product Recall

Engineers as managers must tackle-

Is there any commitment to monitor the experiment and if necessary, is

there any need to recall the product?

79
 Functions and questions that engineers must deal with as
managers
Function: Decommissioning

Engineers as managers must tackle-

How are recycling of valuable materials and disposal of toxic wastes handled
at the end of useful life?

80
 Functions and questions that engineers must deal with as
managers
Function: Maintenance and Repair

Engineers as managers must tackle-

Is maintenance regularly carried out by the competent staff? Does the

manufacturer still carry spare parts?

81
82
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No 30 : Key Questions pertaining to Ethical conduct for Engineers

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

83
Key questions answered in the module
 What makes a good engineer and good engineering? What values underlie
engineering practice today? Which of those values are specifically ethical values?
What is the experience of living by those values and working in a society and in
organizations that trust you to practice those values? How do these values reflect
and affect the person you are and the person you become by practicing them?

What are the two key values that lie Engineering practices today?

 How, if at all, do you understand religious and ethical values to be related?

How can we tackle ethical subjectivism?

Continued
What kinds of considerations are relevant to judging an act or course of
action morally justified or unjustified?

Understanding Justification and examples of lying

Source: These questions and answers have been drawn from Ethics in Engineering
Practice and Resercah, Caroline Whitback, Cambridge University.
 Key Question 1

What makes a good engineer and good engineering? What values underlie
engineering practice today? Which of those values are specifically ethical
values? What is the experience of living by those values and working in a
society and in organizations that trust you to practice those values? How do
these values reflect and affect the person you are and the person you
become by practicing them?
 Introduction
The developing economies today place special interest in professions like
engineers as they make an enormous contribution in the development of an
economy.

Because of the trust placed by these economies in engineers, their ethical

conduct assume huge relevance, as the acts of the engineers are not just a
matter of professional conduct, but lay huge impact on society.

The point of discussion is;

“What makes a good engineer?”

87
 Continued
Is the ground for deciding their good conduct is their Ethical conduct?

88
 Overall, we can conclude a good engineer to be the one:

- Who holds the health, safety and welfare of the public to be of paramount
importance

“Does it lead to a friction between engineers’ desire to earn and pass designs
that carry low quality but higher returns?

-Does not compromises in delivering the best of services

- To be honest and objective in communicating with the public at large with

respect to engineering outputs

89
 Continued
-Act as faithful agents for their employer

- Avoid deceptive acts

- Conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and lawfully so as to

enhance the honor, reputation, and usefulness of the profession

90
 Ethical Values for Engineering Profession
Honesty – Being honest to your employer as well as society at large

Specifically for engineering profession, honesty in communications is of utmost

value in sharing information with employer as well as other stake holders. The
engineers should not mislead or deceit others for their own benefit. It is not at all
acceptable for an engineer, who evaluates the feasibility of a say dam and
approves lower quality materials for his own benefit and his employer.

All lies may not be unethical but are definitely dishonest. It can be sometimes
justifiable for example an undercover CBI agent hiding his identity to criminals or
terrorists to save lives. But occasions for ethically sanctioned lying are rare - eg
saving a life.

91
 Continued
Integrity - Technically there isn’t much of a difference in the way a person of
integrity makes decisions in different situations. There is no difference in the
way they handle situations at home or at work.

The things that cannot be considered as traits of a person with integrity relate
to ; thinking about self-interest always, refusing to see situations clearly and
always believing yourself to be right.

An engineer with integrity would not accept corruption and return in terms of
money to approve designs that might decrease the cost of a product but
would affect the health of those who will use it in future.

92
 Continued
Reliability - The ethical responsibilities of a person go much beyond than what
is written in a legal contract.

It is an individual’s desire to fulfill promises which makes them responsible to

make all reasonable efforts to fulfill those promises and thus enhances
reliability.

93
 Continued
Loyalty - For an engineer who undertakes projects that affect people at large,
promoting and protecting the interests of organizations or affiliations and
majorly people at large is what defines their loyalty.

It also includes the aspects of safe-guarding the confidential information of

the employers as well, which relates to not at all disclosing trade secrets and
other relevant information which might give an advantage to the competitors
and affect company severely.

The Engineers are required to take all professional decisions on merit, not on
personal interests. Their goal is to maintain the trust of the public.

94
 Continued
Responsibility - It simply means being accountable for the choices you make.
It becomes relevant in case of engineers as others people rely on their
knowledge, ability or willingness to perform tasks safely and effectively, which
in a way affect a lot of people.

Engineers should support projects are sustainable, and ensure the protection
to the environment as well.

95
 Continued

Fairness - Fairness refers to a range of morally justifiable outcomes rather than arriving
at one fair answer. Engineers as professionals shall make choices that carry an element
of fairness and are in inertest of all the stake holders, provided their interests are not
self-dominated.

96
Ethical Principles for Engineers at Personal level

Honesty

Individual
Ethics
Fairness Integrity

97
Ethical Principles for Engineers at Professional level

Competence

Professional
Ethics
Ensuring Ensuring
safety Quality

98
Ethical Principles for Engineers at Macro level

Promoting
Sustainability

Professional
Ethics
Environmental
Public Welfare
Protection

99
 Saluting an ethical and honest ethical engineer
Satyendra Dubey
Satyendra Dubey: A project engineer of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) Satyendra
Dubey, had exposed several cases of large-scale flouting of rules and corrupt practices in the
construction project. He was gunned down in the early hours of November 27, 2003 in front of the
Circuit House in Gaya when he was going to his residence after alighting from a train from Varanasi.
Dubey had even written directly to the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee detailing the
financial and contractual irregularities in the construction project. Dubey had requested his name be
kept secret but at the same time. On November 11, 2002 the PMO received his letter and just a year
later, he was shot dead on November 27, 2003.

(source : News18 article (https://www.news18.com/news/india/indian-officers-who-paid-a-heavy-

price-for-their-honesty-and-hard-work-974587.html)

100
 Key Question 2

What are the two key values that lie Engineering practices today?
 Two key values that lie Engineering practices today
Knowledge values of truth and Accuracy often have a place in ethical codes and
guidelines for engineering.

Knowledge values of truth in a simple way relate to –

Not being deceptive to self and others

Using your knowledge to make truthful disclosures to others

Being accurate in judgments that you make, they must be supported by facts and
result than just being mere statements made by you.

102
 Continued
Engineering societies emphasize the importance of honesty for engineers.
The American Council of Engineering Companies’ Ethical Guidelines, and the
ethical codes of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the National
Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), and the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers (ASME) all agree in saying that

Engineers should “issue public statements only in an objective and truthful

manner.”

103
 Continued
For eg. The Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct of the Association for Computing
Machinery (ACM) says:

The honest computing professional will not make deliberately false or deceptive claims
about a system or system design but will instead provide full disclosure of all pertinent
system limitations and problems

Engineers shall be objective and truthful in professional reports, statements, or

testimony. They shall include all relevant and pertinent information in such reports,
statements, or testimony, which should bear the date indicating when it was current.

104
 Continued
Engineers may express publicly technical opinions that are founded upon
knowledge of the facts and competence in the subject matter.

Engineers shall issue no statements, criticisms or arguments on technical

matters which are inspired or paid for by interested parties, unless they have
prefaced their comments by explicitly identifying the interested parties on
whose behalf they are speaking and by revealing the existence of any interest
the engineers may have in the matters.

105
106
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No 31 : Key Questions pertaining to Ethical conduct for Engineers

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

1
Key questions answered in the module
 What makes a good engineer and good engineering? What values underlie
engineering practice today? Which of those values are specifically ethical values?
What is the experience of living by those values and working in a society and in
organizations that trust you to practice those values? How do these values reflect
and affect the person you are and the person you become by practicing them?

What are the two key values that lie Engineering practices today?

 How, if at all, do you understand religious and ethical values to be related?

How can we tackle ethical subjectivism?

Continued
What kinds of considerations are relevant to judging an act or course of
action morally justified or unjustified?

Understanding Justification and examples of lying

Source: These questions and answers have been drawn from Ethics in Engineering
Practice and Resercah, Caroline Whitback, Cambridge University.
 Key Question 3

How, if at all, do you understand religious and ethical values to be

related?
Most existing religions, and all major world religions, uphold ethical as well as
religious standards.

These ethical standards apply to moral agents – to their character traits,

motives, or actions.

Religions vary somewhat in their relative emphasis on such matters as

spiritual and moral virtues of individuals, a particular kind of family structure,
and the faith or practice of a nation, religion, or congregation as a whole.

Religions often offer guidance to their members about what they as

individuals are particularly called to do.

5
 Key Question 4

How can we handle Ethical subjectivism?

 Meaning of Ethical subjectivism

“Ethical subjectivism holds that whether a certain act is right or wrong in a

given situation is determined by whether the agent performing that act
believes the act is right or wrong”

This view represents ethics as lacking in objective standards, because all that
matters is what the agent believes, without consideration of whether those
beliefs are well founded or not, can be considered right.

7
 Continued
How can we tackle this problem?

Code of this as the solution?

Or Theories can be used as a way to resolve them?

 - Utilitarianism
- Duty Ethics
- Rights Ethics
 - Virtue Ethics

8
 Key Question 5

What kinds of considerations are relevant to judging an act or course of

action morally justified or unjustified?
 Meaning of Ethical judgments
Ethical judgments - judgments about what is right or wrong, ethically good or
bad, or what one ought or ought not do, need the support of justifying
reasons.

Any judgment, even a judgment about how fast something is moving, needs
the support of reasons/evidence.

Availability of explicit reasons or identifiable evidence is what distinguishes

judgments (ethical or other) from the operation of intuition.

10
 Intuition vs. Ethical justification
Intuition is the ability to immediately recognize what is going on in a situation.

There need not be anything mysterious about intuition; it may result from
training or experience. The ability to recognize something without being able
to articulate the basis for one’s recognition is familiar in everyday life.

On the other hand, Ethical justification, that is, reasons/evidence or argument

to demonstrate that something is ethically acceptable or desirable is
necessary to support any ethical value judgment.

Ethical evaluation is a judgment about the extent to which the object of the
evaluation is good or bad, ethically speaking.

11
 Continued
A variety of criteria are relevant to the ethical evaluation of an act or course
of action. A reasoned judgment about whether (or the extent to which) some
act (or course of action) is morally justified will mention some or all of the
following:

The act produces good or bad consequences

It respects or violates rights
It fulfills or shirks obligations
It honors or ignores agreements and promises

12
 Continued
 The act displays or fosters the development of positive (ethical or other)
character traits (virtues) or negative ones (vices). (The consequences upon
people’s character are generally considered separately from consideration of
other sorts of consequences)

Now it is your job to decide which side of the statement in a given situation
or an event will make an act morally justified?

13
 Key Question 5

What do we understand by Justifications and Excuses for Lying?

 What is your stake on the situation
Suppose you are helping to install some equipment. You are to install one
component by yourself. Afterward you are criticized for the way you installed
it. Which of the following responses are excuses, which are justifications, and
which are something else? Give reasons for your answers.
_ I was given the assignment late in the day and told to finish by 5. There
wasn’t time to do it
any other way.
_ That is what the building/safety code required.
_ This was my first time, so I made a few mistakes.
_ If you don’t like it, do it yourself next time.

15
Continued

16
17
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No (32-33) : Key Questions pertaining to Central Professional
Responsibilities of Engineers
DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY
VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

18
Key questions answered in the module
 What characteristics or behavior on the part of the professionals on whose work
your own welfare depends would qualify them as trustworthy?

What is the relationship between an engineer’s professional responsibilities and

the duties delineated in the job description for that engineer’s position?

What is trust? What is the relationship between being a responsible professional

and being a trustworthy professional?

Is there an emerging consensus on the responsibility for safety among engineers?
Continued
 Why are bugs and glitches more commonly the focus of attention for software
and computer professionals, rather than safety problems per se?

 What, beyond having the knowledge of a likely safety hazard, does an engineer
need to get the hazard reduced or eliminated?
 Key Question 1

What characteristics or behavior on the part of the professionals on whose

work your own welfare depends would qualify them as trustworthy?
 Introduction
In today’s era of specialized knowledge, we all must depend on professionals
for our safety, health, and well-being.

What we expect from professionals like engineers is that they use their
knowledge and skills and exercise their professional judgment to assure the
best of outcomes in situations.

Two things that serve as benchmarks for qualifying them as trustworthy

relates to;
Exercising moral judgment and Taking moral responsibility and professional
responsibility of the outcomes

22
 Continued
Exercising professional judgment

This requires taking into account a range of factors, marshaling relevant parts of the body
of knowledge specific to one’s profession, and devising a course of action that achieves a
good (or even “the best”) outcome in the circumstances.

Taking moral responsibility and professional responsibility of the outcomes

In simple words, the crux of it lies in considering many potentially competing factors that
might influence the outcome in that particular situation.

23
Lets read this case

24
 Continued
The case on the previous slide as an example illustrates the development of
judgment to which education in the ethics of a profession such as engineering
is intended to contribute. In this case, Captain Sullenberger exercised
professional judgment that brought together his theoretical and practical
knowledge as a pilot to bear on the unique circumstances that faced him. His
first professional responsibility was for the safety of those on board. His goal
was to save their lives, a goal that he achieved.

25
 Key Question 2

What is the relationship between an engineer’s professional

responsibilities and the duties delineated in the job description for that
engineer’s position?
 Understanding Moral and Professional Responsibilities
Moral responsibility for something means that the person must exercise
judgment and care to achieve or maintain a desirable state of affairs with
regard to whatever is in that person’s care.

For example, accountants are responsible for the accuracy of financial reports,
physicians are responsible for health outcome (and certain aspects of public
health), and engineers are responsible for safety and performance in the
design, manufacture, and operation of technology.

Professional responsibility is the most familiar type of moral responsibility that

arises from the special knowledge a person possesses.

27
 Continued
Mastery of a body of advanced knowledge, especially knowledge that bears
directly on the wellbeing of others, distinguishes professions from other
occupations.

Although some moral demands on professionals are adequately expressible in

rules of conduct that specify what acts are permissible, obligatory, or
prohibited, there is more to acting responsibly.

28
 Continued
A good consulting engineer not only shuns bribery, checks plans before signing
off on them, and the like but also must exercise judgment and discretion to
provide a design or product that is safe and of high quality. Moral agents in
general and professionals in particular must decide what to do to best achieve
good outcomes in matters entrusted to their care.

The difference between moral responsibility and official responsibility relates

to the fact that official responsibility is clearly stated to someone by
communicating, what they are supposed to do in their job. The description of
a job or office specifies official responsibilities

29
 Continued
On the other hand, moral responsibility does not reduce to official
responsibility.

Some official responsibility or obligation may even be immoral. “I was just

doing my job” or “I was just doing what I was told” is not a generally valid
excuse for unethical behavior of an adult.

30
Understanding the essence of going beyond
official responsibilities through a small case

31
Case

32
 Key Question 2

What is trust? What is the relationship between being a responsible

professional and being a trustworthy professional?
 What does being trustworthy implies?
For professionals or their professional practice to be trustworthy is a matter of
both ethics and competence.

Trustworthy practice requires sustained attention to relevant aspects of

others’ well-being and the knowledge and wisdom to promote or safeguard
that well-being. The well-being of many parties may be at stake in a given
situation. It is important to consider all of them and, as far as possible,
promote the well-being of all.

34
 What would a Trustworthy Structural engineer do?
Before giving a green light to any project, a trustworthy structural engineer
would check;

• If there is any concern for public safety, public convenience, and environmental
protection that would be disturbed because of the project
• Is there any proficiency in structural design or not; an understanding of the
characteristics of building materials and their quality
•An understanding of traffic demands viz. a viz. strength of materials required
•An understanding of the environmental implications of the work
•An estimate of the likelihood and severity of earthquakes, hurricanes, and other
•natural threats to the integrity of the bridge

35
 Continued
The engineer might also need to consider such factors as:

Other technologies that might influence the use of the bridge (e.g., the
characteristics of any ships or vehicles that might go under the bridge, or collide
with its supports)

An estimate of any likely intentional human threats to the bridge (sabotage or

terrorism)

Ethical and technical considerations frequently become inextricably intermingled

in the exercise of professional discretion and judgment

36
Understanding it through a small case

37
 Continued
• Moral problems are sometimes treated as questions of whether to do
something; the question of how to go about it is then treated as merely
pragmatic.

• However, questions about how to do things often raise ethical questions

of fairness, and questions of how far to go, say in protecting safety, are at
the core of professional responsibility.

38
 Key Question 3

Is there an emerging consensus on the responsibility for safety among

engineers?
 Introduction
Why would anyone think that engineers have a special responsibility for
safety?

Engineering students are often taught that safety is their responsibility.

First make sure the system doesn’t do what you don’t want it to do – that’s
the safety issue; then make sure it does do what you want it to do – that’s the
performance issue.” This admonition is remarkably similar to the admonition
to physicians: “First, do no harm.”

40
 Continued
Emphasis on the engineer’s responsibility for safety is also found in the codes
of ethics or ethical guidelines of many engineering societies. These codes
specify that it is the engineer’s responsibility to protect public health and
safety. Indeed, five of these societies – American Society of Civil Engineers
(ASCE), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), American Institute
for Chemical Engineering (AIChE), National Society of Professional Engineers
(NSPE), and National Council for Engineering Examiners and Surveyors
(NCEES) – continue to say in the latest revisions of their codes of ethics:
Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional duties, shall [h]old
paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public.

41
What would you do in this case?

42
 Key Question 5

Why are bugs and glitches more commonly the focus of attention for
software and computer professionals, rather than safety problems per se?
 An issue of concern for software engineers
The central problem for software engineers (and others who design and test
software) is that of creating bug-free software.

Sometimes the bugs clearly threaten human health and safety.

Bugs are especially likely to threaten safety in safety-critical systems, such as

traffic control systems, but whether bugs threaten life and limb may depend
on other circumstances that have nothing to do with the software and the
technology it immediately affects.

44
 Continued
The harms caused by bugs, glitches, and errors vary considerably with the
larger system in which the software functions. Thus, threats to safety may be
more difficult to predict than the results of mistakes in mechanical or
chemical engineering.

The software engineer’s central responsibility is therefore best phrased as a

responsibility to avoid errors that produce bugs/glitches, rather than to
foresee which errors might cause the bugs that will present safety hazards
and take special care to prevent those specific errors.

45
Continued

46
 Key Question 5

Q5. What, beyond having the knowledge of a likely safety hazard, does an
engineer need to get the hazard reduced or eliminated?
 Whistle blowing – a worthy relevance?
Preparing engineers to recognize safety hazards, although vitally important, is
clearly not enough to prevent many accidents.

Because engineers often recognize a hazard but do not have the authority to
remedy it and may be unable to get decision makers in their organization to
attend to it, engineering ethics has widely discussed whistle-blowing by
engineers – that is, an engineer taking a concern outside her organization.

However, whistle blowing in this sense always marks organizational failure.

48
 Continued
There is a growing consensus among engineering organizations on the subject
of raising safety concerns, both through lodging complaints (within an
organization) and through whistle blowing (outside the organization).

First, engineers have a right to force attention to many types of error and
misconduct – such as waste and misrepresentation in work done under
government contract – even by going outside the organization. Second,
engineers have not only a right, but a moral obligation, to bring the matter to
light when human life or health is threatened.

49
Your views on the case

50
51
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No (34, 35) : Key Questions relating to Rights and Responsibilities
regarding Intellectual property rights
DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY
VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

52
 Key questions answered in the module
 How broadly should one share ideas? How readily should one copy the ideas
of others? Does it matter what the ideas are or the human wants and needs
that those ideas help meet?

Why are some creations accorded copyright protection? Under what, if any,
circumstances is it fair to copy a copyrighted work without explicit permission?

How does one know what knowledge or information is proprietary? What

considerations are relevant in deciding how a computer professional or
engineer can best keep confidential the proprietary knowledge of a client or
employer?
Continued
 What is the difference between having a property right, such as a patent or
copyright for something one has invented or written, and credit for having
written or invented it?

 On the one hand the “not invented here” attitude, which disregards advances
made outside of one’s own organization, is widely blamed for slowing advances
in quality and safety. On the other hand, legal specifications of copyright and
patents and other intellectual property protections are intended to limit the use
that others can make of one’s designs. What are fair and prudent means of
learning from others? What other ethical issues arise in learning from the
innovations of others?
 Key Question 1

How broadly should one share ideas? How readily should one copy the ideas
of others? Does it matter what the ideas are or the human wants and needs
that those ideas help meet?
 Introduction
It has been long argued that intellectual labor involved in the creation of
research, artistic, and technological works provides the basis of property
rights.

If the creators of the product in question are paid for producing the product,
then arguably the product and any resulting trademarks, patents, copyrights,
or other property rights belong to the employer or client who paid them
(although the creators still deserve credit as authors or inventors of those
patented or copyrighted creations).

56
 Continued
Consider a surgeon who develops a technique that can save lives but keeps the
technique a “trade secret” to enhance her prestige.

Is withholding the technique morally wrong? Would it be wrong for another

surgeon to try to learn that technique, by, say, electronic eavesdropping or
asking an operating room assistant?

57
 Continued
Ethics codes and guidelines of engineering professional societies also provide
some guidance. The section of the NSPE’s code of ethics on intellectual property
addresses more than proprietary (i.e., ownership) interests and gives standards
for fairly crediting others as well. It outlines the following as professional
obligations:

Engineers shall, whenever possible, name the person or persons who may be
individually responsible for designs, inventions, writings, or other
accomplishments.

58
 Continued
Engineers using designs supplied by a client recognize that the designs remain
the property of the client and may not be duplicated by the Engineer for others
without express permission.

Engineers, before undertaking work for others in connection with which the
Engineer may make improvements, plans, designs, inventions, or other records
that may justify copyrights or patents, should enter into a positive agreement
regarding ownership.

Engineers’ designs, data, records, and notes referring exclusively to an employer’s

work are the employer’s property.

59
 Key Question 2

Why are some creations accorded copyright protection? Under what, if any,
circumstances is it fair to copy a copyrighted work without explicit
permission?
 Continued
Copyright is a legal right to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of
some work.

A copyright is most commonly held by the author, the composer, or the publisher of a
work. It may be assigned to others or inherited, however, so the copyright holder need
not be the party who deserves credit for authoring the work. The intellectual property
that is protected by the copyright is the “expression,” not the idea. Ideas cannot be
copyrighted.

The idea behind fair use of copyrighted material is that some copying of copyrighted
material may be justified if it does not undermine a copyright holder’s property
interest or is in the public interest (e.g., because it facilitates education).

61
 Key Question 3

How does one know what knowledge or information is proprietary?

What considerations are relevant in deciding how a computer
professional or engineer can best keep confidential the proprietary
knowledge of a client or employer?
 Introduction to the issue
One of the important questions is what factors determine the extent to which
knowledge acquired in working for one client or employer can be used when
working for another. A frequent complication is that one’s clients or employers
may be competitors of one another.

Computer professionals, like other engineers, need to know how to distinguish

between standard design elements (which one may learn about in courses or
on a job and use in another job) and customized (and perhaps patented)
knowledge belonging to one employer or client. This problem situation is
illustrated in the scenario, “One Client Teaches You Something that Would
Help Another Client.”

63
Continued

64
 Continued
Certainly, it matters if the information you have received is proprietary. It
could be so by being part of a confidential business plan or other sort of trade
secret, a patented device or process, or copyrighted code. Your responsibility
for being aware that some knowledge is proprietary knowledge is very
different in the case of trade secrets.

65
 Key Question 4

Q4. What is the difference between having a property right, such as a

patent or copyright for something one has invented or written, and credit
for having written or invented it?

(CONTINUED IN NEXT MODULE)

67
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No 36 : Key Questions relating to Rights and Responsibilities
regarding Intellectual property rights
DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY
VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

1
 Key questions answered in the module
 How broadly should one share ideas? How readily should one copy the ideas
of others? Does it matter what the ideas are or the human wants and needs
that those ideas help meet?

Why are some creations accorded copyright protection? Under what, if any,
circumstances is it fair to copy a copyrighted work without explicit permission?

How does one know what knowledge or information is proprietary? What

considerations are relevant in deciding how a computer professional or
engineer can best keep confidential the proprietary knowledge of a client or
employer?
Continued
 What is the difference between having a property right, such as a patent or
copyright for something one has invented or written, and credit for having
written or invented it?

 On the one hand the “not invented here” attitude, which disregards advances
made outside of one’s own organization, is widely blamed for slowing advances
in quality and safety. On the other hand, legal specifications of copyright and
patents and other intellectual property protections are intended to limit the use
that others can make of one’s designs. What are fair and prudent means of
learning from others? What other ethical issues arise in learning from the
innovations of others?
 Key Question 4

Q4. What is the difference between having a property right, such as a

patent or copyright for something one has invented or written, and credit
for having written or invented it?
Recognition for design work and other innovative technical contributions is
manifest in a variety of ways and settings.

Naming the device for an individual (e.g., the Jarvik heart) or for a group or
corporation – for example, an “NCS knee” or “Microsoft’s new operating
system” – may reflect credit for an engineering design.

Even when a device is named for a person, that individual need not be the
designer(s) or inventor(s). Many medical devices that are named for
individuals carry the name of the physician who stated a need for such a
device, or collaborated on designing it or even who was the first clinician to
use it.

5
An inventor’s name goes on the patent (which may be owned by some other
party), but unlike an author’s name, which is usually included in a copyrighted
work (whether or not the author retains the copyright), the inventor’s name
may not appear anywhere except on the patent. In that case, it may be less
likely that most users of an invention will ever know the name of the inventor.

The proprietary rights embodied in patents and copyrights work differently

from crediting mechanisms that have no property implications. The patent
arrangements that attend industrial sponsorship of university research are
independent of criteria for fairly crediting authors and other contributors to a
research article. Consider the following situation:

6
Case

7
 Key Question 5

On the one hand the “not invented here” attitude, which disregards
advances made outside of one’s own organization, is widely blamed for
slowing advances in quality and safety. On the other hand, legal
specifications of copyright and patents and other intellectual property
protections are intended to limit the use that others can make of one’s
designs. What are fair and prudent means of learning from others?
What other ethical issues arise in learning from the innovations of
others?
 What does being trustworthy implies?
Benchmarking

A commonly accepted first step in the design process is benchmarking. The

common meaning of “benchmark” is a standard by which a thing can be
measured.

In engineering “benchmarking” refers to obtaining a competitor’s devices or

publicly available information before one designs and manufactures a new
product.

9
 Continued
If the product is not prohibitively expensive – as a nuclear power plant would be,
for example – samples of the competitor’s product are commonly purchased,
examined, and analyzed. Benchmarking may or may not involve copying anything
from the competitor.

A company might wish to benchmark for reasons other than to copy the
competitor’s design, say to examine its competitors’ products or pricing
structure to learn about the competitors’ cost of manufacture and to judge
whether, with some new manufacturing process, the benchmarking company
can enter the market and produce a competitive product at a much lower price.

10
 Continued
Reverse Engineering
One means of obtaining information about a competitor’s product is to reverse
engineer it.
Reverse engineering is the examination of a product to understand the
technology and process used in its design, manufacture, or operation.
It commonly involves disassembling the product and testing ways to destroy it.
Often, reverse engineering is used to learn what a competitor has done in order
to copy or improve on the competitor’s work. For example, engineers might
photograph and enlarge pictures of silicon chips to learn about the architectural
features of the chips, such as whether it uses one function twice or two different
functions once.

11
 Continued

The widely accepted ethical limits that are generally recognized in

benchmarking and reverse engineering (other than respecting legal property
rights) are constraints on the means one can use to obtain information rather
than on the nature of the information or the use one makes of it.

Learning and using the information (obtained through benchmarking and

reverse engineering) are not prohibited as long as one has not used unfair
means to learn it.

12
 Continued
Let’s see the guidelines offered by the Texas instruments Office which lists the following
as acceptable benchmarking practices:
• Asking customers about equipment and prices of TI competitors

•Asking employees of well-run businesses that do not compete with TI about their practices
•Searching for information through public resources
•Reading books and publications describing other companies
•Encouraging other TI engineers who come in contact with customers to be observant of
practices that might be useful to TI

13
14
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No (37, 38): Key Questions relating to Engineers Rights and
Duties and Ethics
DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY
VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

15
 Key questions answered in the module
 How do managers relate to engineers in good companies and how does this
contrast with the relations between managers and engineers at companies that
are not as good?

Suppose you have an ethical concern, but the person or office to whom you
are supposed to take your concern is unresponsive. Is there anything you can
do other than keep quiet, quit, or “blow the whistle”?

As a practical matter, what incentives might an employee have for reporting
bad news about something that will happen long after that employee has
moved on to another position?
Continued
If you know that engineers at some facility have been retaliated against in the
past for raising important ethical issues, what would it take to restore your trust
that you could raise issues of a similar nature at successor organizations (i.e.,
organizations that took over from the first), and why?

What are your rights, obligations, and responsibilities vis-a` -vis your
employer?

Suppose you find yourself disagreeing with your immediate superior about
whether some action on the part of the organization is ethically acceptable.
How do you go about voicing your concern or otherwise acting on it?
 Key Question 1

How do managers relate to engineers in good companies and how does this
contrast with the relations between managers and engineers at companies
that are not as good?
 Introduction
A recent study of communications between engineers and managers by
researchers at the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions at the
Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) reveals how managers respond to
unwelcome news from engineers in well-run high-tech companies.

The study identified three value orientations of companies depending on

whether the company gave first priority to;

Customer satisfaction
The quality of its work/products
The financial bottom line

19
 Continued
Although this is a rough typology and the priority given factors could be a matter
of degree. For simplicity the report speaks of three types of companies;

We can classify these companies as, “customer-oriented” companies, “quality-

oriented” companies, and “finance-oriented” companies

20
 Continued
The identification of both customer-oriented and quality-oriented companies
comes as welcome news to some young engineers, who fear that concern with
the bottom line always dominates other concerns

These types of companies differ in several ways: In the quality-oriented

companies, quality (and of course safety) takes priority over cost and the
customer’s desires.

Cost is still considered, but as one engineer put it, “Cost comes in only after our
quality standards are met.

21
 Continued
Quality-oriented companies focus on listening to their customers, but take pride in
being willing to say “no” to them. In one manager’s words, “If a customer wants us to
take a chance, we won’t go along.” Such companies try to convince customers to keep
their applications of a product within the specifications for the product’s appropriate
use, but if they fail to convince the customer, will forfeit the business rather than
supply a part or a device that will not perform the customer’s job well.

Although this strategy does not maximize short-term profits, the quality-oriented
companies in this study had secured a large and growing share of the markets in
which they competed, so their reputation for quality seems to have contributed to
their long-range success.

22
 Continued
Even in the quality-oriented companies, managers and engineers had different
concerns and priorities. The engineers were likely to see managers as more
concerned about cost or more superficial in their judgment, and the managers to
view the engineers as likely “to go into too much detail.”

In the customer-oriented companies, customer satisfaction was the main

objective. They replaced the internal standard of the quality-oriented companies
with an external standard of satisfying the customer. Predictably, in such
companies, engineers’ quality concerns often conflicted with managers’ desire to
please the customer.

23
 Continued
In finance-oriented companies the desire to maximize the number of units
shipped conflicted not only with the engineer’s concern for quality, but in some
cases even with other ethical standards, such as when engineers or managers
were pressured to adjust test results to make it seem that the product met the
customer’s specifications.

What can be done to bring this balance?

24
 Key Question 2

Q2. Suppose you have an ethical concern, but the person or office to whom
you are supposed to take your concern is unresponsive. Is there anything
you can do other than keep quiet, quit, or “blow the whistle”?
 Continued
“Complaint procedures” may sound vaguely repellent; because of the negative
connotations of “complainer,” but “complaint procedures” is the general term for
the procedures by which organizations ensure the ability to hear inconvenient
truths.

“Complainant” rather than “complainer” is the term for someone who uses such
procedures.

Frequently the occasion for a complaint by an engineer is a difference in judgment

rather than an accusation of malfeasance.

26
 Continued
Some disagreements stem from reasonable differences of opinion, some from
innocent mistakes, others are due to someone’s negligence or, more rarely, from
evil intent.

Often what is morally blameworthy is not an initial mistaken judgment, but the
failure to heed arguments and evidence brought forward to show that a judgment
is mistaken. Failing to heed arguments and evidence is a way in which an
unresponsive organization often transforms simple mistakes into negligence.

By having good complaint procedures, an organization can ensure that bad news is
not repressed.

27
 Continued
But not all complaints are ethically significant or even well founded.

The ethics officer of one large high-tech company said that the majority of
complaints that came to her office were about food in the cafeteria.

Engineers who have worked at that company assure me that the food at that
company is not bad. Food is something that people readily complain about,
however. Scattered among the food complaints are matters that really require the
attention of the ethics office.

28
 Continued
Safe and effective complaint procedures come in many forms, some formally
instituted and others arising de facto.

Large organizations may provide separate routes for raising concerns about
product safety, laboratory or worker safety a coworker’s substance abuse, misuse
of funds or fraud, and questions of fairness in promotion or work assignment.

In small companies or start-ups, the procedures may be entirely informal.

29
 Continued

Large companies may announce an “open door policy” in which employees may
bypass lower layers of management and take concerns directly to the top, or may
employ an “ombuds” or “ombudsman” whose job it is to remain neutral in
controversies and to inform complainants of their options or facilitate their
exercise.

30
 Continued
Whatever their form, complaint procedures must have certain characteristics if
they are to work.

1. The complaint and appeals mechanism must fit the organizational culture.

2. The means of dispute resolution must inspire general confidence.

3. Top management must display continuing commitment and involvement in the

process.

4. The organization must reward merit.

31
 Continued
5. Formal procedures must guarantee the process, without creating a legalistic
atmosphere.

6. The organization must continually emphasize the availability of channels.

7. Employees must have assistance to bring forward their complaints.

8. Someone must be the advocate of fairness itself, rather than of any particular
group or position.

32
 Continued

9. All who raise issues or give evidence must be protected from reprisal.

10. Line managers must support the procedures.

11. The organization must accept the responsibility to change in response to

what the process reveals.

12. The organization must, without violating privacy, make public the general
nature of the problem, the procedure used to examine it, and the outcome.

33
 Key Question 3

Q3. As a practical matter, what incentives might an employee have for

reporting bad news about something that will happen long after that
employee has moved on to another position?
 Introduction to the issue
A Forestry Service hydrologist finds that her predecessor boosted timber targets
by violating forest plan standards designed for the protection of watersheds, and
now many of the watersheds in the district are in poor condition. The watersheds
are healing, but could degenerate rapidly if there is greater than normal
precipitation in the coming years.

If bringing this bad news simply puts her in an unwelcome role, neither the
hydrologist nor anyone else will want to pass it on. The hydrologist will not even
want to recognize the danger herself. She has strong incentives to say nothing
and simply hopes the rains will not be too heavy.

35
What do you think can be done in this
situation?

36
 Continued
Solution1 :

Let’s make people accountable-

Accountability encourages people to deliver the bad news as soon as they

learn of it.

37
 Continued
Solution 2 :

Secret Complaint procedures

Maintaining Anonymity

38
 Continued
Solution 3:

Appealing seniors and bringing it to their notice.

Incase you think you will not be heard?

39
 Continued

Solution 4 :

Whistle Blowing

Prepared for repercussions?

40
 Key Question 4

If you know that engineers at some facility have been retaliated against in
the past for raising important ethical issues, what would it take to restore
your trust that you could raise issues of a similar nature at successor
organizations (i.e., organizations that took over from the first), and why?
 Introduction
One famous whistleblower, Inez Austin, was an engineer employed by
Westinghouse at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, a nuclear weapons facility
in Richland, Washington.

In the summer of 1990, she refused to approve a plan that would have
pumped radioactive waste from one underground tank to another, a transfer
that risked explosion. She was subsequently harassed, sent for psychiatric
evaluation, and had her home broken into.

42
 Continued
Her case brought attention to the abuse of complainants as well as to safety,
environmental, and security lapses at the Hanford Reservation.

In February 1992, Inez Austin was awarded the AAAS Award for Scientific Freedom
and Responsibility for her exemplary efforts to protect the public health and safety.
After many instances of abuse of complainants who reported threats of a nuclear
accident or pollution of the environment with toxic chemicals and nuclear wastes,
strong measures were needed at Westinghouse Hanford to begin to rebuild the
trust of employees and of the public.

43
 Continued
A landmark study commissioned by Westinghouse Hanford Company and carried
out by the University of Washington’s Institute for Public Policy and Management
in 1992 confirmed that severe retaliation had often followed the raising of a
concern at the Hanford facility. This finding led to the formation of The Hanford
Joint Council for Resolving Employee Concerns.

Among the study’s findings were that every complainant they interviewed was
sincere and credible and that Westinghouse’s practice of responding to whistle
blowing incidents by commissioning security department investigations of the
cases and sending whistleblowers for psychiatric evaluations was unwarranted.

44
 Continued
The Hanford Joint Council was an innovative attempt to restore public trust and
secure effective cooperation in accomplishing a difficult and dangerous cleanup,
which received praise when it was formed. What other measures according to you
can be taken to protect whistle blowers?

Do you think in such cases people would feel safe to bring out important issues in
notice of the management?

45
 Continued
What can we do to restore trust?

1. Taking strong actions against those who break the law

2. Leadership commitment – to ensure safety

46
 Continued
3. Independent auditing to make sure that claims made are correct

4. Independent, protected resolution systems for allegations of retaliation

5. Formation of committees to conduct investigations

47
 Key Question 5

What are your rights, obligations, and responsibilities vis-a` -vis your
employer?
 Introduction
For a new engineer or scientist the first chance to gain an impression of the
organizational culture of a potential employer is usually the job interview.

The “Guidelines to Professional Employment for Engineers and Scientists,” was

adopted by the IEEE and other signatory organizations in 1975. It provided a
framework of expectations for both employees and employers. The guidelines
have since been independently revised by some of the original signatory
organizations, including the ACS.

49
 Continued
The original guidelines and the IEEE second edition identified the following as
prerequisites for an ethical climate that supports the fulfillment of
responsibilities:

1. A sound relationship between the professional employee and the employer,

based on mutual loyalty, cooperation, fair treatment, ethical practices, and
respect

2. Recognition of the responsibility to safeguard the public health, safety, and

welfare

50
 Continued
4. Opportunity for professional growth of the employee, based on employee’s
initiation and the employer’s support

5. Recognition that discrimination due to age, race, religion, political

affiliation, or sex should not enter into the professional employee-employer
relationship. There should be joint acceptance of the concepts that are
reflected in the Equal Employment Opportunity regulations.

6. Recognition that local conditions may result in honest differences in

interpretation of and deviations from the details of these guidelines. Such
differences should be resolved by discussions leading to an understanding
which meets the spirit of the guidelines.

51
 Continued

The employment guidelines are intended to draw as clear boundaries as

possible between behavior that is ethically acceptable or desirable and that
which is not and to give general guidance in the many areas where discretion
must be exercised.

52
 Key Question 6

Suppose you find yourself disagreeing with your immediate superior

about whether some action on the part of the organization is ethically
acceptable. How do you go about voicing your concern or otherwise
acting on it?
 Introduction
In such cases, it is important that you should

•Establish a clear technical foundation

In connection with this guideline, there are several additional elements as
well:

Get the advice of colleagues

Carefully consider counterarguments
Be willing to revise your position if arguments or evidence convinces you that
you should

54
 Continued
•Keep your arguments on a high professional plane

The second guideline is about formulating your concern. It advises one to keep
“your arguments on a high professional plane, as impersonal and objective as
possible, avoiding extraneous issues and emotional outbursts.

For example, do not mix personal grievances into an argument about whether
further testing is necessary for some critical subsystem.” It advises against
impugning the motives of others.

55
 Continued

This is important even if you are suspicious of others’ motives, because

impugning those motives adds nothing to your technical case and makes it
harder to achieve another objective that the committee emphasizes, namely
minimizing the embarrassment to those who are being asked to change their
position.

56
 Continued
•Try to catch problems early, and work with the lowest managerial level
possible

Dealing with a problem at an early stage usually makes it easier to solve, and
at an early stage it is not usually appropriate to take one’s concern very far up
the management ladder. Raising the issue at an early stage, even if it means
dealing with many unknowns, also may prevent others from taking positions
from which they may be reluctant to later retreat for fear of losing face.

57
 Continued
•Make sure that the issue is sufficiently important

The fourth guideline advises engineers to “make sure that the issue is
sufficiently important” before “going out on a limb.” “Out on a limb” is an
exposed and risky place to be. As we observed earlier, in an imperfect world,
many things go wrong. If one asks for attention to every minor imperfection,
others will stop listening. The committee does not counsel self-sacrifice, but
rather that the engineer consider how important the matter is and whether it
warrants taking great risks. It considers that if a matter involves only financial
risks for the employer, dissenting from a manager’s unreasonable decisions is
not worth risks to your career.

•. 58
 Continued
•Use organizational dispute resolution mechanisms

Fifth, the guidelines advise engineers that if managers are unresponsive to

engineers’ concerns and there is no powerful figure who is able to mediate a
discussion with their managers, the engineers in question should make use of
any organizational dispute resolution mechanisms that are available. Using
dispute resolution mechanisms, including grievance procedures, “will almost
certainly damage relations with your manager;” so you have to be careful while
doing this.

. 59
 Continued

if there is no dispute resolution mechanism, you consider championing the

creation of a good one, although it admits that doing so would be difficult
while you are in the midst of pursuing a concern.

60
 Continued
•Keep records and collect paper

The guidelines advise you to keep written records “as soon as you realize
that you are getting into a situation that may become serious.” The records
it mentions include a log in which you record the “steps that you take (e.g.,
conversations, email messages, etc.)” with times and dates. It advises that to
the extent permitted by law, “you keep copies of all pertinent documents or
computer files at home, or in the office of a trusted friend – to guard against
the possibility of a sudden discharge and sealing off of your office.”

61
 Continued
The seventh guideline considers the question of whether to take the steps of
resigning or of “blowing the whistle,” if you are unable to resolve the conflict
with your organization. It advises that unless you have a job that is protected
by civil service or the like, it is unlikely that you could stay at your organization
once you are known to have taken your concern outside.

Resigning has pros and cons. The positives the IEEE committee identifies are;

It adds credibility to your position – makes it obvious you are a serious

person.

62
 Continued

It cannot be argued that you are a disloyal employee if you are no longer an
employee.

You may be fired; in which case, resigning may look better on your record.

63
 Continued
The negatives the committee identifies are that;

Once you are gone, it may be easier for the organization to ignore the issues
you raised, as others in the organization may be unwilling to carry on the
fight.

The right to dissent from within the organization may be one of the points
you wish to make.

You thereby lose pension rights, unemployment compensation, and the right
to sue for improper discharge.

64
 Continued
It also becomes important here to highlight the risks associated with voicing:-

May be viewed as complainers or troublemakers

May receive a negative feedback or poor performance appraisal

May not be considered for promotion

65
66
 Ethics in Engineering Practice
Lecture No (39-40) : Leadership Styles and Ethical conduct

DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHAYAY

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
IIT KHARAGPUR

67
Outline of the Module
 Introduction to and essence of Leadership
Important characteristics of leaders
Leaders vs. Managers
Most important competencies of Leaders around the world
Forms of leadership styles
Meaning and essence of Transactional leadership
Discussing the suitability of Transactional leadership for promoting ethical
conduct
Continued
Defining Transformational leadership and core characteristics of
transformational leaders
Discussing the suitability of Transformational leadership for promoting ethical
conduct
Empowering leadership and key features of empowering leaders
Discussing the suitability of empowering leadership for promoting ethical
conduct
Authentic leadership and essence of authentic leadership, suitability for
encouraging ethical conduct
Continued
 Ethical leadership
Moral leadership
Habits of Highly moral leaders
(Source: Behavior in organizations (2016), Jerald Green berg, Pearson and
Leadership, Northhouse (2013), Sage publications.
 Introduction
Leadership

It is a process by which an individual influences a group of individuals to

reach a common goal.

A leader is the one person who influences the others most in a group.

71
 Essence of Leadership
It is not a trait or an attribute that resides in a leader, but a transactional event
that occurs between a follower and a leader.

It is all about influence. How a leader influences followers is all that matters.

It occurs in groups. Leadership never happens in isolation.

It is about paying attention to the common goals of the organization. If leader

has its own individual goals, and followers have their own. This style of
leadership is not going to work for long.

72
 Important characteristics of leaders

Leadership involves non-coercive influence

It is goal directed

It requires followers

Sometimes, leaders may also get influenced from their followers.

73
 Leaders vs. Managers
Leaders are primarily responsible for establishing organizational mission, while
on the other hand, managers are responsible for implementing the mission
through others.

Leaders establish direction by creating a vision for the future.

A managers job is into practice the means for achieving the vision created by the
leader.

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 Leaders vs. Managers - A Summary
comparison
Managers Leaders
A managers job is to administer Leaders job is to innovate
Ask how Ask what and why
Focus on Systems Focus on people
Do things right Do the right things
Maintain Develop

75
 Continued
Managers Leaders

Rely on control Inspire trust

Short term perspective Long term perspective

Accept the status quo Challenge the status quo

Imitate Originate

Keep an eye on bottom line Keep an eye on horizon

76
 Continued
Managers Leaders

Emulate the classic good soldier Are their own persons

Copy Show originality

77
 The Most Important Leadership Competencies,
According to Leaders Around the World

Source: https://hbr.org/2016/03/the-most-important-leadership-competencies-according-to-leaders-around-the-world - Sunnie Giles

78
 First One
Demonstrates strong ethics and provides a sense of safety

It is all about being a safe and trust worthy environment.

A leader with high ethical standards conveys a commitment to fairness, instilling

confidence that both they and their employees will honor the rules of the game
and will imbibe the ethical conduct in most difficult situations.

It is important for leaders here to clearly communicate there expectations to

the followers.

79
 Second One
Empowers others to self-organize.

Providing clear direction while allowing employees to organize their own time
and work has been identified as the next most important leadership
competency.

No leader can do everything themselves. Therefore, it’s critical to distribute

power throughout the organization and to rely on decision making from those
who are closest to the action.

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 Third One
Fosters a sense of connection and belonging.

Leaders who “communicate often and openly” and “create a feeling of

succeeding and failing together as a pack” build a strong foundation for
connection.

From an evolutionary perspective, attachment is important because it improves

our chances of survival in a world full of predators. Research suggests that a
sense of connection could also impact productivity and emotional well-being.

81
 Fourth one
Shows openness to new ideas and fosters organizational learning.

Effective eladers are always open to new ideas.

Rather than restricting the follwoers to existing status quo, leaders should
stimulate them by extending support to come up with creative ideas and
suggestions for improving work practices.

To encourage learning among employees, leaders must first ensure that they are
open to learning (and changing course) themselves.

82
 Fifth one
Nurtures growth

When leaders show a commitment to our growth, the same primal emotions are
tapped. Employees are motivated to reciprocate, expressing their gratitude or loyalty
by going the extra mile.

While managing through fear generates stress, which impairs higher brain function,
the quality of work is vastly different when we are compelled by appreciation.

If you want to inspire the best from your team, advocate for them, support their
training and promotion, and go to bat to sponsor their important projects.

83
 Forms of Leadership emerged till date
Transactional

Transformational

Empowering

Ethical

Authentic

84
 Transactional Leadership

According to Bass (1985) transactional leadership is said to exist;

when: […] changes in degree or marginal improvement can be seen as the result
of leadership that is an exchange process: a transaction in which followers’ needs
are met if their performance measures up to their explicit or implicit contracts
with their leader.

85
 Continued

Transactional leadership “represents those exchanges in which both the superior

and the subordinate influence one another reciprocally so that each derives
something of value” (Yukl, 1981)

In simple words, under Transactional leadership, there is majorly one way

communication between the leaders and the followers and followers are given
directions to do complete the assigned tasks.

86
 Essence of Transactional leadership

Discourages independent thinking

Rewards based performance

Least focus on developing relationships

Resistance to change and focuses on maintaining the status quo

Self-interests is primary

87
Lets discuss the suitability of Transactional
leadership for promoting ethical conduct

88
 Transformational leadership
Such leaders do things to revitalize and transform organizations and society.

Transformational leadership depicts an approach by which;

leaders motivate followers to identify with organizational goals and interests

and encourage them to perform beyond expectations

89
 Key characteristics of Transformational leaders
Charisma

Transformational leaders inspire others to follow them in an highly emotional

manner

Self-confidence

Highly confident of their ability and Judgment and others readily become aware
of this by observing the conduct of the transformational leaders

90
 Continued
Vision

Transformational leaders have ideas about status quo in organizations can be

improved. Transformational leaders have a commitment to do, what it takes to
change things for the better, even if it means making personal sacrifices.

Environmental sensitivity

These leaders are highly sensitivity of the constraints that are imposed on them,
and availability of resources needed to change things. They know what they can
do and what they cannot do.

91
 Continued
Intellectual simulation

Help followers recognize problems and encourage them to find out creative ways
of resolving these problems.

Interpersonal consideration and individualized attention

Transformational leaders give followers the support, encouragement and

attention that is needed by each of the followers individually to execute the tasks
assigned to them

92
 Continued

Morality

Transformational leaders carry high levels of moral reasoning while taking all the
important decisions that might affect the followers as well as the organization at
large.

93
Lets discuss the suitability of Transformational
leadership for promoting ethical conduct

94
 Empowering Leadership
Empowering Leaders

Martin et al. (2013) defined it as “the process by which leaders share power with
employees by providing additional responsibility and decision-making authority
over work, and resources as well as the support needed to handle the additional
responsibility effectively”.

95
 Key Characteristics of Empowering Leaders

Leading by example

Leading by example “refers to a set of behaviors that show the leader's

commitment to his or her own work as well as the work of his/her team
members”. This category included behaviors such as working as hard as he/she
can and working harder than team members. (Arnold et al., 2000)

96
 Continued
Coaching

Coaching refers to “a set of behaviors that educate team members and help them
to become self-reliant. This category included behaviors such as making
suggestions about performance improvements and helping the team to be self-
reliant”. (Arnold et al., 2000)

97
 Continued

Participative decision making

Participative decision making refers “to a leader's use of team members'

information and input in making decisions. This category included behaviors such
as encouraging team members to express their ideas and opinions”. (Arnold et
al., 2000)

98
 Key Characteristics of Empowering Leaders

Informing

Informing refers to “the leader's dissemination of company wide information

such as mission and philosophy as well as other important information. This
category included behaviors such as explaining company decisions to the team
and informing the team about new developments in organizational policy”.
(Arnold et al., 2000)

99
 Key Characteristics of Empowering Leaders

Showing concern

Showing concern is a collection of behaviors that demonstrate a general regard

for team members' well-being. This category included behaviors such as taking
time to discuss team members concerns

100
 Discussion on suitability of Empowering
leadership for promoting Ethical behaviour

101
 Ethical Leadership

Brown et al. (2005) defined ethical leadership as

“the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal

actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct
to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement, and decision-
making”.

102
 Essence of ethical Leadership
Focuses on serving others

Raising voices against unethical practices in the organization

Concerned about the followers good and overall betterment of the organization

Makes sure that rewards and penalties are levied fairly for ethical or unethical
conduct

103
 Continued
Focuses on justice in the organization

Encourages followers to raise their voices freely against unethical practices in the
organization

104
Lets discuss the suitability of Ethical leadership
for promoting ethical conduct

105
 Authentic Leadership
Authentic leadership refers to

‘‘a pattern of leader behavior that draws upon and promotes both positive
psychological capacities and a positive ethical climate, to foster greater self-
awareness, an internalized moral perspective, balanced processing of
information, and relational transparency on the part of leaders working with
followers, fostering positive self development’’ (Walumbwa et al. 2008)

106
 Essence of Authentic leadership

Authentic leaders demonstrate these five qualities:

Understanding their purpose

Practicing solid values

Leading with heart

107
 Continued
Establishing connected relationships

Demonstrating self-discipline

(Source: The True Qualities Of Authentic Leaders, https://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2015/11/10/the-true-

qualities-of-authentic-leaders/#11ddedf6f74d)

108
 Lets discuss the suitability of Authentic
leadership for promoting ethical conduct

109
 Moral Leadership
According to Farh et al. (2008), moral leadership can be demonstrated in the
workplace as a leader’s personal integrity, unselfishness, job devotion, and
leading by example.

Westwood (1997) identified two facets of moral leadership, “role modeling”

and “not acting selfishly”

110
 7 habits of highly moral leaders

Moral leaders have strong ethical character

Moral Leaders have a Passion to “do right

Moral Leaders are Morally Proactive

Moral Leaders are Stakeholder Inclusive

111
 Continued

Moral Leaders have an Obsession with Fairness

Moral Leaders are Principled Decision Makers

Moral Leaders Integrate Ethics Wisdom with Management Wisdom

(Archie B. Carroll, “Ethical Leadership: From Moral Manager to Moral Leader,” in Rights, Relationships & Responsibilities: Business
Ethics and Social Impact Management, Vol. 1, 2003. O. C. Ferrell, Sheb L. True, and Lou E. Pelton (eds.), pp. 7-17)

112
 Essence of Moral Leadership
Serving the common good

Promoting personal and collective transformation

Conserving and strengthening the unity of the group

Carrying out those tasks for which the group was created

Developing the potentialities of the members of the group

113
 Continued
Dispersed on many

Characterized by service not domination

Self-less

Humble

Listening

Reflective and Persevering

Source: Onno M. Vinkhuyzen a, Sylvia I. Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen (2014)

114
Lets discuss the suitability of Moral leadership
for promoting ethical conduct

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