Second Year (Sem – III) B. Tech.

Information Technology

Subject Name:- Values and Ethics (IT2301)

Subject Teacher : Prof. S. A. Kadam

(IT Department),
Government College of
Engineering, Karad.
 Unit 1:
Human Values
 OBJECTIVES (WHY ENGINEERING ETHICS?)
• The prime objective is to increase one’s ability to deal effectively with moral
complexity in engineering practice.
• Alternatively, the objectives of the study on Professional Ethics may be
listed as:
A. Improvement of the cognitive skills (skills of the intellect in thinking
clearly)
• 1. Moral awareness (proficiency in recognizing moral problems
in engineering)
• 2. Cogent moral reasoning ( assessing different views)
• 3. Moral coherence (forming viewpoints based on facts)
• 4. Moral imagination (searching beyond obvious the alternative
responses to issues and being open minded to creative solutions)
• 5. Moral communication, to express and support one’s views to others.
 OBJECTIVES (WHY ENGINEERING ETHICS?)
B. To act in morally desirable ways, towards moral commitment
and responsible conduct
– 6. Moral reasonableness i.e., willing and able to be morally
responsible.
– 7. Respect for persons, which means showing concern for the well-
being of others, besides oneself.
– 8. Tolerance of diversity i.e., respect for ethnic and religious
differences, and acceptance
– 9. Moral hope i.e., believe in using rational dialogue(intelligent
thinking) for resolving moral conflicts.
– 10. Moral integrity i.e doing right things when nobody is watching. we
know what is right and we choose to do the right thing. So integrating
one’s professional life and personal convictions.
 Morals

Morality is concerned with principles and practices of morals such as:

• (a) What ought or ought not to be done in a given situation?
• (b) What is right or wrong about the handling of a situation?
• (c) What is good or bad about the people, policies, and ideals involved?
• As against morals and ethics, laws are norms(RULEs), formally
approved by state, power or national or international political bodies.
• Breaking the norms is called crime, and invite specific punishment.
 Values
• A value is defined as a principle that promotes well-being or prevents
harm.”

Another definition is: Values are our guidelines for our success—our way
of looking at something about what is acceptable.”

Personal values are defined as: “Emotional beliefs in principles regarded

as particularly important for the individual.”

• The five core human values are:

(1) Right conduct, (2) Peace, (3) Truth, (4) Love, and (5) Nonviolence.
Evolution of Human Values
• The human values evolve because of the following factors:
– 1. The impact of norms of the society on the fulfillment of the
individual’s needs or desires.
– 2. Developed or modified by one’s own awareness, choice, and
judgment in fulfilling the needs.
– 3. By the teachings and practice of Preceptors (Gurus) or Saviors or
religious leaders.
– 4. modified by social leaders, rulers of kingdom, and by law
(government).
 Ethics
• Ethics is the word that refers to morals, values, and
beliefs of the individuals, family or the society.
• The study on ethics helps to know the people’s beliefs,
values, and morals, learn the good and bad of them,
and practice them to maximize their well-being and
happiness.
• In ethics, the focus is to study and apply the principles
and practices, universally.
 Integrity
• Integrity is defined as the unity of thought, word and deed
(honesty) and open mindedness.
• It includes the capacity to communicate the factual
information so that others can make well-informed
decisions.
• It yields the person’s ‘peace of mind’, and hence adds
strength and consistency in character, decisions, and actions.
• It enthuse people not only to execute a job well but to
achieve excellence in performance.
• It helps them to own the responsibility and earn self-respect
and recognition by doing the job.
 WORK ETHICS
• Work ethics is defined as a set of attitudes concerned with the
value of work, which forms the motivational orientation .
 WORK ETHICS
• The ‘work ethics’ is aimed at ensuring the
• economy (get job, create wealth, earn salary),
• productivity (wealth, profit)
• safety (in workplace),
• health and hygiene (working conditions),
• privacy (raise family),
• security (permanence against contractual, pension, and retirement
benefits),
• cultural and social development (hobby, and happiness),
• welfare (social work),
• environment (anti-pollution activities),
and offer opportunities for all, according to their abilities, but without
discrimination.
 WORK ETHICS
• To work (job), is not for monetary (connected with money)
considerations only. Human beings believe that it is good to work.
Work is good for the body and mind.
• It promotes self-respect, self-esteem, good for the family, and
obligation to the society and allow the world to prosper
• By work ethics, duties to the self, family, society, and nation are
fulfilled.
• Rights of the individuals are respected and nourished. Values and
virtues are cultivated and enjoyed by all human beings. Further, the
quality of life is improved and the environment protected.
 SERVICE LEARNING
• Service learning refers to learning the service policies, procedures, norms, and
conditions, other than ‘the technical trade practices’.
• The service learning includes the characteristics of the work, basic requirements, security
of the job, and awareness of the procedures, while taking decisions and actions.
• It helps the individuals to interact ethically with colleagues, to effectively coordinate with
other departments, to interact cordially with suppliers as well as the customers, and to
maintain all these friendly interactions
• service learning may be defined as the non-paid activity, in which service is provided
on voluntary basis to the public non-profitable institutions, and charitable
organizations. It is the service during learning.
• This includes training or study on real life problems and their possible solutions, during
the formal learning, i.e., courses of study. In the industrial scenario, adoption, study, and
development of public health or welfare or safety system of a village or school is an
example of service learning by the employees.
• The engineering student analyzing and executing a socially-relevant project is another
example of service learning.
 SERVICE LEARNING
• It is one of the forms of experiential learning and community service
opportunities. It is distinguished in the following ways:
• 1. Connection to curriculum: Integrating the learning into a service
project is a key to successful service learning. Academic ties should be
clear and built upon existing disciplinary skills.
• 2. Learner’s voice: Beyond being actively engaged in the project,
trainees have the opportunity to select, design, implement, and evaluate
their service activity.
• 3. Reflection: Structured opportunities are created to think, talk, and
write about the service experience. The balance of reflection and action
allows the trainee to be constantly aware of the impact of their work.
• 4. Partners in the community: Partnership with community agencies are
used to identify genuine needs, provide mentorship, and contribute input
such as labor and expertise towards completing the project
VIRTUES
 VIRTUES
• Virtues are positive and preferred values .
• Virtues are desirable attitudes or character traits, motives and emotions
that enable us to be successful and to act in ways that develop our
highest potential.
• Honesty, courage, compassion, generosity, fidelity, integrity, fairness,
transparency, self-control, and prudence are all examples of Virtues.
• Virtues are tendencies which include, solving problems through peaceful
and constructive means.
• They are like habits, once acquired, they become characteristics of a
person.
 Civic Virtues
• Civic virtues are the moral duties and rights, as a citizen of the village
or the country or an integral part of the society and environment.
• An individual may exhibit civic virtues by voting, volunteering, and
organizing welfare groups and meetings.
• The duties are:
1. To pay taxes to the local government and state, in time.
2. To keep the surroundings clean and green.
3. Not to pollute the water, land, and air by following hygiene and proper
garbage disposal. For example, not to burn wood, tyres, plastic materials,
spit in the open, even not to smoke in the open, are some of the civic
(duties) virtues.
4. To follow the road safety rules.
 Civic Virtues
• The rights are:
1. To vote the local or state government.
2. To contest in the elections to the local or state government.
3. To seek a public welfare facility such as a school, hospital or a
community hall or transport or communication facility, for the
residents.
4. To establish a green and safe environment, pollution free,
corruption free, and to follow ethical principles.
• People are said to have the right to breathe in fresh air, by not
allowing smoking in public.
5. People have right to accept or reject a project in their area. One
has the right to seek legal remedy, in this respect, through public
interest petition.
Civic Virtues
 Civic Virtues
• Civic Knowledge
Citizens must understand what the Constitution says about how
the government is working, and what the government is
supposed to do and what not to do.
• Self-Restraint
For citizens to live in a free society with limited government
each citizen must be able to control otherwise, we would need a
police state—that is, a dictatorial government to maintain safety
and order.
Civic Virtues
• Self-Assertion
• Self-assertion means that citizens must be proud of their rights, and
have the courage to stand up in public and defend their rights.
• Self-Reliance
• Citizens who cannot provide for themselves will need a large
government to take care of them.
• Once citizens become dependent on government for their basic
needs, the people are no longer in a position to demand that
government act within the confines of the Constitution.
• Self-reliant citizens are free citizens in the sense that they are not
dependent on others for their basic needs.
RESPECT FOR OTHERS
 RESPECT FOR OTHERS
• This is a basic requirement for nurturing or to promote friendship, team
work.
1. Recognize and accept the existence of other persons as human beings,
because they have a right to live, just as you have.
2. Respect others’ ideas (decisions), words, and labor (actions). One need
not accept or approve or award them, but shall listen to them first. One can
correct or warn, if they commit mistakes. Appreciate colleagues and
subordinates on their positive actions.
3. Show ‘goodwill’ on others. Love others. Allow others to grow. Basically, the
goodwill reflects on the originator and multiplies itself on everybody.
LIVING PEACEFULLY
 LIVING PEACEFULLY
• To live peacefully, one should start install peace within (self). Charity begins at home.
Then one can spread peace to family, organization where one works, and then to the
world, including the environment.
1. Order in one’s life (self-regulation, discipline, and duty).
2. Pure thoughts in one’s soul (loving others, blessing others, friendly, and not criticizing
or hurting others by thought, word or deed).
3. Creativity in one’s head (useful and constructive).
4. Beauty in one’s heart (love, service, happiness, and peace).
5. Good health/body (physical strength for service).
6. Help the needy with head, heart, and hands (charity). Service to the poor is considered
holier than the service to God.
7. Not hurting and torturing others either physically, verbally, or mentally.
 LIVING PEACEFULLY
• The following are the factors that promote living, with internal and external peace:
1. Conducive environment (safe, ventilated, illuminated and comfortable).
2. Secured job and motivated with ‘recognition and reward’.
3. Absence of threat or tension by pressure due to limitations of money or time.
4. Absence of unnecessary interference or disturbance, except as guidelines.
5. Healthy labor relations and family situations.
6. Service to the needy (physically and mentally-challenged) with love and sympathy.
 CARING

• Caring is feeling for others.

• It is a process which exhibits the interest in, and support for, the
welfare of others with fairness, impartiality and justice in all
activities, among the employees, in the context of professional
ethics.
• It includes showing respect to the feelings of others, and also
respecting and preserving the interests of all others concerned.
• In the present day context, caring for the environment has become
a necessity for our very survival. If we do not care for the
environment, the environment will scare us.
Sharing
 SHARING

• Primarily, caring influences ‘sharing’. Sharing is a process that

describes the transfer of knowledge (teaching, learning, and
information), experience (training), commodities (material
possession) and facilities with others.
• The transfer should be genuine, legal, positive, voluntary, and
without any expectation in return. However, the proprietary
information it should not be shared with outsiders.
 SHARING
• Different Definitions
– For the humanity, ‘sharing’ is a culture. The ‘happiness and wealth’
are multiplied and the ‘crimes and sufferings’ are reduced, by
sharing. It paves the way for peace and obviates militancy.
– Philosophically, the sharing maximizes the happiness for all the
human beings.
– In terms of psychology, the fear, divide, and distrust between the
‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ disappear. Sharing not only paves the way to
prosperity, early and easily, and sustains it.
– Economically speaking, benefits are maximized as there is no
wastage or loss, and everybody gets one’s needs fulfilled and
satisfied.
Honesty
 Honesty
• Honesty is a virtue, and it is exhibited in two aspects namely,
(a) Truthfulness and
(b) Trustworthiness.
• Truthfulness is to face the responsibilities upon telling truth. One should keep one’s
word or promise.
• Reliable engineering judgment, maintenance of truth, defending the truth, and
communicating the truth, only when it does ‘good’ to others, are some of the
reflections of truthfulness.
• But trustworthiness is maintaining integrity and taking responsibility for personal
performance. People abide by law and live by mutual trust. They play the right way to
win, according to the laws or rules (legally and morally).
 Honesty
• some of the actions of an engineer that leads to dishonesty are:
1. Lying: Honesty implies avoidance of lying. An engineer may communicate
wrong. It is giving wrong information to the right people.
2. Deliberate deception: An engineer may judge or decide on matters one is not
familiar or
with insufficient data or proof, to impress upon the customers or employers
3. Withholding the information: It means hiding the facts during
communication to one’s superior or subordinate, intentionally or otherwise.
4. Not seeking the truth: Some engineers accept the information or data,
without applying their mind and seeking the truth.
5. Not maintaining confidentiality: It is giving right information to wrong
people. The engineers should keep information of their customers/clients or of
their employers confidential and should not discuss them with others.
COURAGE
 COURAGE
• Courage is the tendency to accept and face risks and difficult tasks in rational ways.
Self-confidence is the basic requirement to protect courage.
• Courage is classified into three types, based on the types of risks, namely
(a) Physical courage:
the thrust is of the physical strength, including the muscle power.

(b) Social courage:

courage involves the decisions and actions to change the order, This requires
leadership abilities, including sacrifice, motivate the followers, for the social cause.

(c) Intellectual courage.

is in people through acquired knowledge, experience, games, tactics, education,
and training. In professional ethics, courage is applicable to the employers, employees,
public, and the press.
 COURAGE
• The courageous people have following characteristics, in their
professions:
(a) Perseverance (sustained hard work),
(b) Experimentation (preparedness to face the challenges, that is,
unexpected results),
(c) Involvement (attitude, clear and firm resolve to act)
(d) Commitment (willing to get into action and to reach the desired
goals).
VALUING TIME
 VALUING TIME
• Time is rare resource. Once it is spent, it is lost for ever. It can not be either
stored or recovered.
• Hence, time is the most valuable resource too. This resource is continuously
spent, whether any decision or action is taken or not.
• The history of great reformers stressed the importance of time and valuing
time.
 VALUING TIME
• To highlight the ‘value of time’ is as follows:
• To realize the value of one year, ask the student who has failed in the
examinations;.
• To realize the value of one month, ask the mother who has delivered a
premature baby;
• to realize the value of one week, ask the editor of weekly;
• to realize the value of one day, ask the daily-wage laborer;
• to realize now the value of one hour, ask the lovers longing to meet;
• to realize the value of one minute, ask a person who has missed the train;
to realize the value of one second, ask the person who has survived an
accident;
• to realize the value one milli second, ask the person who has won the
bronze medal in Olympics;
• to realize the value of one micro second, ask the NASA team of scientists;
• to realize the value of one nano-second, ask a Hardware engineer!
COOPERATION
 CO-OPERATION

• It is a team-spirit present with every individual engaged in engineering.

• Co-operation is activity between two persons or sectors that aims at integration of operations.
• Willingness to understand others, think and act together and putting this into practice, is co-
operation.
• Cooperation promotes collinearity, coherence (blend), co-ordination (activities linked in sequence
or priority) .
• It helps in minimizing the input resources (including time) and maximizes the outputs, which
include quantity, quality, effectiveness, and efficiency.
• According to professional ethics, cooperation should exist or be developed, and maintained, at
several levels- between the employers and employees, between the superiors and subordinates,
among the colleagues, between the organization and customers.
 COOPERATION
• The absence of cooperation leads to lack of communication, misinformation,
void in communication, and undue delay between supply, production,
marketing, and consumption.
• This is likely to demoralize and frustrate the employees, leading to collapse
of the industry over time and an economic loss to the society.
• The barriers to successful cooperation are:
1. Clash of ego of individuals.
2. Lack of leadership and motivation.
3. Conflicts of interests, based on region, religion, language, and caste.
4. Ignorance and lack of interest.
By careful planning, motivation, leadership, fostering and rewarding team
work, professionalism and mutual understanding ‘cooperation’ can be
developed and also sustained.
 COMMITMENT
• Commitment means alignment to goals to ethical principles during
the activities.
• First of all, one must believe in one’s action performed and the
expected end results (confidence).
• It is the driving force to realize success.
• This is a basic requirement for any profession. For example, a design
engineer shall sense of commitment, to make his product or project
designed a beneficial contribution to the society.
• Only when the teacher (Guru) is committed to his job, the students
will succeed in life and contribute ‘good’ to the society.
Empathy
 Empathy
• Empathy is social radar. Sensing what others feel about, without their open
talk.
• Empathy begins with showing concern, and then obtaining and understanding
the feelings of others, from others’ point of view.
• It includes the imaginative projection into other’s feelings and understanding
of other’s background such as parentage, physical and mental state, economic
situation, and association.
• This is an essential ingredient for good human relations and transactions
 Empathy
• To practice ‘Empathy’, a leader must have or develop in him, the following
characteristics:
1. Understanding others: It means sensing others feelings and perspectives,
and taking active interest in their welfare.
2. Service orientation: It is anticipation, recognition and meeting the needs of
the clients or customers.
3. Developing others: This means identification of their needs and bolstering
their abilities.
In developing others, the one should inculcate in him the ‘listening skill’ first.
Communication = 22% reading and writing + 23% speaking + 55% listening.
4. Leveraging diversity (opportunities through diverse people): This leads to
enhanced organizational learning, flexibility, and profitability.
5. Political awareness: It is the ability to read political and social currents in an
organization.
 Empathy
• The benefits of empathy:
1. Good customer relations
2. Harmonious labor relations
3. Good vendor-producer relationship (in partnering.)
• Through the above three, we can maximize the
output and profit, as well as minimizing the loss.
• Empathy assists one in developing courage leading to
success!
SELF-CONFIDENCE
 SELF-CONFIDENCE
• Certainty in one’s own capabilities, values, and goals, is self-
confidence.
• These people are usually positive thinking, flexible and willing to
change.
• They respect others so much as they respect themselves.
• Self-confidence is positive attitude, wherein the individual has
some positive and realistic view of himself, with respect to the
situations in which one gets involved.
 SELF-CONFIDENCE
• The self-confidence in a person develops a sense of partnership,
respect, and accountability, and this helps the organization to obtain
maximum ideas, efforts, and guidelines from its employees.
• The people with self-confidence have the following characteristics:
1. A self-assured standing,
2. Willing to listen to learn from others and adopt (flexibility),
3. Frank to speak the truth, and
4. respect others’ efforts and give due credit.
 SELF-CONFIDENCE
• The factors that shape self-confidence in a person are:
1. Heredity (attitudes of parents) and family environment (elders),
2. Friendship (influence of friends/colleagues),
3. Influence of superiors/role models, and
4. Training in the organization
The following methodologies are effective in developing self-confidence in
a person:
• 1. Encouraging SWOT analysis. By evaluating their strength and
weakness, they can anticipate and be prepared to face the results.
• 2. Training to evaluate risks and face them (self-acceptance).
• 3. Self-talk . It is conditioning the mind for preparing the self to act,
without any doubt on his capabilities.
• 4. Study and group discussion.
 CHALLENGES IN THE WORK PLACE

• The biggest workplace challenge is said to be the employee’s

work ethics:
• showing up to work everyday (interest in work and
attendance), showing up to work on time (punctuality), taking
pride in the quality of their work, commitment to the job, and
getting along with others.
• This situation demands of good character in the workplace by
employees
 CHALLENGES IN THE WORK PLACE - Character
• It is a characteristic property that defines the behavior of an individual.
• Character includes attributes that determine a person’s moral and ethical
actions and responses.
• It is also the ground on which morals and values blossom.
• Character is determined by the expectations of society.
• Character is the expression of the personality of a human being, and that it
reveals itself in one’s conduct. In this sense every human has a character.
 CHALLENGES IN THE WORK PLACE - The Four
Temperaments
• The native element in character with which the individual starts life is
practically identical with what the Ancients recognized as temperament.
• From the times of Hippocrates, they distinguished four main types of
temperaments: the Sanguine, the Choleric, the Phlegmatic, and the
Melancholic.
• These different types of temperaments are accounted for differences in
physiological conditions of the tissues of the body, by diverse rates of
activities in the processes of nutrition.
CHALLENGES IN THE WORK PLACE - The Four
Temperaments
 Building Character in the Workplace

• Managers have to influence and employ creative means of

stressing the importance of good character in the workplace,
in the following ways:
• Employee Hiring, Training, and Promotion Activities
Institute and adopt an organization policy statement to
positive character in the workplace. For example, commitment
to civility pledges. This may be communicated through printing
on the back of the business cards of the employees.
 Six pillars of character
• The six pillars of character are the ethical values, such as:
trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and
citizenship.
• Respect means showing high regard for self, others, authority,
property and country.
• It includes showing appreciation for cultural diversity by valuing
all people as human beings
 Building Character in the Workplace
• Responsibility is
(i) being accountable for one’s actions,
(ii) being dependable in carrying out obligations and duties,
(iii) being reliable and consistent in word and action, and
(iv) being committed to community development.
• Integrity or fairness means showing the inner strength and courage to be
truthful, trustworthy, fair and honest in all things.
• Caring means being kind, considerate, courteous, helpful, friendly to others,
• Citizenship means accepting and adopting civic rights and duties as a citizen
of the country.
 Building Character in the Workplace
• (e) Institute recognition and reward system for the employees
who exemplify the positive character. for example, awards and
medals.
• (f) Think of your employees, especially the younger ones, as
people whose personal and work values will be influenced by
what you expect of them and how you treat them.
• (g) Think of your employees as present or future mentors,
coaches, and volunteers.
SPIRITUALITY
 SPIRITUALITY
• This is said to be the great virtue of Indian philosophy
and for Indians.
• Sometimes, spirituality includes the faith or belief in
supernatural power/ God, regarding the worldly
events. It functions as a fertilizer for the soil ‘character’
to blossom into values and morals
• Spirituality includes creativity, communication,
recognition of the individual as human,respect to
others, acceptance (stop finding faults with colleagues
and accept them the way they are),
 SPIRITUALITY
• Spirituality is motivation as it encourages the colleagues to
perform better. Remember, lack of motivation leads to isolation.
• Spirituality is also energy: Be energetic and flexible to adapt to
challenging mind changing situations.
• Spirituality is flexibility as well. One should not be too
dominating. Make space for everyone and learn to recognize and
accept people the way they are.
• Spirituality is also fun. Working is okay, but you also need to have
fun in office to keep yourself charged up.
• Tolerance and empathy are the reflections of spirituality. Blue and
saffron colors are said to be associated with spirituality.
 SPIRITUALITY
• Creativity in spirituality means conscious efforts to
see things differently, to break out of habits and find
new ways of thinking, doing and being.
• People are naturally creative. When they are forced to
crush their creativity, its energy turns to destructive
release and actions. .
• When people enjoy what they do, it is involvement.
They work much harder
Spirituality in the Workplace
 Spirituality in the Workplace
• Building spirituality in the workplace: Spirituality is promoted in the
workplace to the following activities:
1. Verbally respect the individuals as humans and recognize their values in
all decisions and actions.
2. Get to know the people with whom you work and know what is
important to them. Know their goals, desires, and dreams too.
3. State your personal ethics and your beliefs clearly.
4. Support causes outside the business.
6. Demonstrate your own self-knowledge and spirituality in all your actions.
7. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.(golden rule: treat
people the way you would like other people treat you)
 Spirituality for Corporate Excellence

• The spiritual traits to be developed for excellence in corporate

activities are listed as follows:
1. Self-awareness — Realization of self-potentialneeds to be
developed.
2. Alertness - in observation and quickness in decision making.
3. Being visionary and value based — This includes an attitude
towards future of the organization and the society, with clear
objectives.
4. Holism - Holistic thinking, which means the welfare of the self,
family, organization and the society including all other living beings
and environment.
5. Compassion — Sympathy, empathy and concern for others. These
are essential for not only building the team but also for its effective
functioning.
 Spirituality for Corporate Excellence
6. Respect for diversity — It means search for unity in diversity i.e., respect others
and their views.
7. Moral Autonomy — It means action based on rational and moral judgment.
One need not follow the crowd or majority.
8. Creative thinking and constant reasoning — Think if we can do something new
and if we can improve further?
9. Positive views of adversity — Make adversities one’s source of power—a typical
Karma yogi’s outlook! Every threat is converted into opportunity.
10. Humility — The attitude to accept criticism (it requires courage!) and willing to
correct.
11. Sense of vocation — Treat the duty as a service to society, besides your
organization