P. A.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

(An Autonomous Institution)
An ISO 9001:2015 Certified Institution- Accredited by NAAC with ‘A’ Grade
Department of Mechanical Engineering
(Accredited by NBA)

Course Code : 19CAHS004

Course Name : PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN ENGINEERING
Year / Semester : IV / VIII

ASSIGNMENT-III ANSWER KEY

1.What is conflict Interest?

Types of Conflicts of interest
 Actual conflict of interest Potential conflict of interest Apparent conflict of
interest
 Interest in other companies
 Moonlighting
 Insider information

2.What are the reasons for Risk-Benefit Analysis?

 Risk-benefit analysis is concerned with the advisability of undertaking a
project.
 It helps in deciding which design has greater advantages.
 It assists the engineers to identify a particular designs cores higher with that of
the another one.

3.What are the safety measures an engineer must know before assessing a risk of
any product?
The factors are:
 Does the engineer have the right data?
 Is he satisfied with the present design?
 How does he test the safety of a product?
 How does he measure and weight he risks with benefits for a product.

4.Explain the two types of Risk?

 Personal Risk:
An individual, who is given sufficient information, will be in a position to decide
whether to take part in a risky activity or not . They are more ready to take on
voluntary risks than in voluntary risks.
 Public Risks:
Risks and benefits to the public are more easily determined than to individuals, as
larger number of people is taken in to account .Involuntary risks are found here.
 P. A. COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
(An Autonomous Institution)
An ISO 9001:2015 Certified Institution- Accredited by NAAC with ‘A’ Grade
Department of Mechanical Engineering
(Accredited by NBA)

5.State the industrial definition on safety.

 A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for – John A. Shedd
 A thing is safe if its risks are judged to be acceptable„ - William W. Lawrence
 We buy an ill-designed Iron box in a sale-> Underestimating risk
 We judge fluoride in water can kill lots of people -> Overestimating risk
 We hire a taxi, without thinking about its safety -> Not estimating risk

6.What is informed consent?

Informed consent is the process by which the treating health care provider discloses
appropriate information to a competent patient so that the patient may make a
voluntary choice to accept or refuse treatment. It originates from the legal and ethical
right the patient has to direct what happens to her body and from the ethical duty of
the physician to involve the patient in her health care.

7.What is the use of risk analysis?

Risk analysis is the process of defining and analyzing the dangers to individuals,
businesses and government agencies posed by potential natural and human-caused
adverse events.

8.What is collegiality
Collegiality is a kind of connectedness grounded in respect for professional expertise
and in a commitment to the goals and values of the profession and collegiality
includes a disposition to support and cooperate with one’s colleagues.

9.What do you meant by employee rights and lists its categories?

Employee rights are rights, moral or legal, that involve the status of being an
employee. They include some professional rights that apply to the employer-
employee relationship.

10.What is Institutional Recognition of Rights?

One should have moral right, having it respected by others and given recognition
within the institution is the other. Koning states in 1975, conference on Engineering
Ethics- that one item that should be in the code of ethics are that engineers have the
right at all times to exercise the dictates of their own conscience.

11.What does moral leadership mean?

 P. A. COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
(An Autonomous Institution)
An ISO 9001:2015 Certified Institution- Accredited by NAAC with ‘A’ Grade
Department of Mechanical Engineering
(Accredited by NBA)

Whenever the goals of a leader become permissible and also morally valuable, it is
known as moral leadership. Moral leadership also means that employing morally
acceptable ways to motivate the groups to move towards morally desirable ways. The
ways are depending on the situations.

12.State the most important ethical mistake made by the multinational corporation
which caused Bhopal gas plant disaster.
 The tanks used to store Methyl Iso-cyanate were overloaded to a tune of 75%.
 The emergency plant was also filled with a large amount of chemicals.
 The entire refrigeration unit had been shut down as a measure to reduce the
cost and this led to increase of temperatures to a higher level.
 One of the disappointed workers unscrewed a pressure gauge on a tank and
inserted a hosepipe into it, knowing that it would cause damage, but not to this
extent.
 Scrubber has also been shut down.
 Flare tower was also not in an operating condition.
 Unfortunately there were no emergency drills or evacuation plants available.

13.What are the international rights listed by Donaldson?

Thomas Donaldson in his book ‗The ethics of International Business has listed the
following as the International rights:
 The right to freedom of physical movement
 The right to ownership of property
 The right to freedom from torture
 The right to a fair trial
 The right to nondiscriminatory treatment
 The right to physical security
 The right to freedom of speech and association
 The right to minimal education
 The right to political participation
 The right to subsistence.

14.List out four examples for Multinational Corporation.

Large corporations having investment and business in number of countries are known
as Multinational or Transnational Corporation. Some of them are: Hindustan Lever,
Ford, Toyota, Sony, LG, Smith Kline Beecham, ITC, Ponds etc.

15.Define computer ethics?

 P. A. COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
(An Autonomous Institution)
An ISO 9001:2015 Certified Institution- Accredited by NAAC with ‘A’ Grade
Department of Mechanical Engineering
(Accredited by NBA)

Computers contribute to a variety of moral problems. In order to evaluate and act

appropriately with such problems, a new field of applied ethics termed as ‗computer
ethics„ has been developed.
The study of ethical issues that are associated with computer, its peripheral and
accesses series and the computing profession is called as computer ethics.

16.What is meant by globalization?

Our lives are increasingly dependent upon the goods/services produced over the world
and are influenced by the business from around all the corners of the world. In general
world has become a global village and have a global economy. The increasing
international flow of capital, technology, trade, and people have had the effects of
changing the nature of local organizations governments and people of countries and
have led to social changes and developments.

17.What are the three senses of relative values?

 Ethical Relativism
 Descriptive Relativism
 Moral Relativism

18.What are the normal issues arise in Multinational Corporation?

Ethical dilemmas faced by certain companies may be specific to their industry or
company; other types of ethical issues are common to all types of companies.
Handling ethical decisions with wisdom is especially important for small businesses,
given the potentially devastating effects these companies may face if such issues
aren't handled correctly.

19.Differentiate the Eye witness and expert witness in the legal system
An eyewitness is one who testifies what they perceived through his or her senses (e.g.
seeing, hearing, smelling, touching). That perception might be either with the unaided
human sense or with the aid of an instrument, e.g., microscope or stethoscope, or by
other scientific means, e.g. a chemical reagent which changes color in the presence of
a particular substance
An expert witness is one who allegedly has specialized knowledge relevant to the
matter of interest, which knowledge purportedly helps to either make sense of other
evidence, including other testimony, documentary evidence or physical evidence (e.g.,
a fingerprint)
 P. A. COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
(An Autonomous Institution)
An ISO 9001:2015 Certified Institution- Accredited by NAAC with ‘A’ Grade
Department of Mechanical Engineering
(Accredited by NBA)

20.What is meant by Moral Leadership?

Moral Leadership is a very different kind of leadership. Rather than aspiring to
being followed, Moral Leaders aim to serve. Instead of showcasing their own skills,
Moral Leaders tend to develop the capacities of others.