1. HS3050: Professional Ethics
SATYA SUNDAR SETHY, Ph.D.
Dept. of Humanities & Social Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Chennai , India

2. Science and Engineering Ethics : Journal
Books and Journal
Harris, C. E., Pritchard, M. S., Rabins, M,J. (2009). Engineering Ethics: Concepts and Cases. USA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning Publication.
Sethy, S.S. (Ed.)(2015). Contemporary Ethical Issues in Engineering. USA: IGI Global Publication.
Science and Engineering Ethics : Journal

3. Important Information
1.10th January th January 2017
3. 24th January st January 2017
5. 7th February th February 2017
7. 21st February th February 2017
9. 7th March 2017   14th March 2017 
11. 21st March 2017   4th April 2017
13. 11th April 2017
END SEM EXAM: 18th April 2017.

4. Objectives of this course
A trio
PROFESSIONAL
ETHICS
ENGINEERS
ENGINEERING
SOCIETY

5. What is Ethics?
Ethics
Morality encompasses the first-order beliefs and practices about good and evil by which we guide our behaviour.
Ethics is the second-order, reflective consideration of our moral beliefs and practices (Hinman, 2003; Baura, 2006)
Meta-ethics: What is the meaning of ‘good’?
Normative Ethics: It develops theories and models for how we ought to treat each other.
Applied Ethics: It centers on the resolution of scientific ethical problems.
Metaethics
Normative Ethics
Applied Ethics

6. What is Applied Ethics? Ethics Normative Ethics Metaethics
Etc.
Bioethics
Professional Ethics
Business ethics
Environment Ethics
Legal ethics
Medical ethics
Accounting ethics
Engineering ethics

7. What is Engineering Ethics?
Engineering ethics is the study of the moral values, issues, and decisions involved in engineering practice (Schinzinger & Martin, 2000).
Engineering ethics as much a part of what engineers in particularly know as factors of safety, testing procedures, or ways to design for reliability, durability, or economy (Harris, C.E., et al, 1996,p.93).
Engineering practices revolve around 03 variables; cost, schedule, and quality. A little compromise in one component affect others.

8. Occupation Vs. Profession
Carpenter
Goldsmith
Builder
Handicraft worker
Tailor??
Bank officer??
Television anchor??
Etc.
Individual choice
Not having code of ethics
Engineers
Doctors
Lawyer, etc.
Professors??
Social recognition
A member of a profession is expected/ anticipated others’ behaviour on a certain situation.
Morally permissible standards

9. Who is a Professional? Professional responsibilities for engineers
Criteria to consider someone as a professional (Sociological)
-- Extensive training
-- Vital knowledge and skills
-- Control of services
-- Autonomy in the workplace
-- Know the ethical regulations (Harris, C., et al., 2003, pp.2-3)
Professional responsibilities for engineers
*** Concern for public safety
*** Technical Competence
*** Timely communication of positive and negative results to management

10. Ethics Vs. Professional Ethics
Each and every rational person
Don’t lie
Don’t kill, steal, cheat to others, so on
Exception of these moral rules and standards
Self-defense (may kill others)
Moral permissible standards of conduct that ideally every member of a profession wants every other member to follow, even if that would mean having to do the same (Harris, C.E., et al, 1996).
Engineering ethics as much a part of what engineers in particularly know as factors of safety, testing procedures, or ways to design for reliability, durability, or economy (p.93).

11. Objectives of Engineer Ethics Education
Stimulate the ethical imagination of students
Assist students recognize ethical issues
Help students analyze key ethical concepts & principles
Help students deal with ambiguity
Encourage students to take ethics seriously
Enhance student sensitivity to ethical issues
Escalate student knowledge of relevant standards
Improve ethical judgment
Proliferate ethical will power (Harris, et al,1996)

12. Continue.. All these objectives can be brought under three categories.
Emotional engagement
Intellectual engagement
Particular engagement
---Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ethics code-1946
--- National Institute of Engineering Ethics (NIEE)
--- National Society of Professional Engineers-1912
--These ethical codes may serve as the formal basis for investigating unethical behaviour.

13. Who is an Engineer? Operating diesel locomotive???
Received degree in mechanical engineering and got license to work on diesel engines.
Genetic engineers???
Physicists do some works as engineers do???
Scientists??
What is engineering?—Engineering will be what engineers at the time in question typically do that members of other occupation don’t (Davis, 2001, p.386)

14. Engineering Ethics & Some Ethical Theories
Utilitarianism
Duty Ethics
Rights Ethics
Virtue Ethics
A fictional Situation:
-- A company, 01 CEO, 04 VPs (Executive Committee)
-- The VP of Engineering: manages the design and testing of new product (Mr. Hariprasad)
-- The VP of Operation: is responsible for managing the manufacture and delivery of products

15. Continue..
-- Mr. Vivek (hardware manager-cum-engineer) and Mr. Chandran (software manager-cum-engineer) need to report to Mr. Hariprasad
-- Mr. Vivek is responsible for designing and testing the electronic circuits along with his engineering staff.
-- Mr. Chandran has assigned the task of designing and testing the software along with his engineering staff.
-- Mr. Vivek gave 03 information to the CEO
i) the announcement of transfer was false
ii) the product is still not ready to transfer
iii) A product recall may occur unless adequate testing is completed.

16. Utilitarianism
The morality of an action is decided based on the assessment of its consequences.
Jerry Bentham: maximized pleasure and minimized pain
J.S.Mill: to maximize happiness & to minimize pain.
Utilitarian Decision:
Mr. Vivek needs to pay a huge price for telling the CEO that Mr. Hariprasad is wrong in his announcement.
This may ruined the relationship between Mr.Vivek and Mr.Hariprasad. It may affect the relationship between the CEO of the company and Mr. Hariprasad.
However, suppressing the information and not telling to the CEO may cost the company to bear a huge amount of money as a compensation fee. Further, the customer will get affected by it.

17. Continue..
Using utilitarianism, Mr. Vivek is obliged to tell the CEO that the product is not ready to transfer to the manufacturing department.
Duty Ethics:
Immanuel Kant is propounded this theory.
On his view, an action is moral:
If it is conducted for the sake of duty
If its maxim can be willed as a universal law
If it treats human beings respectfully.
--- Kant said that we need to treat others as an end, but never simply as a means to an end.
--- For a maxim to be considered universal, it must be consistent, impartial, and fair.

18. Continue.. Duty Ethics Decision:
Mr. Vivek is bound by duty to protect the quality of the products his company produces
The maxim of producing high quality products that are not recalled may be considered universal.
Company customers deserve to receive high quality products as it is advertised.
--- Using duty ethics, Mr. Vivek is obliged to tell the CEO that the product is not ready to transfer to manufacturing unit. The consequences of this action are immaterial.
Rights Ethics:
Rights and duties are inalienably related with each other.
One can claim his/her rights only when (s)he does his/her duties.

19. Continue.. Negative duty (Misuse of right to free speech act)
Positive duty (Right to get the basic health care)
Natural rights (The supreme reality sanctions- come to us with our birth, e.g. ability to think, reflecting on our decisions, etc.)
Human rights (consciously earned by performing duties)
Rights Ethics Decisions:
Mr. Vivek has the right to tell the CEO that Mr. Hariprasad is wrong about the product, much as Mr. Hariprasad had the right to announce product completion by . The concept of product recall is immaterial to this discussion. Using rights ethics, Mr. Vivek is obliged to tell the CEO that the product is not ready to transfer to the manufacturing unit.

20. Continue.. Virtue Ethics: Aristotle advocates this theory.
It says morality is not related to action, but to virtue.
Virtue is a quality of soul involving both feeling and action to seek the mean in all the things related to us.
Virtue leads to happiness.
Virtue Ethics Decision:
Mr. Vivek’s concern were about the faulty product and the consequences after its use by public
His courage(virtue) requires to tell the CEO about Mr. Hariprasad’s decision (otherwise, it will be like RAY-Yamaha)
He seeks the mean between Mr. Hariprasad underestimation of the danger of a recall and overestimation of this danger.

21. Five Questions about Engineering ethics
What is engineering ethics?
Why should it be emphasized in engineering education?
How should it be taught?
When should it appear in the students’ education?
Teaching engineering ethics is part of teaching engineering.

22. Why should it be emphasized in engineering education?
Long list of Disasters, tragedies, scandals
Something should be done to protect all these bad things to happen- eruption of engineering ethics
Conscience is not enough to practice engineering and take a decision
Engineering code of ethics
Learning from some of the unfortunate mistakes
Despite a few engineers misfortune immoral decisions, national surveys usually place engineers near the top of the list in regard to the public confidence in the ethics of profession (The Gallup Poll Monthly, 1992, p.3).
---- LIC building of Chennai, India

23. What should be the common goals of engineering ethics education?
To stimulate the ethical imagination of students
To assist students to recognize ethical issues
Conflict of interest vs. conflict of commitment
conflicting roles vs. conflicting obligations
To help students to analyze the key ethical concepts and principles that are relevant to the particular profession
Public health & safety, usefulness, efficiency, quality, cost-risk-benefit analysis, damaging the environment, truthfulness, etc.
To help students to deal with ethical disagreement, ambiguity, and vagueness.
To encourage students to take ethical responsibility seriously

24. Significance of teaching engineering ethics (EE)
Make the engineers understood that ethical responsibility should be a central concern of engineering profession and practices.
Teaching EE can increase student knowledge of relevant standards.
Knowledge of standards includes more than just knowing what is written in codes or handbooks.
Danger of partial knowledge on codes of ethics
Teaching EE helps students to improve their ethical judgments
Teaching EE can accelerate the students’ ethical will-power.

25. How should it be taught? By using case studies
By adopting different modes of ethical analysis
-- Drawing the line (Gift giving and bribery)
--Conflict of interest (obligation towards employee & public safety and welfare)
--Trade secrets and Industrial Espionage
By analyzing different concepts those found recursively in EE.
When should it be taught?
Before earning a particular degree
Before granting license to an engineer
Etc..

26. The Challenger Disaster
January 27, 1986 (the day before the space shuttle explosion)
Robert Lund: Vice-president of Engineering at Morton Thiokol
Jerald Mason (Boss of Robert Lund)
Jerald Mason– communicated to –space centre
Expecting the postponement – the space center’s safety record was good
Good: needs the approval of all technical people
Lund did not agree for its launch

27. The reasons for its denial
The temperature at the launch site was freezing
The ice was forming on the boosters
The worry– “O-Rings” sealing on the booster segments
O-rings were not perfect.
The technical explanation says, “at a certain temperature, the rings could lose so much resiliency that one could fail to seal properly. If a ring failed in flight the shuttle could explode”.
07 astronauts’ life are at stake
Lund was surprised- notice for the launch of shuttle
The committee did not say anything to Lund, and why should they?

28. Continue..
It was understood that- president will take the credit, earned name and fame through media, good publicity, etc.
The ethical dilemma was the space center wanted to launch the shuttle but they need engineers’ approval.
Joseph Kilminster (Vice-PRESIDENT) – requested Jerald Mason to reconsider his decision (agreed later)
Mason--- Lund to reexamine the issue. It is so because the vice president is ready to sign besides he needs the Lund’s approval.
Think like a manager rather than an engineer
Lund changed his mind and signed the document.
In the next day the shuttle was exploded during the lift-off time and 07 astronauts killed.

29. Moral Questions
Should Lund have reserved his decision and approved the launch?
Should it be rational for an engineer to think like a manager when public is at stake?
Manager vs. Engineer
M: trained to handle people
E: trained to handle things
Lund was advised to focus on people rather than things
How best to handle his boss, the space center, and his own engineers?
He was to act much as he would have acted had he never earned a degree in engineering.

30. Why do we obey the professional code?
Oath, Vow, Pledge, etc.
Quasi-contract (against violation, there will be legal action)
It is an obligation for a professional to abide the codes of professional ethics while doing the professional tasks.
Interpreting the code of ethics
Does public include the 07 astronauts?
Some case studies for you to reflect upon them.

31. Real World Problems
Infants Under Pressure (Sam Wilson & MedTech company)
Using Other People’s Software (Jim Warren & NewSoft company)
Not Lighting Up (Will Morgan & a state university of USA)
Air Bags (Bob Baines & an automobile company)
Flight is also Risky (Ralph Sims & SuperCom company)

32. For next class.
Can one be made ‘rational’ by possessing some information about his/her professional code of ethics?
Can one be considered as ‘moral being’ by virtue of his/her mere understanding of good and bad actions?
Case Studies
-- Hyatt Regency Skywalk collapse
--- Deepwater horizon disaster
--- Chennai multistoried building mishap

33. Chennai Multistoried building mishap
11-storey building under construction collapsed in 28th June, 2014 near Porur, Tamil Nadu.
71 died, 43 injured (Identified & unidentified individuals)
Who is (are) responsible for this incident?
How to fix responsibility and accountability?
Builder, developer, building plan designer, building plan approval authority, and the workers

34. Reasons for Mishap
Soil tests- the building is constructed on unsafe ground
Prime Sristi’s board members, Manoharan and his son Muthu are taken to custody.
The Workmen’s compensation Act (1923)
Prime Sristi did not register with DISH (The Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health)
The builder erected the building without ‘no objection certificate’ from town planning authorities.
DISH did not conduct any inspection for safety provision installment.

35. Reasons for Mishap
DISH authorities say they are overburdened and understaffed
Builder says erecting a building in city is a collective responsibility, hence builders can alone not be blamed and accused.
The building plan designer got arrested
The chief engineer and the work inspection engineer at construction site got arrested
The engineer who approves the building plan got arrested.

36. Engineering Tragedy

37. Continue

38. Reading Materials
Baura, G.D. (2006). Engineering Ethics: An Industrial Perspective. London: Elsevier Publication.
Davis, M. (2001). The Professional Approach to Engineering Ethics: Five Research Questions. Science and Engineering Ethics.
Davis, M. (1991).Thinking Like an Engineer: The Place of a Code of Ethics in the Practice of a Profession. Philosophy and Public Affairs.
Harris Jr. C.E. et al. (1996). Engineering Ethics: What? Why? How? And When?. Journal of Engineering Education.
Unger, S.H.(2000). Examples of Real World Engineering Ethics Problems. Science & Engineering Ethics

39. THANK YOU
Contact at:

40. Hyatt Regency Skywalk