EHM3066: Engineers & Society - Chapter 5: Ethics & Professionalism

Ethics & Professionalism

Part 1: Ethics & Integrity

Presentation Outline
  • Definitions of ethics and integrity.
  • Ethical concepts.
  • Case Study 1.
  • Case Study 2.
Definitions: Ethics
  • Ethics: A system of accepted beliefs that control behavior, especially one based on morals (Cambridge International English Dictionary).
  • Moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity (Oxford Dictionary).
  • A study of what is morally right and what is not (Cambridge International English Dictionary).
  • A moral philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts (systems of ideas) of right and wrong behavior.
  • The science of determining, defending, promoting, justifying, and suggesting answers to questions of moral concepts.
    • What is right? What is wrong?
    • How should we live and treat one another?
    • How can we know or decide?
    • Where do our ethical ideas come from?
    • What are rights? Who or what has them?
    • Should we coerce one another?
    • Can we find an ethical system that applies to everyone?
    • What do we mean by duty and justice?
Definitions: Professional Ethics
  • Ethics to improve professionalism.
  • A set of moral values and principles which form the accepted standards that guide the code of conduct of individuals, organizations, and professions.
  • A shared understanding of proper conduct guidelines among a group of people associated by means of their profession.
  • Allows diverse, multidisciplinary, multicultural teams to work towards common goals.
Definitions: Integrity
  • Integrity: The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles that you refuse to change (Cambridge International English Dictionary).
  • The state of being whole and undivided (Oxford English Dictionary).
  • Provides opportunity for superior service and performance at the individual, group, and organizational level.
  • It gives strength and confidence to behavioral standard of morality and ethics, and legality.
  • It is about being morally upright (complies with moral standards) & steadfastly honest.
  • Quality of excellence that manifests as a holistic and integral manner in individuals and organizations.
Moral Philosophy
  • Theory of Ethics: Studies on the issues concerning moral standards and the right or wrong of a decision (based on the moral codes employed) can be broadly categorized into:
    • Metaethics
    • Normative Ethics
    • Applied Ethics
Moral Philosophy: Meta-Ethics
  • Metaethics: Was created upon a belief that the undefined words of ethics and morals were sufficiently enough understood by all people, and that somehow it should be possible to discover the nature of right and wrong through the existing definitions of right and wrong. (http://www.ethicsmorals.com/metaethics.html)
Moral Philosophy: Normative Ethics
  • Normative Ethics:
    • How do we accept and live a moral standard of right or wrong conduct?
      • Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
      • Don't do unto others what you don't want others to do unto you.
    • Several theories considered:
      • Ethical Relativism
      • Utilitarianism
      • Duty Ethics and Rights Ethics
      • Virtue Ethics
Normative Ethics: Ethical Relativism
  • Ethical Relativism:
    • Cultures differ widely in their moral practices. Morality is relative to the norms of one's culture. Ethics is relative to one's own society or organization.
    • No accepted, universal definition of a right and wrong conduct. Examples:
      • Is kissing in public acceptable?
      • Is holding hands of the same gender acceptable?
      • Is homosexuality ethical? Is abortion of baby ethical?
    • Discussion: What are the advantages and disadvantages to subscribe to the concept of ethical relativism?
Normative Ethics: Ethical Utilitarianism
  • Ethical Utilitarianism:
    • Actions are good if it serves to maximize human well-being.
      • Cost Benefit analysis to Utilitarianism
    • The emphasis in utilitarianism is not on maximizing the well-being of the individual, but the well-being of society and as such it is a collectivist approach.
    • Utilitarianism does not care whether the benefits are produced by lies, manipulation, or coercion.
      • e.g., The building of a dam is acceptable although it disrupts the ecology and local households since it benefits society with drinking water and avoiding floods. Discuss.
    • Discussion: What are the advantages and disadvantages of subscribing to the concept of Utilitarianism?
Normative Ethics: Duty Ethics & Rights Ethics
  • Duty Ethics & Rights Ethics:
    • Based on the notion that good actions are those that respect the rights of others.
    • Good consequences for society are not the only moral consideration.
    • Duty Ethics holds that people have duties, an important one of which is to protect and respect the rights of others.
    • Right Ethics has the view that people have fundamental rights that other people have a duty to respect.
Normative Ethics: Virtue Ethics
  • Virtue Ethics:
    • Morality stems from the identity and character of the individual, rather than being a reflection of the actions (or consequences thereof) of the individual.
    • A moral distinction and goodness. A virtuous person exhibits good and beneficial qualities.
    • Fundamentally, virtue ethics is interested in determining what kind of people we should be.
    • In virtue ethics, actions are considered right if they support good character traits (virtues) and wrong if they support bad character traits (vices).
    • Suggest examples of virtues.
Applied Ethics
  • What is applied ethics?
Applied Ethics: Classification of Applied Ethics
  • Classification of Applied Ethics:
    • In general, two features are necessary for an issue to be considered an "applied ethical issue."
    • In theory, resolving particular applied ethical issues should be easy.
    • In recent years applied ethical issues have been subdivided into convenient groups to help improve organizations and social issues.
    • These groupings can be any of the following six main domains.
Resolving Ethical Issue
  • Recognize & understand the Issue
  • Get the Facts
  • Evaluate Alternative Action
  • Make a Decision and Test It
  • Act and Reflect on the Outcome
  • Reference: http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/making.pdf
Case Study 1: Lying
  • XYZ Corporation permits its employees to borrow company tools. Engineer Lim took full advantage of this privilege. He went one step further and ordered tools for his unit that would be useful for his home building projects even though they were of no significant use to his unit at XYZ.
  • Engineer Kumarajah had suspected for some time that Lim was ordering tools for personal rather than company use, but he had no unambiguous evidence until he overheard a revealing conversation between Lim and Salman, a contract salesman from whom Lim frequently purchased tools.
  • Kumarajah was reluctant to directly confront Lim. They had never gotten along well, and Lim was a senior engineer who wielded a great deal of power over Kumarajah in their unit. Kumarajah was also reluctant to discuss the matter with the chief engineer of their unit, in whom he had little confidence or trust.
  • Eventually Kumarajah decided to talk with the Finance Officer, whose immediate response was, "This really stinks." The officer agreed not to reveal that Kumarajah had talked with him. He then called the chief engineer, indicating only that a reliable source had informed him about Lim's inappropriate purchases. In turn, the chief engineer confronted Lim. Finally, Lim directly confronted each of the engineers in his unit he thought might have complained against him. When Lim questioned Kumarajah, Kumarajah denied any knowledge of what took place.
  • Later Kumarajah explained to his wife, "I was forced to lie. I told Lim, 'I don't know anything about this'."
Case Study 1: Questions
  • Do you think it was ethical for Kumarajah to lie? Discuss.
  • Was it ethical for Lim to put pressure on his staff? Discuss.
  • What would be an alternative to Kumarajah's action? Discuss.
Case Study 2: Rail Tracks
  • A group of 10 children are playing on an active rail track near a railway station where every now and then, there will be a train passes through the track.
  • There is another lone child playing on another dead rail track nearby (the track is no more in use for a long time) at the same time.
  • There is a train coming. The captain that mans the train see the group of 10 children playing on the rail track and he warns them by sounding off the siren but they ignore the warning.
  • He wants to deviate the train's path to the dead track but he sees the lone child is also on that dead track.
  • The captain now has to make a decision.
  • If the train continues to go its way, he has no choice but to run over and kill most of the 10 children who are oblivious to his warning and obviously violate the rules of not playing on a live track.
  • If the train deviates to the dead track, he would have no choice but kill the only child playing on that dead track where that child is actually innocent and not wrong as he is all right to play on a track that no more train is supposed to pass through anymore.
Case Study 2: Questions
  • Based on the ethical theories you learned, discuss what should be your decision and why, if you are the captain?