Engineering : The Ethics Of Engineering And Ethics In Engineering

Look around you, anything from the chair that you are sitting on to the phone in your pocket existed thanks to an engineer. We currently live in a world sculpted by the work of technologic professionals. As the significance of the choices made by engineers increases, it has become more and more important to ensure that these choices are ethically correct.Through analysis of Eric Katz’s Nazi Engineers, it is clear that societies ethics ultimately determine the direction in which society moves.

In Normative Ethics there are three distinct schools of thought, and each differentiate through moral intentions. Consequentialism relies on the consequences of an action in order to distinguish whether or not something is morally acceptable. Deontology considers the morality of an action by one’s reason for doing a certain deed. Lastly, virtue ethics bases morality off of virtuous character, and how a virtuous person would act given a certain predicament. Ultimately, consequentialism provides the most practical explanation for morality due to the notion of providing the best possible result. Contrarily, deontology and virtue ethics do not always provide an individual with the most sensible course of action, and therefore prove to be

The Hippocratic Oath and Engineering code of ethics have both been regarded as the standard for medical and engineering professionals to conduct themselves morally, and professionally to assure that the decisions and activities made are guided by certain principles and values. (Hendon and French, 2016) Both the Hippocratic Oath and Engineering code of ethics emphasize the importance of the duties and responsibilities of professionals in regards to the safety and health of humans, providing services within areas of expertise, being truthful, hold confidential information, and being accountable for professional services provided.

With the constant discovery of scientific principles and new engineering designs, the responsibility often lies in the hands of engineers to decide what is in the best interest of the public. Millions of people around the world use products and structures developed by engineers, every day. Before accepting work from a client, it is important that engineers have a good understanding of their own personal limitations. If work is accepted that they are “not competent to perform by virtue of [their] training and experience” , there is a clear disregard for public welfare and potential for a serious safety hazard. It is again evident that the

When engineers design a product many things go in to the decision making process when it comes to selecting materials, design, and the manufacturing processes. One concern that has always been in the decision making process is trying to make sure the outcome will always be ethically good, although this isn’t always the case. Try as they might, no person is perfect, and accidents do happen. When engineering disasters happen there are many factors that may be involved, such as human factors, design flaws, extreme conditions, and materials failures. When these things do happen it is important to look at the ethical aspect of each part of the failure and

Industrial Engineers often face the ethical dilemma of attempting to balance costs with quality and safety. Company management pressures Industrial systems engineers to design processes that are cost efficient, time constrained, and produce a high quality output. This puts the engineer in a tricky balancing act in which they are trying to make every stakeholder happy. Taking risks in order to create cost efficient solutions is not specific to only industrial engineers but applies to all disciplines of engineering, making this topic a relevant discussion. However, this conflict is especially true in a manufacturing setting where industrial engineers thrive, machine operators are often overworked, companies make products in high stakes, large batches, and the range of quality acceptance is growing ever smaller. A relevant example is the engineer who was designing a chemical plant in Mexico. In order to achieve the correct viscosity of the paint stripper, the engineer asked the plant operator to babysit the chemical mixture and manually release the valve when necessary. Engineering management’s decision puts the plant worker at a safety risk in order to achieve a tighter quality and standardization of the chemical stripper production process. Ultimately, this resulted in the catastrophic death of the plant worker and the destruction of the plant.

Engineers are trusted individuals which the public has set high standards for. The public relies on engineers to efficiently, and accurately determine the safety of all products they create. Engineers are required to follow safety procedures in order to ensure the quality of the products they create. However, are these procedures enough to ensure the safety of the public? Or can additional actions be taken in order to improve the safety of a product? If so, to what extent should engineers be required to take matters into their own hands and ensure the safety of products, in return reducing the number of injuries and fatal accidents?

As mentioned above, it is very important for engineers to understand their own responsibilities. In 1960, the Conference of Engineering Societies of Western Europe and the United States of America defined "professional engineer" as follows:1 “A professional engineer is competent by virtue of his/her fundamental education and training to apply the scientific method and outlook to the analysis

There are many ethical dilemmas that an industrial engineer may face throughout their career. One major dilemma would be having to lay someone off because of a change you may have made to a process to make it more efficient. Industrial engineers are always trying to find a more efficient way of doing something, whether it’s in a factory, in an office, or the route of a delivery driver. Sometimes these things aren’t always as simple as they may seem. There are often consequences to these seemingly simple changes. People can and do get laid off because of a change to a process.

Ethics is the moral behavior that guides our actions; it motivates us in our personal behavior and is relevant in a business setting as well. Many organizations have set forth a set of guidelines known as a “Code of Ethics”. The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, being one of these organizations, has set forth their code as a requirement for students and engineer members to adhere to. Heading towards a career in electrical engineering I choose this organization to elaborate on for my ethics project.

This guide is available as an abridged published document, and as a full set of case studies available online, including an in-depth discussion of the place of ethics in engineering. It is our intention to update and add to the case studies over time, reflecting the changes in technology and society that affect engineering ethics. Ethics, like engineering, is a practical subject, and its exercise is in debate and discussion. We hope that these case studies are used to stimulate discussion between engineers, to help individuals, and the profession as a whole, to advance their understanding of the ethical issues in engineering. How to use this guide The purpose of this guide is to supplement the SEP with discussions, clarifications and illustrative personal experiences that will bring the ethical issues in engineering to life. The guide is also intended to

The following outline will help me write my essay about how engineers are faced with the ethical and moral issues of bribery in the industry. I chose this issue because it is a topic that speaks close to me. I have been put into many situations at work and during internships where I ask myself whether it is a bribe or if it is just networking. This essay will not only discuss the issue of bribery in the industry but help me further understand how to analyze certain scenarios if I am offered something else in the future.

Ethics by definition are defined as a set of moral rules of conduct that are accepted by general public and should be obeyed by everyone. Ethics are essential to the architecture of a modern dynamic society and play a vital part in engineering or any other businesses. Ethics provide guidance to humans to pursue a course of action correctively in specific situations, and prevent us from the ones that would have negative or drastic consequences. Ethics clarifies what is good and bad on the basis of moral principle or values. Regardless of which particular field the engineer is in (e.g. civil, electrical or mechanical), their main liability and responsibility are to ensure the health, safety, and general welfare of the public are protected to the highest level possible. Since almost the work done by engineers can have great impact on almost all aspects of our daily life, any design schemes or implementations that are made by engineers must meet the highest standard to ensure that no damages or potential damages to any resource, people, organization or environment will exist. Many organizations, like the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) have established a set of code of ethics to

Several cases have led to an awareness of the importance of ethics within the engineering profession as engineers realize how their technical work has far-reaching impacts on society. The work of engineers can affect public health and safety and can influence business practices and even politics.’’(Fledderman,2004)

To the ASME, improving the general welfare of society through the utilization of the specialized skills of engineers is highly stressed. One must consider the possible consequences of actions and decide the best course of action to benefit the safety and health of the public. The ASME