MIT 603

Business Ethics
Lecture 0

Dr. Adel Ben Mnaouer

Office: C3-18A
Email: [email protected] Phone : (04) 709 6146
 Content
• Course Information

• Course Description

• Lec 1:
Applications and Requirements of Wireless Services
 Course Information
•Contact details •Assessment
– Adel Ben Mnaouer – Assignments 20%
– [email protected] – Quizzes 20%
– Midterm Exam 20%
– Office: B3-05
– Final Exam 40%
•Lectures
– Monday / Wednesday 15:00 –
16:30
– Classroom: (B3-03)
 Course Description
• This course introduces the engineering profession, professional
practice, engineering law and ethics. To fully assume
responsibilities towards society the engineer should consider
social implications and environmental impacts of technologies.
Topics include: History of the profession of engineering,
Principles of professional engineering practice, Professionalism
and Codes of Ethics, Understanding Ethical Problems, Ethical
Problem-Solving Techniques, Hazard assessment and
prevention control, Assessment of the safety situation of the
Canadian University of Dubai (Practice), Safety and Health
Training, Management of Safety and Health, Social implications
and environmental impacts of technology, The Rights and
Responsibilities of Engineers, Ethical Issues in Engineering
Practice.
 Course Description
Credit Hours: 3-0-3
 

Pre-Requisites: GED-132, ENV-301

 

Learning Outcomes: Upon successful completion, students will be able to: :

• Identify the Rights and Responsibilities of Engineers and compare the

responsibilities of an unregistered practicing engineer and a
Professional Engineer (PEng)
• Understand and apply ethical Problem-Solving Techniques
• Assessment of the safety situation at the workplace (Canadian
University of Dubai – CUD - as an example)
• Identify legal issues and ethical dilemmas in a given situation.
• Discuss social implications and examine environmental impacts of
technology
 Textbook
Text And Other Instructional/ Learning Materials Required:
• “Engineering Ethics” by C. Fleddermann, Prentice Hall, third
Edition, 2008, ISBN-13: 9780132306416.

Reference Texbook:
• “Ethics in Information Technology”, by Reynolds, Cengage Learning, Third
Edition, ISBN-13: 9780538746229 
 Course Content
Week Topics/Contents
1 Introduction
2 Professionalism and Codes of Ethics
3 Understanding Ethical Problems: From Codes to Cases,
Moral Considerations, Moral Reasoning & Case Analysis
4-5 Ethical Problem-Solving Techniques : Moral Reasoning & Case
Analysis – Techniques
6-7 Ethical Issues in Engineering Practice
8 Mid-Term Exam
9-10 The Rights and Responsibilities Engineers
11 The Rights and Responsibilities Engineers
12 Ethics in Computer and Internet Crime
13 Ethics and Privacy
14 Ethics related to Intellectual Property (IP)
15 Review
16 FINAL EXAM
What is Meant by Ethics?

Lecture 1
System of moral principles
Principles of right and wrong
Principles of conduct governing
behavior of an individual or a group

http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/reference/define-ethics.html
 Clicker
Question
A person’s behavior is always ethical when one:

A. Does what is best for oneself

B. Has good intentions, no matter how things
turn out
C. Does what is best for everyone
D. Does what is legal
 Ethics in an Engineering
Course????
We have been studying engineering, such
as design, analysis, and performance
measurement.

Where does ethics fit in?

http://www.free-clep-prep.com/Business-Ethics-and-Society-DSST.html
How Ethics Fits into Engineering
Engineers . . .

Build products such as cell phones, home

appliances, heart valves, bridges, & cars. In general
they advance society by building new technology.

Develop processes, such as the process to convert

salt water into fresh water or the process to recycle
bottles. These processes change how we live and
what we can accomplish.
 Products and processes have
consequences for society:
 If the bridge has an inadequate support, it will
fail.
 If the gas tank is positioned too close to the
bumper, it might explode from a small
accident.
 If the process for recycling bottles produces
too much pollution, then it is
counterproductive.
 If the process for refining gas produces too
much toxins, it harms the local community.
Decisions made by engineers usually
have serious consequences to people
-- often to multitudes of people.

Ethics and ethical reasoning guide

decision-making.
Consider the March 11, 2011 8.9
magnitude earthquake near
Sendai, Japan.
 16
The damage to the Fukushima I Nuclear
Power Plant (Fukushima Dai-ichi)
has led people worldwide to rethink the ethics
of nuclear power.
Notice the issues that come up in these discussions:
ISSUE #1: HEALTH AND SAFETY

RISKS: Danger to current and future

generations from leakage of radio-
isotopes used in nuclear power.

17
Plutonium-239 (half-life = 24,110 yrs) is a
particularly toxic radio-isotope.
Normally, 10 half lives are required before a
Pu-239 contaminated area is considered safe
again, in the case of plutonium, roughly
250,000 years.

So if Pu leaked, -- say, due to an

earthquake -- it would cause a
health risk for roughly 8000
generations!!
Issues (cont.):

ISSUE #1: HEALTH AND SAFETY

RISKS, FURTHER

18
CONSIDERATIONS:

a) The possibility of medical science

discovering a cure for cancer sometime
in the current or next centuries adds
uncertainty to the long-term health
risks of leakages of radio-active
isotopes.
Issues (cont.):

ISSUE #1: HEALTH AND SAFETY

RISKS, FURTHER

19
CONSIDERATIONS:

b) The use of nuclear power may

increase our knowledge of radioisotopes
used for medical purposes (possible
benefit?).
Issues that come up in these discussions:

CONSEQUENCES OF
ALTERNATIVES TO NUCLEAR
POWER.

20
ISSUE #2: DEPLETION OF
RESOURCES:

Fossil fuels, oil, natural gas and coal,

are non-renewable. These resources
also affect the goal of health because of
their impact on pollution and climate
changes.
Issues that come up in these discussions:
CONSEQUENCES OF
ALTERNATIVES TO NUCLEAR
POWER.

ISSUE #3: COMPARATIVE ECONOMIC COSTS OF

21
RENEWABLE SOURCES.

Renewable sources such as hydro-electric-

power, wind power, solar power, geo-thermal
heat, agricultural biomass and tides do not
cause the environmental hazards that fossil-
fuels do.

But renewable sources must be balanced with the amount of energy needed to
produce and maintain them and consequent environmental hazards.
Currently, for example, the energy required to manufacture and install solar
energy systems comes from fossil fuels.
 Reasoning
The kind of reasoning that goes on in
such discussions involves certain goals
such as, in this case, health, safety and
biodiversity.

The reasoning then focuses on finding

the best – or at least the reasonably
better --
means
for obtaining those goals.
 This type of reasoning is often called practical
reasoning.

23
It uses different methods from mathematics and
sciences.

Ethical reasoning is a type of practical reasoning

which in particular concerns certain societal or life-
form goals, such as justice, equality, freedom,
health and safety.
 The Essence of Your Engineering
Career
Engineering is one of the most important professions in
society.

As engineers we don’t just build things and develop

processes.

We build things and make processes in order to make better

societies.

In order to make society better we have to reflect constantly

on the products and processes that we make.
 Social Responsibility
• One main connection between ethics and
engineering comes from the impact that
engineered products and processes have on
society.
• Engineers have to think about designing,
building, and marketing products that benefit
society.
• Social Responsibility requires taking into
consideration the needs of society.
 Typical Ethical Issues that Engineers
Encounter
• Safety
• Acceptable risk
• Compliance
• Confidentiality
• Environmental health
• Data integrity
• Conflict of interest
• Honesty/Dishonesty
• Societal impact
• Fairness
• Accounting for uncertainty, etc.
 Professional Responsibility
• Ethics has a second connection with
engineering.
• It comes from the way in which being
socially responsible puts duties and
obligations on us individually.
• Ethics fits into engineering through
professional responsibility.
 Two Dimensions of Ethics in
Engineering
Ethics is part of engineering for two main
reasons.
a) Engineers need to be socially
responsible when building products and
processes for society.
b) Social responsibility requires
professional responsibility.
ABET Says . . .

By the time of graduation students will

have an understanding of professional
and ethical responsibility 

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2006/09/10/its_the_engineering_stupid/
 What we Will Discuss
• The code of ethics for engineers.

• Practicing ethics as an engineering student.

• How to identify and analyze an ethical dilemma

through case analysis.
• The nature of virtue.

• How virtue and practice pertains to being ethical.

virtue :a quality considered morally good or desirable in a person.

 Part 1: The Code of Ethics
for Engineers

NATIONAL SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS (NSPE):

http://www.nspe.org/Ethics/CodeofEthics/index.html
 Role-Responsibilities
We need to make a distinction between two ways in
which ethics can apply to one’s life.

The two ways ethical issues can apply to one’s life are
based on role responsibilities.
 Role responsibilities are responsibilities that attach to us in
virtue of a role that we have. Each of us has different roles
that we play in our life.
 Engineering Student
 Friend
 Citizen
 Employee
Role Responsibilities
Friend Look out for the interests of your
friend.

Athlete Play your sport in a professional

manner (e.g., No doping !).

Employee Perform the duties of your job.

Parent Look after your children and

their interests

Citizen Follow the laws of the country in

which you live.
 Ethics in Engineering

There are many fields of engineering, such as

Civil
Mechanical
Electrical
Software
Industrial

However, there are many ethical issues that arise

across all of these fields of engineering.

The code of ethics for engineers pertains to

engineers of all kinds.
 Clicker Question
Engineers should follow their professional code of ethics
because:
A. The public will trust engineers more if they know
engineers have a code of ethics.
B. It helps them avoid legal problems, such as
getting sued.
C. It provides a clear definition of what the public
has a right to expect from responsible engineers.
D. It raises the image of the profession and hence
gets engineers more pay.
 The Engineering Code of Ethics
The Engineering Code of Ethics has three components:

The Fundamental Canons: which articulate the basic

components of ethical engineering.

The Rules of Practice: which clarify and specify in

detail the fundamental canons of ethics in
engineering.

Professional Obligations: which elaborate the

obligations that engineers have.
 NSPE Fundamental Canons of
Ethics - 1
Engineers in the fulfillment of their
professional duties shall:

Hold paramount the safety, health, and

welfare of the public.
 NSPE Fundamental Canons of
Ethics - 2
• Engineers in the fulfillment of their
professional duties shall:

Perform services only in areas of their

competence.
 NSPE Fundamental Canons of
Ethics - 3
• Engineers in the fulfillment of their
professional duties shall:

Issue public statements only in an

objective and truthful manner.
 NSPE Fundamental Canons of
Ethics -4
• Engineers in the fulfillment of their
professional duties shall:

Act for each employer or client as

faithful agents or trustees.
 NSPE Fundamental Canons of
Ethics - 5
• Engineers in the fulfillment of their
professional duties shall:

Avoid deceptive acts.

 NSPE Fundamental Canons of
Ethics - 6
• Engineers in the fulfillment of their
professional duties shall:

Conduct themselves honorably,

responsibly, ethically, and lawfully, so
as to enhance the honor, reputation,
and usefulness of the profession.
 Try it yourself
o You are supervising a product with specifications
that only U.S. made parts may be used.
o Late in the project you discover a sub-contractor
has supplied a part with foreign-made bolts.
o They aren’t very noticeable and would function
identically to U.S.-made bolts.
o Your customer urgently needs the finished product.

What should you do?

 Clicker Question
Should you:
A. Say nothing and deliver the product with the foreign
bolts, hoping the customer won’t notice.
B. Find some roughly equivalent violation of the
contract/specs for which the customer is responsible
and tell them you will ignore their violation if they
ignore yours.
C. Tell the customer about the problem, and let them
decide what you should do next.
D. Find legal loopholes in the original specifications so
that your company doesn’t appear to have violated
the specs.
C (tell the customer) is the correct answer because
it lets the customer decide what is in their best
interest given new information.

This may be tough, because your job may be on the

line and your company’s reputation may be at
stake.

Avoid deceptive acts

Act for each employer or client as faithful agents or
trustees
 Assignment 1
• Choose one of the case studies provided on (
http://www.engineering.com/Library/ArticlesP
age/tabid/85/articleType/CategoryView/categ
oryId/7/Ethics-Case-Studies.aspx
)
• Give a brief presentation for the class
• Extract the violations of the fundamental
canons of ethics in the selected case study.
• Due date is October 3rd, 2016
What is important about the Code
of Ethics
• The code of ethics is not something that we
want (or need) engineers to memorize.

• The code of ethics is something we want

engineers to understand and be able to live by
as engineers.

• However, in the beginning knowing the code is

a guide to understanding how to apply it.
 Robots vs. Humans
• Robots run on algorithms their actions are a direct
consequence of the program under which they
operate. As a consequence, for any input into the
program, the output is determined.

• Humans do not run on algorithms. We have freewill.

At least some of our actions come from our ability to
will to do something.

• Humans, unlike robots, are responsible for their

actions because humans are free agents.
 Ethical Knowledge vs. Behavior
• Unlike robots, no one can just program you to be an
ethical engineer that follows the codes.

• It is possible to know the code of ethics for

engineering, yet fail to follow them.

• Ethical behavior is about practice and virtue. It is

about going beyond the codes, and practicing behavior
that leads to an ethical life.
 The Example of Integrity
• A building has structural integrity when it is designed
in way such that it appropriately responds to the
stresses and loads that it is designed to act under.

• Just as a building can have poor integrity or good

integrity. A person can also.

• A person has integrity when she/he can follow the

codes he/she is supposed to follow under the stresses
and loads of his/her role.
 Clicker question

Which of the following ensure that behavior is ethical?

I. Following the law
II. Acting in the best interest of society
III. Following non-legal standards for socially appropriate
conduct

A. All of the above

B. II and III only
C. None of the above
D. I only
 Law vs. Morality:
Don’t Confuse the Two
Legal Legal
& &
Moral Immoral
Illegal Illegal
& &
Moral Immoral
 Examples of the Categories
Legal & Moral Designing a system to be safe.

Legal & Immoral Owning a slave pre-civil war in

the US.
Looking for legal loopholes in
government regulations !!

Illegal & Moral Crossing road from undesignated

area?

Illegal & Immoral Killing an innocent person.

Part 2: Practicing ethics as
an engineering student
 Plagiarism & Cheating
Many components go into being a good engineering student.

One of the most important, as reflected by the codes of

ethics for engineers, is to be competent in your field of
engineering.

To be competent, it is necessary that one actually knows

what they claim to know.

Proving to others that you know what you are supposed to

know requires certification through a degree.
 What students Say
• 70% of American high school seniors admit to
cheating on at least one test

• 95% of the students who said they cheated

were never caught.

• An average of 75% of college students report

cheating sometime during their college career
 Academic Dishonesty
Cheating

At SJSU: cheating is the act of obtaining or

attempting to obtain credit for academic
work through the use of any dishonest,
deceptive, or fraudulent means.

SJSU defines 5 basic types of cheating

 Cheating is Wrong?
Cheating also undermines the work of
fellow students who are honest.

When you cheat, all the other students who

didn’t cheat are penalized. They end up
getting lower grades. As a consequence of
lower grades they lose out on scholarships
and recommendations.
 Cheating vs. Teamwork
• Working on a team for an assigned project is not
cheating.

• However, failing do due your assigned task on a team

project is a form of cheating. It is called free-riding,
which is benefiting from the work of others without
doing any work of your own.

• Teamwork is important in engineering, but free-riding is

wrong, since if everyone did it nothing would get done.
 Copying
One obvious type of cheating that we all
recognize is copying someone’s work on a
homework assignment, exam, or paper.

Submitting someone’s work as your own

is a kind of cheating.
 Multiple Submissions
Submitting your own work from one
class to another class or submitting
one piece of work to two distinct
classes is a kind of cheating.

A paper for one class is not a paper

for another class.
 Unauthorized Sources
Using sources that one is not allowed to
use as deemed by the instructor or the
university as a whole is a kind of
cheating, such as solution manuals.

Also a text message from your friend with

the answer to a question on the exam is a
form of cheating.
 Altering Grades
Altering your grade in any way is a
form of cheating.

If you are given a C on your

homework, paper, or exam and then
you change your grade to a B+, you
have cheated.
 Surrogate
Surrogate cheating occurs when
someone else either does your
homework, takes an exam for you, or
writes your paper.

Doing someone’s work for them is a

kind of cheating.
 Why is Cheating Wrong?
Cheating undermines the credibility of
the university and the degrees it
awards.

If too many people cheat at CUD, then the

degrees awarded by CUD won’t certify that
its students are competent. So, by cheating
you not only hurt yourself, you also hurt
others.
 Ethics – Courage & Integrity
• As we will be seeing more and more being
ethical requires:

– Courage to do the right thing the situation calls

for.

&

– The integrity to withstand the pressures that push

you in the wrong direction.