GE 6075 - PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN ENGINEERING Anna University Question Bank

Anna University Chennai
Government College of Engineering, Tirunelveli
GE 6075 - PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN ENGINEERING
2 Marks Questions and Answers

UNIT -1 – HUMAN VALUES
01. What are Human values?
Values decide the standard of behavior. Some universally accepted values are freedom justice and equality. Other principles of values are love, care, honesty, integrity, self-respect.

02. What are Ethical values?
Trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring is ethical values.

03. Distinguish Values from Ethics.
Values are mainly related to individuals and since they are related to justice, they remain the
some for everyone. E.g. truth, honesty, empathy, self-respect. Ethics is common to a group of individuals; the group may be religious or professional. Ethics is mostly based on some code or law and judgment of any action is based on code of conduct or law. Ethics change from individual to individual.

04. What is Integrity?
It implies honesty, trustworthiness. Integrity is the unity of character based on moral values.

05. Define Work Ethics.
Work ethic is a value based on hard work and diligence. Capitalists believe in the requirement of hard work and its ability to enhance character.

06. What is Service Learning?
Service learning: Community engagement.The technical trade practices.
Service learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.

07. What is Civic Virtue?
Civic virtue is also the dedication of citizens to the common welfare of their community even at the cost of their individual interests.

08. What is Caring and Sharing?
Caring is the essence of moral life. Caring involves feelings, relationship, contends with other persons and protecting others and causing least damage to others. Sharing means sharing of feelings, ideas thoughts, resources and profits. Sharing is always
mutually beneficial. Sharing morally acceptable feelings, resources and materials is a value.

09. Define Honesty.
Honesty is a virtue, and it is exhibited in two aspects namely,
(a) Truthfulness and(b) Trustworthiness.Truthfulness – meeting responsibilities concerning truth-telling.
Trustworthiness – Meeting responsibilities concerning trust.

10. Define Courage.
Courage is the tendency to accept and face risks and difficult tasks in rational ways. Self-confidence is the basic requirement to nurture courage.

11. What are the types of courage?
(a) Physical courage, (b) Social courage, and (c) Intellectual courage.

12. Define Valuing time.
Time is rare resource. Once it is spent, it is lost forever. It cannot be either stored or recovered. Hence, time is the most perishable and most valuable resource too. This resource is continuously spent, whether any decision or action is taken or not.

13. What is cooperation?
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 (synergy), while not sacrificing the autonomy of either party.

14. What is commitment?
Commitment means alignment to goals and adherence to ethical principles during the activities. It means one should have the conviction without an iota of doubt that one will succeed.

15. What is Empathy?
Empathy is social radar. Sensing what others feel about, without their open talk, is the essence of empathy.

16. What is Self – Confidence?
Certainty in one’s own capabilities, values, and goals. These people are usually positive thinking, flexible and willing to change. They respect others so much as they respect themselves.

17. What is Character?
Character: To determine the ideals. Managers have to influence and employ creative means of stressing the importance of good character in the workplace

18. What is Spirituality?
Spirituality is a way of living that emphasizes the constant awareness and recognition of the spiritual dimension (mind and its development) of nature and people, with a dynamic balance between the material development and the spiritual development.
                                                            
19. What is Yoga?
The word 'Yoga' means the spiritual union of the individual self with the Absolute or the Universal Self, or the Purshotma (God). Yoga is the austerity or the continuous effort to attain that union.

20. What is Meditation?
To meditate ultimately means to stop thinking long enough in order for the ego to disappear
Thus meditation techniques always ultimately use one object of meditation, which might be a mantra, a yantra, an image of a deity, an idea, breath, the now, etc..

21. What is Stress Management?
Stress management refers to the wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at controlling a person's levels of stress, especially chronic stress, usually for the purpose of improving every day.

UNIT – 2  ENGINEERING ETHICS.
01. Define Engineering Ethics.
* Study of the moral issues and decisions confronting individuals andorganizations engaged in
engineering / profession.
* Study of related questions about the moral ideals, character, policies andrelationships of people
and corporations involved in technological activity.
* Moral standards / values and system of morals.

02. What is the need to study Ethics?
* To responsibly confront moral issues raised by technological activity.
* To recognize and resolve moral dilemma.
* To achieve moral autonomy.

03.Differentiate Moral and Ethics.
MORAL:
• Refers only to personal behavior.
• Refers to any aspect of human action.
• Social conventions about right or wrong conduct.
ETHICS:
• Involves defining, analyzing, evaluating and resolving moral problems and
developing moral criteria to guide human behavior.
• Critical reflection on what one does and why one does it.
• Refers only to professional behavior.

04. Differentiate Micro-ethics and Macro-ethics.
Micro-Ethics : Deals about some typical and everyday problems which play animportant role in
the field of engineering and in the profession of an engineer.
Macro-Ethics : Deals with all the societal problems which are unknown and suddenlyburst out on
a regional or national level.

05. What are the three types of Inquiry?
Normative Inquiry – Based on values.
Conceptual Inquiry – Based on meaning.
Factual Inquiry – Based in facts.
06. What are the sorts of complexity and murkiness that may be involved in moral situations?Vagueness,  Conflicting reasons, Disagreement.

07.Define Moral Autonomy.
Self-determining, Independent, Personal Involvement, Exercised based on the moral concern for other people andrecognition of good moral reasons.

08. Give the importance of Lawrence Kohlberg’s and Carol Gilligan’s theory.
Kohlberg gives greater emphasis to recognizing rights and abstract universal rules.
Gilligan stresses the importance of maintaining personal relationships based on mutualcaring.

09. Give the various tests required to evaluate the Ethical Theories.
Theory must be clear, and formulated with concepts that are coherent andapplicable.
It must be internally consistent in that none of its tenets contradicts any other.
Neither the theory nor its defense can rely upon false information.
It must be sufficiently comprehensive to provide guidance in specific situationsof interests to us.
 It must be compatible with our most carefully considered moral convictionsabout concrete situations.

10. Give the uses of Ethical Theories.
In understanding moral dilemmas
Justifying professional obligations and ideals
Relating ordinary and professional morality

11. What is Moral Autonomy?
Autonomy means self-governing or self-determining i.e., acting independently. Moral autonomy means the right or the wrong conduct which is independent on ethical issues.
It deals with the improvement of an individual’s moral thoughts which make him to adapt good habits.

12. Define Self- Interest.
Self-interest is being good and acceptable to oneself. It is pursuing what is good for oneself. It is veryethical to possess self-interest.

13. What are Customs and Religion?
Custom:A traditional and widely accepted way of behaving or doing something that is specific to a particular society, place, or time.
Religion: support moral responsibility.
Religions provides trust and this trust inspires people to be moral.

14. What are the theories about right action?
Utilitarian Theory , Duty Ethics , Rights Theory, The Virtue Theory, Self-realisation Ethics,
Justice (Fairness) Theory.

15. What is the variety of moral issues?
It would be relevant to know why and how do moral issues (problems) arise in a profession or why do people behave unethically? 1. Resource Crunch ,2. Opportunity3. Attitude

16. Define Moral Dilemmas.
Dilemmas are situations in which moral reasons come into conflict, or in which the application of
moral values are problems, and one is not clear of the immediate choice or solution of the problems.

17. What is Consensus and Controversy?
Consensus: It means Agreement.
Controversy: It means Disagreement.

18. What are the models of professional roles?
They are models provoke their thinking, attitudes and actions.
1. Savior, 2. Guardian  3. Bureaucratic Servant  4. Social Servant  5. Social Enabler and Catalyst  6. Game Player

16-MARK QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS
UNIT -1  HUMAN VALUES

01. What are Human values? Explain briefly.
Values are the rules by which we make decisions about right and wrong, should and shouldn't, good and bad. They also tell us which are more or less important, which is useful when we have to trade off meeting one value over another. A personal value is absolute or relative and ethical value, the assumption of which can be the basis for ethical action. A value system is a set of consistent values and measures. A principle value is a foundation upon which other values and measures of integrity are based. A value is defined as a principle that promotes well-being or prevents harm.”
“Emotional beliefs in principles regarded as particularly favorable or important for the individual.”

Types of Values: (a) Right conduct, (b) Peace  (c) Truth,  (d) Love,  (e) Nonviolence.
(a).  RIGHT CONDUCT :
(i) SELF-HELP SKILLS: Care of possessions, diet, hygiene, modesty, posture, self-reliance,
and tidy appearance.
(ii) SOCIAL SKILLS: Good behavior, good manners, good relationships, helpfulness,
No wastage and good environment.
(iii) ETHICAL SKILLS: Code of conduct, courage, dependability, duty, efficiency, ingenuity, initiative, perseverance, punctuality, resourcefulness, respect for all.
(b). PEACE: Attention, calmness, concentration, contentment, dignity, discipline, equality, equanimity,
faithfulness, focus, gratitude, happiness, harmony, humility, inner silence, optimism, patience,
reflection, satisfaction, self-acceptance, self-confidence, self-control, self-discipline,
self-esteem, self-respect, sense control, tolerance, and understanding
(c). TRUTH: Accuracy, curiosity, discernment, fairness, fearlessness, honesty, integrity (unity of thought,
word, and deed), intuition, justice, optimism, purity, quest for knowledge, reason, self-analysis,
sincerity, sprit of enquiry, synthesis, trust, truthfulness, and determination.
(d). LOVE: Acceptance, affection, care, compassion, consideration, dedication, devotion, empathy,
                 Forbearance, forgiveness, friendship, generosity, gentleness, humanness, interdependence,
kindness, patience, patriotism, reverence, sacrifice, selflessness, service, sharing, sympathy,                        
thoughtfulness, tolerance and trust
(e). NON-VIOLENCE:
(a) Psychological: Benevolence, compassion, concern for others, consideration, forbearance,
forgiveness, manners, happiness, loyalty, morality, and universal love
(b) Social: Appreciation of other cultures and religions, brotherhood, care of environment, citizenship,
equality, harmlessness, national awareness, perseverance, respect for property, and social justice.
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. Fostered or modified by social leaders, rulers of kingdom, and by law (government).

02. Explain Morals, Values and Ethics.
Morals - A lesson that can be derived from a story or experience.
Morals are the rules that govern which actions are right and which are wrong. Morals can be for all of society or an individual’s beliefs. Sometimes a moral can be gleaned from a story or experience.
Some examples of morals in society:
• Do not gossip
• Tell the truth
• Have courage
• Do not have sex before marriage
• Keep your promises
• Do not cheat
• Treat others as you want to be treated
• Be trustworthy
• Do not judge
The Ten Commandments are the basis for many of society’s morals:
1. Do not have any gods before me
2. Do not make for yourself a graven image
3. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy
5. Honor your father and mother
6. Do not kill
7. Do no commit adultery
8. Do not steal
9. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor
10. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife or possessions
Values: Values are the rules by which we make decisions about right and wrong, should and shouldn't, good and bad. They also tell us which are more or less important, which is useful when we have to trade off meeting one value over another.
Ethics is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct, often addressing disputes of moral diversity.

  Ethics describes a generally accepted set of moral principles
  Morals describes the goodness or badness or right or wrong of actions
  Values describe individual or personal standards of what is valuable or important.

Ethical values are Trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring is ethical values.
Ethics is the word that refers to morals, values, and beliefs of the individuals, family or the society.
The word has several meanings. Basically it is an activity and process of inquiry. Secondly, it is
different from non-moral problems, when dealing with issues and controversies. Thirdly, ethics refers
to a particular set of beliefs, attitudes, and habits of individuals or family or groups concerned with
morals. Fourth, it is used to mean ‘morally correct’. 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.


03. Explain the term Integrity.
Integrity: The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.
Adherence to moral and ethical principles:  Soundness of moral character; Honesty.
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 is generally a personal choice to uphold oneself to consistently moral and ethical standards
In ethics, integrity is regarded by many people as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions.

Types: Personal integrity, Professional integrity, Artistic integrity, and Intellectual integrity.

Moral integrity is defined as a virtue, which reflects a consistency of one’s attitudes, emotions,
and conduct in relation to justified moral values.
For example, Newtonian physics, general relativity and quantum mechanics are three distinct systems, each scientifically proven to have integrity according to their base assumptions and measures, but all three of which produce different extrapolated values when applied to real world situations. None of them claim to be absolute truth, but merely best value systems for certain scenarios. Newtonian physics demonstrates sufficiency for most activities on Earth, but produced a calculation more than ten feet in error when applied to NASA's moon landings, whereas general relativity calculations were precise for that application. General relativity, however, incorrectly predicts the results of a broad body of scientific experiments where quantum mechanics proves its sufficiency. Thus integrity of all three genres is applicable only to its domain.
04. Explain WORK ETHICS.

Work ethic: Work ethic is a value based on hard work and diligence.

Capitalists believe in the requirement of hard work and its ability to enhance character.
Work ethics is defined as a set of attitudes concerned with the value of work, which forms the motivational orientation. 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 (leisure, hobby, and happiness), welfare (social work), environment (anti-pollution activities), and offer opportunities for all, according to their abilities, but without Discrimination.

5 Factors That Demonstrate a Strong Work Ethic:
Integrity, Sense of Responsibility, Emphasis on Quality, Discipline, Sense of Teamwork.
Integrity: Integrity stretches to all aspects of an employee's job.
Sense of Responsibility: A strong sense of responsibility affects how an employee works and the amount of work she does.
Emphasis on Quality: Some employees do only the bare minimum, just enough to keep their job intact. The employee's commitment to quality improves the company's overall quality.
Discipline: It takes a certain level of commitment to finish your tasks every day. An employee with good
discipline stays focused on his goals and is determined to complete his assignments.
 Sense of Teamwork: An employee with a high sense of teamwork helps a team meet its goals and deliver
quality work.
Five Characteristics of a Good Work Ethic:
Reliability, Dedication, Productivity, Cooperation,Character
Reliability: Reliability goes hand in hand with a good work ethic. Value punctuality. Effort into portraying --
and proving -- this dependability by being reliable and performing consistently.
Dedication: Those with a good work ethic are dedicated to their jobs and will do anything they can to
ensure that they perform well.
Productivity:Work at a consistently fast pace, individuals with a good work ethic are often highly
productive. The more productive they are, the more beneficial to the company they appear to
those managing them.
Cooperation: Cooperative work can be highly beneficial in the business environment, something that
individuals with a strong work ethic know well.
Character: Those with a good work ethic often also possess generally strong character. This means they
are self-disciplined, pushing themselves to complete work tasks instead of requiring others to
intervene. They are also often very honest and trustworthy.

05. Explain Service Learning.
Service learning : The technical trade practices.Community engagement.
The service learning includes the characteristics of the work, basicrequirements, 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.
The service learning is a methodology falling under the category of experiential education.
It isone of the forms of experiential learning and community service opportunities.
It is distinguished inthe 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.
06. Explain CIVIC VIRTUE.
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, andorganizing 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, and not to cause nuisance to the public, are some of the civic (duties) virtues.
4. To follow the road safety rules.
On the other hand, 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 inalienable 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 are divided into four categories:
1. 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.
2. Self-Restraint
For citizens to live in a free society with limited government each citizen must be able to control or
restrain himself; otherwise, we would need a police state—that is, a dictatorial government to maintain
safety and order.
3. 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. Sometimes, a government may usurp the very rights that it was created
to protect.
4. 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.
These civic virtues, applicable to local, state, and central governments, nourish freedom and civil
liberty at the root of democracy.
07. Explain Respect for others.
Respect is a positive feeling of admiration or deference for a person. Respect can be a specific feeling of regard for the actual qualities of the one respected. It can also be conduct in accord with a specific ethic of respect.
Treating people with respect makes your world a nicer place to live in, whether it's at home, at school, or out in your community.
Don't insult people or make fun of them.
• Listen to others when they speak.
• Value other people's opinions.
• Be considerate of people's likes and dislikes.
• Don't mock or tease people.
• Don't talk about people behind their backs.
• Be sensitive to other people's feelings.
• Don't pressure someone to do something he or she doesn't want to do.

Some ways we can respect people who are different from us.
• Try to learn something from the other person.
• Never stereotype people.
• Show interest and appreciation for other people's cultures and backgrounds.
• Don't go along with prejudices and racist attitudes.
How to Be Respectful
1. Listen harder. We already know that proactive listening should be your first social skill. We know this because we love when people listen to us, so we find it safe to assume that other people love when we listen to them.
2. Be considerate. Once you’ve listened, it’s time to act accordingly. If there was anything about the persons tone of voice or body language that gave a hint as to how they were feeling, use that information in your interaction.
3. Keep your promise. By keeping your word to someone, you not only establish yourself as a person of integrity, but make the other person feel as though you value them.
4. Be on time. Another way to demonstrate that you value someone, is by treating their time as though it is valuable. Nothing says this better than being punctual. If you have a problem with being chronically late, read my post Always Late? Let’s fix it.
5. Have manners. This is pretty simple. Do not interrupt a conversation, be polite and watch your ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. By showing manners towards someone, you make them feel valuable.
6. Encourage. Sometimes when we hear a silly idea, it’s easy to shoot down someone’s hopes and dreams, or otherwise make them feel unimportant. Genuinely encouraging someone could be very empowering and liberating.
7. Be fair. We often find ourselves in a position of power over someone else; to some extent. Having power enables the opportunity to be corrupt. Avoid corruption, give people what they earn-deserve, and they’ll appreciate it.
8. Go out of your way. You don’t have to always do the bare minimum. If you want to show someone that they’re valuable, and that you respect them, go the extra mile without expecting a reward.
9. Preserve dignity. When wronged, mistreated, or otherwise upset in some way handle the dispute with finesse. This means approaching the person in such a way as to preserve their dignity. The best way to handle it is via a calm and private conversation, as opposed to a public screaming match.
10. Do Not Assume. They say when you ASSUME, you make an AS$- out of -U- and -ME. So don’t assume anything about a person based on their race, income level, or gender. Start off each interaction by thinking of the other person as your equal.
08. Explain Living Peacefully.
To live peacefully, one should start install peace within (self). Charity begins at home. Then one canspread peace to family, organization where one works, and then to the world, including the environment.
Only who are at peace can spread peace. You cannot gift an article which you do not possess. The essence of oriental philosophy is that one should not fight for peace. It is oxymoron. War or peace can
be won only by peace, and not by wars !
One should adopt the following means to live peacefully, in the world:
Nurture
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).
Get
5. Good health/body (physical strength for service).
Act
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 physically, verbally, or mentally.

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.
09. Explain Caring ,Sharing, Honesty and Courage.
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. Caring is reflected in activities such as friendship, membership in
social clubs and professional societies, and through various transactions in the family, fraternity,
community, country and in international councils.
In the present day context, caring for the environment (including the fauna and flora) has become
a necessity for our very survival. If we do not care for the environment, the environment will scare us.
Sharing: Primarily, caring influences ‘sharing’. Sharing is a process that describes the transfer of knowledge(teaching, learning, and information), experience (training), commodities (material possession) andfacilities 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.
Through this process of sharing, experience, expertise, wisdom and other benefits reach more people
faster. Sharing is voluntary and it cannot be driven by force, but motivated successfully through
ethical principles. In short, sharing is ‘charity’
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. Commercially speaking, the profit is
maximized. Technologically, the productivity and utilization are maximized by sharing.
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. By admitting one’s mistake committed, it is easy to fix them.
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.
They build trust through reliability and authenticity. They admit their own mistakes and
confront unethical actions in others and take tough and principled stand, even if unpopular.
Honesty is mirrored in many ways. The common reflections are:
(a) Beliefs (intellectual honesty).
(b) Communication (writing and speech).
(c) Decisions (ideas, discretion).
(d) Actions (means, timing, place, and the goals)
(e) Intended and unintended results achieved.
As against this, some of the actions of an engineer that leads to dishonesty are:
1. Lying: Honesty implies avoidance of lying. An engineer may communicate wrong or distorted
test results intentionally or otherwise. 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 andshould not discuss them with others.
6. Giving professional judgment under the influence of extraneous factors such as personal
benefits and prejudice. The laws, experience, social welfare, and even conscience are given
a go-bye by such actions. Certainly this is a higher-order crime.
Courage: Courage is the tendency to accept and face risks and difficult tasks in rational ways. Self-confidence isthe basic requirement to nurture courage.
Courage is classified into three types, based on the types of risks, namely
(a) Physical courage,
(b) Social courage, and
(c) Intellectual courage.
The courageous people own and have shown the following characteristics, in their professions:
(a) Perseverance (sustained hard work)
(b) Experimentation
(c) Involvement
(d) Commitment
Facing the criticism, owning responsibility, and accepting the mistakes or errors when committed
and exposed are the expressions of courage. In fact, this sets their mind to be vigilant against the past
mistakes, and creative in finding the alternate means to achieve the desired objectives. Prof. Sathish
Dhawan, Chief of ISRO, was reported to have exhibited his courage and owned responsibility, when
the previous space mission failed, but credited Prof. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (now our revered President),
when the subsequent mission succeeded.


10. Explain the Valuing Time , Cooperation, Commitment and Empathy.
Valuing Time:Time is rare resource. Once it is spent, it is lost forever. It cannot be either stored or recovered. Hence,time is the most perishable and most valuable resource too. This resource is continuously spent, whetherany decision or action is taken or not.
Highlight the ‘value of time’ is as follows:
To realize the value of one year, ask thestudent who has failed in the examinations;. To realize the value of one month, ask the mother who hasdelivered a premature baby; to realize the value of one week, ask the editor of weekly; to realize thevalue of one day, ask the daily-wage laborer; to realize the value of one minute, ask a person who has missed the train; to realize thevalue of one second, ask the person who has survived an accident; to realize the value one millisecond,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: It is a team-spirit present with every individual engaged in engineering. Co-operation is activity betweentwo persons or sectors that aims at integration of operations, while not sacrificing the autonomyof either party. Further, working together ensures, coherence, i.e., blending of different skills required,towards common goals.
Willingness to understand others, think and act together and putting this into practice, is cooperation.
Cooperation promotes collinearity, coherence (blend), co-ordination (activities linked in sequence or priority) and the synergy (maximizing the output, by reinforcement). The whole is more than the sum
of the individuals. It helps in minimizing the input resources (including time) and maximizes the
outputs, which include quantity, quality, effectiveness, and efficiency.
The impediments 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 humanism beyond the ‘divides’, training on
appreciation to different cultures, mutual understanding ‘cooperation’ can be developed and
also sustained.
Commitment: Commitment means alignment to goals and adherence to ethical principles during the activities. It meansone should have the conviction without an iota of doubt that one will succeed. Holding sustainedinterest and firmness, in whatever ethical means one follows, with the fervent attitude and hope thatone will achieve the goals, is commitment. It is the driving force to realize success.
This is a basic requirement for any profession. For example, a design engineer shall exhibit a
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. The commitment of top management will naturally lead to committed employees,
whatever may be their position or emoluments. This is bound to add wealth to oneself, one’s employer,
society, and the nation at large.
Empathy: Empathy is social radar. Sensing what others feel about, without their open talk, is the essence ofempathy. Empathy begins with showing concern, and then obtaining and understanding the feelings of
others, from others’ point of view. It is also defined as the ability to put one’s self into the psychological
frameor reference or point of view of another, to know what the other person feels.
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.
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.

The benefits of empathy include:
1. Good customer relations.
2. Harmonious labor relations.
3. Good vendor-producer relationship.
The above three, we canmaximize the output and profit, as well as minimizing the loss. While dealing with customercomplaints, empathy is very effective in realising the unbiased views of others and in admitting
one’s own limitations and failures. According to Peter Drucker, purpose of the business is
not to make a sale, but to make and keep a customer. Empathy assists one in developing
courage leading to success.
11. Explain Self- Confidence, Character and Spirituality.
 Self- Confidence: Certainty in one’s own capabilities, values, and goals. 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. The people with self-confidence
exhibit courage to get into action and unshakable faith in their abilities, whatever may be their positions.

They are not influenced by threats or challenges and are prepared to face them and the natural or
unexpected consequences.

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.
On the contrary, some leaders expose others when failure occurs, and own the credit when success
comes.
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 ( e.g., training by Technical Evangelists at Infosys Technologies).
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. This make one accepts himself while still striving for improvement.
4. Study and group discussion, on the history of leaders and innovators
Character: To determine the ideals.
Managers have to influence and employ creative means of stressing the importance of good character
in the workplace, in the following ways.
1. Employee Hiring, Training, and Promotion Activities
(a) 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.
2. Internal Communication
Use internal communication channels to create a friendly environment that praises positive role modelingat the workplace and in the community by encouraging voluntarism, and mentoring, e.g., through(a) Internal newsletters,(b) Workplace posters in canteens and recreation rooms,
(c) Mailers, and(d) Electronic mails.
3. External Communication
In relations with customers, vendors and others, consciously communicate affirming messages aboutcharacter and ethics, such as
(a) Advertise and market honoring consensual values (the six pillars),
(b) Assure that none of your products and services undermines character building,
(c) Include positive messages about voluntarism and celebrate, and
(d) ‘Character counts’ week in advertising, billings and other mailers.
4. Financial and Human Resources
(a) Support local and national ‘character’ projects and the activities of the members by encouragingstaff members to get involved. Offer incentives such as paying employees for the time theycontribute at a local youth-service organization.
(b) Sponsor ‘character’ movement through financial support.
5. Community Outreach
(a) Use public outreach structures to encourage mentoring and other character-building programs.
(b) Encourage educational and youth organizations to become active in character building.
(c) Use corporate influence to encourage business and other companies to support ‘character’ building.

SPIRITUALITY:Spirituality is a way of living that emphasizes the constant awareness and recognition of the spiritualdimension (mind and its development) of nature and people, with a dynamic balance between thematerial development and the spiritual development.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 being, respect to others, acceptance, vision, and partnership.
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
and 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. Variety is the order of the
day. But one can influence their mind to think and act together. 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.
Creativity in spirituality means conscious efforts to see things differently, to break out of habits
and outdated beliefs to find new ways of thinking, doing and being. Suppression of creativity leads to
violence. People are naturally creative. When they are forced to crush their creativity, its energy turns
to destructive release and actions. Creativity includes the use of color, humor and freedom to enhance
productivity. Creativity is fun. When people enjoy what they do, it is involvement. They work much
harder.
Spirituality in the Workplace:
Building spirituality in the workplace: Spirituality is promoted in the workplace by adhering 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.
Knowtheir goals, desires, and dreams too.
3. State your personal ethics and your beliefs clearly.
4. Support causes outside the business.
5. Encourage leaders to use value-based discretion in making decisions.
6. Demonstrate your own self-knowledge and spirituality in all your actions.
7. Do unto others as you would have them do unto 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-potential. A human has immense capability but it
needs to be developed.
2. Alertness in observation and quickness in decision making, i.e., spontaneity which includes
quick reflexes, no delay but also no hasty decisions.
3. Being visionary and value based — This includes an attitude towards future of the organization
and the society, with clear objectives.
4. Holism — Whole system or comprehensive views and interconnected with different aspects.
The welfare of the self, family, organization and the societyincluding 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.
6. Respect for diversity — It means search for unity in diversity i.e., respect others and theirviews.
7. Moral Autonomy — It means action based on rational and moral judgment. One need not
follow the crowd or majority i.e., band-wagon effect.
8. Creative thinking and constant reasoning — Think if we can do something new and if we
can improve further?
9. Ability to analyze and synthesize — Refrain from doing something only traditional.
10. Positive views of adversity — Make adversities one’s source of power
11. Humility — The attitude to accept criticism  and willing to correct. It
includes modesty and acknowledging the work of colleagues.
12. Sense of vocation — Treat the duty as a service to society, besides your organization.
12. Explain YOGA and Meditation for professional excellence.
The word 'Yoga' means the spiritual union of the individual self with the Absolute or the UniversalSelf, or the Purshotma (God).
Yoga is the austerity or the continuous effort to attain that union.
A Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline, a part of which, including breath control, simple meditation, and the adoption of specific bodily postures, is widely practised for health and relaxation.
Yoga is a simple process of reversing the ordinary outward flow of energy and consciousness so that the mind becomes a dynamic center of direct perception no longer dependent upon the fallible senses but capable of actually experiencing Truth.
Derived from the Sanskrit word yuj, Yoga means union of the individual consciousness or soul with the Universal Consciousness or Spirit. Yoga is a 5000 year old Indian body of knowledge. Though many think of yoga only as a physical exercise where people twist, turn, stretch, and breathe in the most complex ways, these are actually only the most superficial aspect of this profound science of unfolding the infinite potentials of the human mind and soul.
Mediation:To meditate ultimately means to stop thinking long enough in order for the ego to disappear
Thus meditation techniques always ultimately use one object of meditation, which might be a mantra, a yantra, an image of a deity, an idea, breath, the now, etc..
When learning how to meditate, we need to accept the nature of mind and not let our ego get in the way. Mind is a monkey that never sits still. It easily gets bored. If we try to forcefully focus mind on the object of meditation, mind gets bored very easily and tries to escape by bringing up all kinds of thoughts and feelings. The main trick is to gradually engage mind in the process. Will power is a requirement, yet the hard concentration only makes mind's resistance more strong. If we try to concentrate too much, then meditation becomes a really boring challenge.
To engage mind, at first we need variety, beauty, diversity. So the object of our meditation must not be too boring at first. Mind should actually like to focus on it. Any mantra, yantra, etc... has a soothing, calming effect on mind. When we can focus mind on an entertaining version of our object of meditation, the object will start to affect mind, calming it down so it can accept a more simple, calm, less entertaining, more boring version of the object to meditate upon. That is the step by step process through which anybody can learn how to meditate.
So don't make the mistake of frustrating yourself by focusing mind too fast on just one boring object. And neither make the mistake to keep changing your focus : just gradually move towards the essential objective of being softly but firmly focused on one tiny simple thing only.
Mantra meditation is one of the most popular meditation techniques known in all cultures and it is definitely a great way to learn how to meditate. The powerful effect of the sound syllables on both the conscious mind and the subconscious mind is a great help
Phase 1 :Engaging mind
Phase 2 :Becoming more quiet
Phase 3 :Inside recitation, maybe including visualization
Phase 4 :Further simplifying the object
Phase 5 :Softening your focus
Phase 6 :Silence
13. Explain Stress Management.
Stress management refers to the wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at controlling a person's levels of stress, especially chronic stress, usually for the purpose of improving every day.Functioning. Stress is a normal psychological and physical reaction to the ever-increasing demands of life. Surveys show that many Americans experience challenges with stress at some point during the year.

We all feel stress at one time or another. It's a normal and healthy reaction to change or a challenge. But stress that goes on for more than a few weeks can affect your health. Keep stress from making you sick by learning healthy ways to manage it.
AVOID UNHEALTHY STRESS RELIEF
When you feel stressed, you may fall back on unhealthy behaviors to help you relax. These may include:
• Eating too much
• Smoking cigarettes
• Drinking alcohol or using drugs
• Sleeping too much or not sleeping enough
These behaviors may help you feel better at first, but they may hurt you more than they help. Instead, use the tips below to find healthy ways to reduce your stress.
FIND HEALTHY STRESS BUSTERS
There are many healthy ways to manage stress. Try a few and see which ones work best for you.
• Recognize the things you can't change. Accepting that you can't change certain things allows you to let go and not get upset. For instance, you can't change the fact that you have to drive during rush hour. But you can look for ways to relax during your commute, such as listening to a podcast or book.
• Avoid stressful situations. When you can, remove yourself from the source of stress. For example, if your family squabbles during the holidays, give yourself a breather and go out for a walk or drive.
• Get exercise. Getting physical activity every day is one of the easiest -- and best -- ways to cope with stress. When you exercise, your brain releases chemicals that make you feel good. It can also help you release built-up energy or frustration. Find something you enjoy -- whether it's walking, cycling, softball, swimming, or dancing -- and do it for at least 30 minutes on most days.
• Change your outlook. Try to develop a more positive attitude toward challenges. You can do this by replacing negative thoughts with more positive ones. For example, rather than thinking, "Why does everything always go wrong?" change this thought to, "I can find a way to get through this." It may seem hard or silly at first, but with practice you may find it helps turn your outlook around.
• Do something you enjoy. When stress has you down, do something you enjoy to help pick you up. It could be as simple as reading a good book, listening to music, watching a favorite movie, or having dinner with a friend. Or, take up a new hobby or class. Whatever you choose, try to do at least one thing a day that's just for you.
• Learn new ways to relax. Practicing relaxation techniques is a great way to handle daily stress. Relaxation techniques help slow your heart rate and lower your blood pressure. There are many types, from deep breathing and meditation to yoga and tai chi. Take a class, or try learning from books, videos, or online sources.
• Connect with loved ones. Don't let stress get in the way of being social. Spending time with family and friends can help you feel better and forget about your stress. Confiding in a friend may also help you work out your problems.
• Get enough sleep. Getting a good night's sleep can help you think more clearly and have more energy. This will make it easier to handle any problems that crop up. Aim for about 7 to 9 hours each night.
• Eat a healthy diet. Eating healthy foods helps fuel your body and mind. Skip the high-sugar snack foods and load up on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low-fat or nonfat dairy, and lean proteins.
• Learn to say no. If your stress comes from taking on too much at home or work, learn to set limits. Ask others for help when you need it.
Among the many stressors mentioned by employees, these are the most common:
• The way employees are treated by their bosses/supervisors or company
• Lack of job security
• Company policies
• Coworkers who don't do their fair share
• Unclear expectations
• Poor communication
• Not enough control over assignments
• Inadequate pay or benefits
• Urgent deadlines
• Too much work
• Long hours
• Uncomfortable physical conditions
• Relationship conflicts
• Coworkers making careless mistakes
• Dealing with rude customers
• Lack of cooperation
• How the company treats coworkers[5]
Stress prevention & resilience
Although many techniques have traditionally been developed to deal with the consequences of stress considerable research has also been conducted on the prevention of stress, a subject closely related to psychological resilience-building. A number of self-help approaches to stress-prevention and resilience-building have been developed, drawing mainly on the theory and practice of cognitive-behavioural therapyTypes of stress - Acute stress ,Chronic stress.

UNIT –2    ENGINEERING ETHICS
1. Briefly explain the 3 main levels of Moral developments, developed by Laurence- Kohlberg.

Moral Autonomy is based on the psychology of moral developments. The first psychological theory was developed by Jean Piaget. On the basis of Piaget’s theory, Laurence- Kohlberg developed three main levels of moral development. Which is based on the kinds of reasoning and motivation adopted by individuals with regard to moral questions.
1. The Preconventional level
It is nothing but self-centered attitude. In this level, right conduct is very essentialfor an individual which directly benefits him.
According to this level, individuals are motivated by their willingness to avoid punishment, or by their desire to safety their own needs or by the influence of the power exerted by them. This level is related to the moral development of children abd some adults who never want to grow beyond a certain limit.
2. The conventional level.
The level deals with the respect for conventional rules and authority. As per this level the rules and norms of one’s family or group or society has been accepted as the final standard of morality. These conventions are regarded as correct, because they represent with authority.
When individuals are under this level, they always want to please/satisfy others and also to meet the expectations of the society and not their self-interest. Loyalty and close identification with others have been given much importance, No adult tries to go beyond this level.
3. The post conventional level.
This level is said to be attained when an individual recognizes the right and the wrong on the basis of a set of principles which are not based on self-interest or social conventions. These individuals are called ‘autonomous”, because they only think by themselves and also they do not agree that customs are always correct.
They want to live by general principles which are universally applied to all people. They always want to maintain their moral integrity, self-respect and the respect for other autonomous people.Kohlberg’s theory of moral development is very much related to the goals of studying ethics at college level. Moral responsibility comes out of the foundation of early moral training given by an individual’s parents and culture. This early training helps to complete the above said three levels of moral development by an individual.

2. How did Gilligan recast Kohlberg levels of moral developments? (OR)
How did Gilligan view the three levels of moral developments initiated by Kohlberg?
1. GILLIGAN’S ARGUMENT.
Caorl Gilligan was one of the students of Kohlberg. She criticizes Kohlberg’s theory on the basis of approached made by both male and female towards morality. On the basis of her studies and researches, she criticizes Kohlberg’s theory which is only based on bale bias and his studies are typically male preoccupation with general rules and rights.
She also suggests that men are always more interested in resolving moral problem by applying some most important moral rules. But women always want to keep up the personal relationship with all those involved in a situation and they always give attention only on the circumstances responsible for that critical situation and not on general moral rules.
She also states the Kohlberg theory is only an ethics of rules and rights. But her theory is known as ethics of care.i.e. Context oriented emphasis required to maintain the personal relationship.


2. LEVELS OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Gilligan recasts Kohlberg’s three levels of moral developments on the basis of her own studies of women, as follows:
i) The pre-conventional level:
This is more or less the same as Kohlberg’s first level i.e. Right conduct is a selfish thing as only what is good for oneself.
ii) The conventional level:
This level differs from Kohlberg’s second level. According to her, women don’t want to hurt others and want to help others i.e., women always want to give up their interests in order to help the others to fulfill their needs.
iii) The post conventional level:
This level is also differed from Kohlberg’s level. In this level, individuals (Particularly women) want to balance between caring about other people and their own interests.
The main aim here is to balance an individual’s needs with those of others on the basis of mutual caring. This can be achieved only through context-oriented reasoning and not by abstract rules.
3. HEINZ’S DILEMMA:
Gilligan’s criticism on the Kohlberg’s theory can be made very clear with the help of a famous example used by Kohlberg in his questionnaires and interview. This is called Heinz’s dilemma
 This example was about a woman and Heinz, her husband, living in Europe.
 The woman was affected by cancer. The doctors told her to use an expensive drug to save her life.
 The pharmacist who also invented that medicine charged ten times the cost of making the drug.
 In spite of his poverty, Heinz took a lot of effort to borrow money, but he could get only half of the amount needed.
 He approached to the pharmacist and begged him to sell the medicine at a cheaper price or allow him to pay or it later.
 But the pharmacist refused to do so. Finally without any hope, Heinz forcibly entered into the pharmacy and stole the drug.
The question here is “Was the theft morally right or wrong?
By asking this question among the males, Kohlberg has received two sets of answers:
One is based on the conventional level i.e. Heinz did a wrong thing. Another one is based on the post conventional level i.e. Heinz was correct as the life of the wife is more important than the property right of the pharmacist.
But when the same question was asked among the women, they gave (all women) same answer. They replied that Heinz was wrong. They told that instead of theft the medicine, Heinz could have tried alternative solutions. They also told that Heinz should have convinced the pharmacist to give the medicine.
From the above, Kohlberg concluded that women’s decisions are always based on the conventional rule and also they have different opinions in applying the general moral rules and principles about the right to live.
On the basis of the Kohlberg’s comment on the women, Gilligan came to a different conclusion. She tells that is shows greater sensitivity to people and personal relationships. She concluded that the decision taken by women by women is context-oriented and not on the basis of general rules ranked in order of priority.







3. What are the general types of Inquiries involved in engineering inspection?
Give details.

Inquiry means an investigation. Like general ethics, engineering ethics also involves investigation into values, meaning and facts.
These inquiries in the field of engineering ethics are of three types, they are
1. Normative inquiries
2. Conceptual inquiries
3. Factual or Descriptive inquiries
1. NORMATIVE INQUIRIES:
These inquiries are mostly helpful to identify the values which guide the individuals and groups in taking a decision. These are meant for identifying and justifying some norms and standards of morally desirable nature for guiding individuals as well as groups.
In most of the cases, the normative questions are: what should be? And what is good?
Some types of questions are given below:
1. Howdo the obligations of engineers protect the public safety in given situations?
2. When should an engineer have to alarm their employers on dangerous practices?
3. What are the laws and organizational procedures that affect engineering practice on moral issues?
4. What are the moral rights essential for engineers to fulfill their professional obligations?
From the above questions, the normative inquiries also have the theoretical goal of justifying moral judgments.
2. Conceptual inquiries:
These are meant for describing the meaning of concepts, principles and issues related to Engineering Ethics. These inquiries also explain whether the concepts and ideas are expressed buy single word or by phrases.
The following are some of the questions of conceptual inquiries.
1. What is safety and how is it related to risk?
2. What does it mean when codes of ethics say engineers should protect the safety, health
and welfare of the public?
3. What is a ‘bribe’?
4. What is ‘Profession’ and ‘Professional’?
3. FACTUAL/DESCRIPTIVE INQUIRIES:
These help to provides facts for understanding and finding solutions to value based issues. The engineer has to conduct factual inquiries by using scientific techniques. These help to provide information regarding the business realities such as engineering practice, history of engineering profession, the effectiveness of professional societies in imposing moral conduct, the procedures to be adopted when assessing risks and psychological profiles of engineers.
The information about these facts provides understanding and background conditions which create moral problems. These facts are also helpful in solving moral problems by using alternative ways of solutions.
These types of inquiries are said to be complementary and interrelated. Suppose an engineer wants to tell a wrong thing in an engineering practice to his superiors, he has to make all these inquiries and prepare an analysis about the problem on the basis of moral values and issues attached to that wrong thing. The only he can convince his superior. Otherwise his judgment may be neglected or rejected by his superior.





4. Enumerate the steps to resolve problems of disagreement in solving moral problems in
Engineering companies.

i) Why study engineering ethics?
Engineering ethics is not only teaching moral behavior in knowing about immoral and moral in a set of beliefs, but also increasing the ability of engineers and other professional to face boldly the moral problems arising from technological advancements, changes and other related activities. This can be imparted among the engineers, only through college courses, seminars, etc., which involve individual study.
ii) Moral dilemmas:
Dilemmas are certain kind of situations in which a difficult choice has to be made.
Moral dilemmas can also be called moral problems. Moral dilemmas have two or more folding-moral obligations, duties, rights, goods, or ideals come into disagreement with each other. One moral principle can have two or more conflicting applications for a particular given situation.
Moral dilemmas can occur in so many ways. For example, suppose one gives a promise to his friend that he will meet him on the evening of a particular day, but unfortunately on the same day his brother has met with an accident and he has to take him to hospital.
The dilemmahere consists of a conflict, between the duty to keep the promise and the obligations to his brother. In this situation, to solve this moral problem, he can make a phone call to his friend and make apology for his inability to come. So, from the above it is clear that the duty to keep promises always has two different can conflicting applications.
The moral dilemmas cannot easily be addressed or resolved always. It requires an elaborate searching which sometimes causing extreme suffering and reflection of a situation. The modern engineering practice compels that all the engineers have to face boldly the moral dilemmas in their careers.
To find a simple and clear solution to the moral problems in the field of engineering there must be some provision to allocate time for learning ethics in engineering course. But at the same time, it should not be ignored in the following three categories of complex and gloomy moral situations:
i) The problem of Vagueness:
The problem of Vagueness is related to individuals. The individuals may not know how to use moral considerations or principles in resolving a moral problem at a particular situation.
For example, an engineer in a higher position of a company, is responsible and having sole right to make purchase on his own on behalf of the company. There may be many suppliers for supplying materials.
In this situation, a sales representative from one of the suppliers approaches him with a gift. In this case, the engineer may have some doubts like i) whether this is an acceptance of a bribe?
 ii) Does it create a conflict of interest? The solution is only with that engineer.
He can also discuss with his colleagues about the problem. The colleague may find the solution on the basis of previous experiences;-it may not be a kind of a bribe,but at the same time it should not be encouraged in future because there is the possibility of supplying substandard materials. It is difficult to arrive at the conclusion whether the gift is an innocent amenity or an unacceptable bribe.
ii) The problem of conflicting reasons:
These occur more frequently. In a difficult situation of a moral problem, an individual may clearly know about what moral principles has to be applied to resolve the problem. When it arises, there are two or more moral principles with clear solutions in conflict with one another or one particular moral principle.
Simultaneously, there can be of two different directions. In this case, that individual has to choose a better one among them among them on the basis of the importance and the applicability.
For example, an engineer has given a promise to his employer and another one to a colleague. If it is difficult to fulfill both the promises, he can drop off one promise which is of the least importance.
If he explains the situation to his colleagues, it can be understood.
iii) The problem of disagreement:
The individuals and groups in engineering companies may disagree with resolving moral problems in difficult situations. The disagreement will be normally about how to interpret, apply and balance the moral problems. In this situation they have to use the following steps to resolve the problems.
STEPS IN FACING MORAL DILLEMMAS:
All the above said three problems pave the way for the need of several steps in resolving the moral dilemmas. All the steps are interrelated and they can also be used jointly.
1) Identifying the relevant moral factors and reasons: i.e., finding solutions for
i) The conflictingresponsibilities.ii) The competing rights and iii) The clashing ideals involved.
2) Collecting and gathering all the available facts which are relevant to the moral factors while
resolving.

3) Ranking the moral considerations or principles on the basis of importance as applicable to
the situation.
4) Considering alternative courses of action for resolving the problems and tracing the full
implications of each i.e., conducting factual inquiries.
5) Having talked with the colleagues, friends about that problem getting their suggestions and
alternative ideas on resolving that dilemma
6) Arriving at a careful and reasonable judgment or solution by taking into consideration all
important moral factors and reasons on the basis of the facts or truths. But it seems to be
difficult.
Conclusion:
Only the study of engineering ethics can help in developing the skills and attitudes to follow the above steps in resolving moral problems among the engineers and other professionals by means of case studies, class room discussions and debating.

5. What is the need for Moral Autonomy in the field of Engineering Ethics?
Definition:
Autonomy means self-governing or self-determining i.e., acting independently. Moral autonomy means the right or the wrong conduct which is independent on ethical issues.
It deals with the improvement of an individual’s moral thoughts which make him to adapt good habits. Moral autonomy is concerned with the independent attitude of a person related to ethical issues. It helps to improve the self-determination among the individuals.
Need for moral autonomy in the field of engineering ethics:
The objectives of engineering ethics are not related to implanting particular moral beliefs on engineers. In other way they help the engineers and other professionalists to strengthen their professional values such as honesty, respect for the colleagues and thinking for the welfare of the general public.
Though the above said values have been already in the mind of engineers, engineering ethics helps to improve these qualities in a better manner among the engineers, and not inculcating them newly.
The objective of engineering ethics is to enable the individuals to understand the moral responsibilities in a clear and careful manner. The main aim of studying engineering ethics is to increase the moral autonomy within them.
Moral autonomy is a skill and habit of thinking ethical problems in rational manners. These ethical issues are to be found out on the basis of moral problems. The general responsiveness of moral values are derived only form the training that we have received as a child with response to the right of others and ourselves.
Suppose the training is not given in the child hood itself, those children may be ill-treated or neglected by the society. These children in future may grow up with lack of sense on moral issues and they become sociopaths. They are never morally autonomous. They won’t feel sorry their mistakes and wrong doings.
These moral concerns can be initiated or imparted among the engineers, mainly by engineers of various subjects and also by the way of their friends,  or by social events occurring around them or by books and movies. So the main aim of all the courses of applied ethics is only to improve their abilities in order to face the moral issues critically. This can be achieved by improving the practical skills which are helping in producing effective independent or self-determination thoughts among the individuals about the moral problems.
SKILLS FOR IMPROVING MORAL AUTONOMY:
1. The engineers must have the Competence (capability) for identifying the moral problems and
ethical issues related to the field of engineering- they must have the ability to distinguish and
related these moral problems with the problems of law, economics, religions principles etc.
2. They must possess the skills of understanding, clarifying and assessing the arguments which
are against the moral issues.
3. They must have the ability to suggest the solutions of moral issues on the basis of
facts. These suggestions must be consistent and must include all the aspects of the
problem.  
4. They must have the imaginative skill to view the problems from all view points and also be
able to suggest proper alternative solutions.
5. They must be able to tolerate while giving moral judgments and decisions which may cause
trouble. i.e.they have to understand the difficulties in making moral decisions.
6. They must have adequate knowledge and understanding of the use of ethical language so as
to defend or support their views with others.
7. They must have some better knowledge in understanding the importance of suggestions and
better solutions while resolving moral problems and also about the importance of tolerance on
some critical situations.
8. They must understand the importance of maintaining the moral honesty i.e. the personal convictions and beliefs and individual’s professional life must be integrated.
Conclusion:
The moral autonomy helps an engineer to improve his moral outlook in an appreciable manner. It also helps to be morally responsible in his daily activities.

6. Explain the vital role of Consensus and Controversy while considering the moral autonomy in
    Engineering Ethics?
When individuals exercise moral autonomy, there is no assurance that they will arrive at the same verdicts or truths as the other people exercising their moral autonomy. There will be some basic moral differences. This is inevitable in a given situation of complex in nature.
Tolerance is needed among us for disagreement among autonomous reasonable and responsible persons.
The principle of tolerance suggests that aim of teaching engineering ethics is not to produce a unanimous conformity of outlook. Sometimes, consensus would be achieved by restoring to intimidation, coercion or dogmatic teaching.
One major goal with the field of engineering ethics is to promote tolerance, while exercising moral autonomy by the engineers. In the class room as well as in work places, there is need for authority. Teachers have authority over students and employers have authority over engineers. In both situations, the need for some consensus concerning the role of authority of individuals and their own moral views, consensus need not be undermined. Two general points about the relationships between moral autonomy and the authority can be illustrated with particular reference to a class room.



The first point is that moral autonomy and respect for authority are not incompatible. Moral autonomy is exercised on the basis of moral concern for other people and recognition of good moral reasons. In addition, valuing moral autonomy creates faith in most people’s capacity for moral reasonableness. There is a very good reason for accepting authority in the classroom. Authority provides the framework in which learning can take place.
Authority should not compel or intimidate or coerce the professionals. For example, without consensus among the students and teachers, classes could not be conducted in orderly ways. In case of controversy, trust and respect between the teachers and students would be eroded.
The second point is, sometimes a tension arises between individuals’ need for autonomy and the need for consensus about authority. Good faith differences among students and faculty with the rules of a given class need to be discussed openly wherever possible. Cheating is clearly forbidden. Cheating is dishonesty in trying to gain something underserved. Conflicts between autonomy and authority arise when authority is abused. In classes, the students should be allowed to express their own views. The authority is abused when discussion is discouraged by a professor’s intimidating approach.

7. Sate the Important or Uses of Ethical Theories.
Use of Ethical Theories. Ethical theories have three important uses:
(a) Understanding moral dilemma.
(b) Justify professional obligations and ideals.
(c) Relating ordinary and professional morality.
(a). Understanding and resolving Moral Dilemmas
Ethical theories are useful in understanding moral dilemmas. Some of the uses of ethical theories we have already studied are as follows:
a. Ethical theories help the professionals in identifying the moral considerations or the reasons that constitute a dilemma.
i) “Virtue ethics” emphasizes loyalty to employer and colleagues and loyalty to the publics
including safety of the public.
ii) “Duty ethics” emphasizes that professional has duties to protect the public affected by his
work. Also he has to respect his employers’ authority.
iii) Rights ethics” emphasizes the rights of the public that are to be protected, while at the same
time, the rights of the management have to be respected.
b.Ethical theories provide relevant information in solving moral dilemmas.
c. Sometimes ethical theories offer ways to rank the relevant moral considerations in order of
importance and thereby provide a rough guidance in solving moral problems.
d. Ethical theories help us to find alternative courses or action in solving moral dilemmas
e.Ethical theories strengthen our ability to reach balanced judgments.
(b). Justifying moral obligations and ideals
In one way or another, safety is involved in most of the issues in engineering ethics. Engineering ethics focuses the safety of public, while bringing useful technological products to the public. Medical ethics emphasizes or insists on the professional roles in promoting health of patients. Under the “act utilitarianism”, one of the obligations of engineers is to act in any situations so as to maximize the good consequences for every one affected by engineering projects and products.
“Rule-utilitarianism” stresses the engineers to act according to the rules, if it would produce the best consequences for everyone affected. “Duty-Ethics” emphasizes the obligations of engineers based on basic principles of duty. “Rights-Ethics” emphasizes the engineers how engineers safety obligations are based on the moral rights of those affected by their work. A rights-theory assumes that every person has an inherent right as a human being to pursue his or her interests, that is, interest of not harming others. No doubt, there is a direct link between basic human rights and the safety obligations of engineers.


(c). Relating professional and ordinary morality
The special obligations regarding safety that engineers acquire are well connected with ordinary or everyday morality. The same ethical theories that are useful in expressing everyday moral experience are also useful in justifying the obligations of professionals. There are four views concerning the origin and justification of the safety obligations of engineers.
(a) The first view is that engineers acquire moral obligations concerning safety subject to laws.
(b) The second view is that engineers acquire special obligations by joining a professional society and thereby agrees to live by the code of ethics of the society.
(c) The third view is that engineers acquire safety obligations, through the contractual agreements by which they are hired by their companies or employers.
(d) The fourth view is that engineers acquire safety obligations, upon entering into their careers, to protect and safeguard the public interests while performing their tasks.
Any how each of these four views prove to be inadequate by itself without reference to ethical theory. Engineers have special safety obligations in respect of their work. Special obligations of engineers arise out of special employment agreements or agreements with professional societies.
All engineers do have special safety obligations. Projects are directly related to the rights of persons affected by engineers’ work.

08. Explain theories about Right action.
The ethical theories are useful in many respects.
1. In understanding moral dilemma. They provide clarity, consistency, systematic and
comprehensive understanding.
2. It provides helpful practical guidance in moral issues towards the solution.
3. Justifying professional obligations and decisions, and
4. In relating ordinary and professional morality.
Ethical Theories/Approaches: Theories converge andreinforce the ethics, in deciding upon the actions
and justifying the results.
1. Utilitarian Theory:
The term Utilitarianism was conceived in the 19th century by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill
to help legislators determine which laws were morally best. They suggested that the standard of right
conduct is maximization of good consequences. Good consequences mean either ‘utilities’ or the ‘balance
of good over evil’.
(a) Identify the various courses of action available to us.
(b) Ask who will be affected by each action and what benefits or harms will be derived fromeach.
(c) Choose the action that will produce the greatest benefits and the least harm. The ethical
action is the one that provides the greatest good for the greatest number. The act utilitarian theory permitted a few immoral actions. Hence, there was need to develop rule
utilitarian theory to establish morality and justice, in the transactions. For example, stealing an old
computer from the employer will benefit the employee more than the loss to the employer. As per Act,
utilitarian this action is right. But rule utilitarian observes this as wrong, because the employee should
act as ‘faithful agent or trustee of the employees’. In another example, some undisciplined engineers
are terminated with the blame for the mistakes they have not committed.
The process is unfair although this results in promotion of overall good.
2. Duty Ethics
A. The duty ethics theory, proposed by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) states, that actions are
consequences of performance of one’s duties such as, ‘being honest’, ‘not cause suffering ofothers’, ‘being fair to others including the meek and week’, ‘being grateful’, ‘keepingpromises’
On the other hand, the DUTY ethics theory, as enunciated by John Rawl, gave importance
to the actions that would be voluntarily agreed upon by all persons concerned, assumingimpartiality.

Duty Ethics that reflect our moral convictions, namely:
1. Fidelity : duty to keep promises.
2. Reparation : duty to compensate others when we harm them.
3. Gratitude : duty to thank those who help us.
4. Justice : duty to recognize merit.
5. Beneficence : duty to recognize inequality and improve thecondition of others.
6. Self-improvement : duty to improve virtue and intelligence.
7. Non-malfeasance : duty not to injure others.
3. Rights Theory
Rights are entitlement to act or to have another individual act in a certain way. The RIGHTS approach to ethics has its roots in the 18th century philosopher Immanuel
Kant, who focused on the individual’s right to choose for oneself.
1. The right to access the truth: We have a right to be told the truth and to be informedabout
matters that significantly affect our choices.
2. The right of privacy: We have the right to do, believe, and say whatever we choose in our
personal lives so long as we do not violate the rights of others.
3. The right not to be injured: We have the right not to be harmed or injured unless wefreely and
knowingly do something to deserve punishment or we freely and knowinglychoose to risk such
injuries.
4. The right to what is agreed: We have a right to what has been promised by those with
whom we have freely entered into a contract or agreement.
Human rights: Human rights are explained in two forms, namely liberty rights and welfarerights. Liberty rights are rights to exercise one’s liberty and stresses duties on other peoplenot to interfere with one’s freedom. The four features of liberty rights, which lay the base for Government Administration, are:
1. Rights are natural in so far as they are not invented or created by government.
2. They are universal, as they do not change from country to country.
3. They are equal since the rights are the same for all people, irrespective of caste,race, creed or sex.
4. They are inalienable i.e., one cannot hand over his rights to another person such asselling oneself to
slavery.
4. The Virtue Theory
This emphasizes on the character rather than the rights or duties. The character is the pattern of virtues
.The theory advocated by Aristotle, stressed on the tendency to act atproper balance between extremes of conduct, emotion, desire, attitudes to find the golden mean betweenthe extremes of ‘excess’ or ‘deficiency’ On the other hand, the Virtue Theory proposed by Mac Intyre, highlighted on the actions aimedat achieving common good and social (internal) good such as social justice, promotion of health,
creation of useful and safe technological products and services. Five types of virtues that constitute
responsible professionalism, namely public-spirited virtues, proficiency virtues, team-work virtues,
self-governance virtues, and cardinal virtues.
5. Self-realisation Ethics
Right action consists in seeking self-fulfillment. In one version of this theory, the self to be realized is
defined by caring relationships with other individuals and society. In another version called ethical
egoism, the right action consists in always promoting what is good for oneself. No caring and society
relationships are assumed.
6. Justice (Fairness) Theory
The justice or fairness approach to ethics has its roots in the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher
Aristotle, who said that “equals should be treated equally and unequals unequally.” The basic moral
question in this approach is: How fair is an action? Does it treat everyone in the same way, or does it
show favoritism and discrimination?


09. Explain the Custom and Religion.
Custom : A traditional and widely accepted way of behaving or doing something that is
specific to a particular society, place, or time.
Ethical Pluralism: Various cultures in our pluralistic society lead to tolerance for various customs,
beliefs, and outlooks. Accordingly ethical pluralism also exists. Although many moral attitudes appearto be reasonable, the rational and morally concerned people cannot fully accept any one of the moralperspectives.
Ethical Relativism: According to this principle, actions are considered morally right when
approved by law or custom, and wrong when they violate the laws or customs. The deciding factor isthe law or the customs of the society.
1. Laws appear to be objective ways for judging values. The laws and customs tend to be
definite, clear and real, but not always.
2. Ethical relativism assumes that the values are subjective at the cultural level. Moral standardsalso vary from culture to culture.
3. Moral rationalism or moral contextualism: According to this, the moral judgments must bemade in relation to certain factors, which may vary from case to case. The morally importantfactors for making judgments include the customs and laws.

RELIGION
Religions have played major roles in shaping moral views and moral values, over geographical regions.
Christianity has influenced the Western countries,
Islam in the Middle-East countries,
Buddhism andHinduism in Asia, and Confucianism in China.Further, there is a strong psychological link between themoral and religious beliefs of people following various religions and faiths. Religions support moralresponsibility. They have set high moral standards. Faith in the religions provides trust and this trustinspires people to be moral. The religions insist on tolerance and moral concern for others. Manyprofessionals who possess religious beliefs are motivated to be morally responsible.
Each religion lays stress on certain high moral standards. For example, Hinduism holds polytheistic
(many gods) view, and virtues of devotion and surrender to high order. Christianity believes in one
deity and emphasizes on virtues of Love, Faith, and Hope. Buddhism is non-theistic and focuses on
compassion and Islam on one deity and adherence of ishanand prayer.
Judaism stresses the virtue of ‘tsedakah’. But many religious sects have adopted poor
moral standards, e.g., many religious sects do not recognize equal rights for women. The right to
worship is denied for some people. People are killed in the name of or to promote religion. Thus,
conflicts exist between the ‘secular’ and religious people and between one religion and another.

10. Explain the Models of Professional Roles.
Promotion of public good is the primary concern of the professional engineers. There are several rolemodels to whom the engineers are attracted. These models provoke their thinking, attitudes and actions.
1. Savior
The engineer as a savior, save the society from poverty, illiteracy, wastage, inefficiency, ill health,
human (labor) dignity and lead it to prosperity, through technological development and social planning.For example, R.L. Stevenson.

2. Guardian
He guards the interests of the poor and general public. As one who is conversant with technology
development, is given the authority befitting his expertise to determine what is best suited to the
society. For example, Lawrence of Arabia (an engineer).
3. Bureaucratic Servant
He serves the organization and the employers. The management of an enterprise fixes its goals and
assigns the job of problem solving to the engineer, who accepts the challenge and shapes them into
concrete achievements. For example, Jamshedji Tata.
4. Social Servant
It is one who exhibits social responsibility. The engineer translates the interest and aspirations of thesociety into a reality, remembering that his true master is the society at large.
For example, SirM.Viswesvarayya.
5. Social Enabler and Catalyst
One who changes the society through technology. The engineer must assist the management and the
society to understand their needs and make informed decisions on the desirable technological developmentand minimize the negative effects of technology on people and their living environment. Thus, heshines as a social enabler and a catalyst for further growth. For example, Sri SundarlalBahuguna.
6. Game Player
He is neither a servant nor master. An engineer is an assertive player, not a passive player who may
carry out his master’s voice. He plays a unique role successfully within the organization, enjoying theexcitement of the profession and having the satisfaction of surging ahead in a competitive world. Forexample, Narayanamurthy, Infosys and Dr. Kasthurirangan, ISRO.

11. Explain self-interest.
Self-interest is being good and acceptable to oneself. It is pursuing what is good for oneself. It is veryethical to possess self-interest. As per utilitarian theory, this interest should provide for the respect ofothers also. Duty ethics recognizes this aspect as duties to ourselves. Then only one can help others.
Right ethicist stresses our rights to pursue our own good. Virtue ethics also accepts the importance ofself-respect as link to social practices.
In Ethical Egoism, the self is conceived in a highly individualistic manner. It says that every one
of us should always and only promote one’s own interest. The ethical egoists do not accept the well
being of the community or caring for others. However this self interest should not degenerate into
egoism or selfishness, i.e., maximizing only own good in the pursuit of self-interest. The ethical
egoists hold that the society benefits to maximum when
(a) the individuals pursue their personal good
(b) the individual organizations pursue maximum profit in a competitive enterprise.
This is claimedto improve the economy of the country as a whole, besides the individuals. In such pursuits, bothindividuals and organizations should realize that independence is not the only important value. We arealso interdependent, as much as independent. Each of us is vulnerable in the society. Self-respectincludes recognition of our vulnerabilities and interdependencies. Hence, it is compatible with caringfor ourselves as well as others. Self-interest is necessary initially to begin with. But it should be one ofthe prime motives for action; the other motive is to show concern for others, in the family as well associety. One’s self-interest should not harm others. The principles of ‘Live and let (others) live’, and‘reasonably fair competition’ are recommended to professionals by the ethicists.












UNIT-3    ENGINEERING AS SOCIAL EXPERIMENTATION

1. Engineering is experimentation-Discuss.
Experimentation plays an important role in the design process. Preliminary tests are conducted from the time when it is decided to make a product in the following order.
1. Engineering concept. 2. Rough design. 3. Detailed design. 4. Production stage tests
5. Finished product
Beyond the specific tests and experiments, however, each engineering project may be viewed as an experiment.
Similarities to standard experiment
Engineering projects are to be viewed as engineering experiments. First, any project is carried out in partial ignorance. There are uncertainties in the model, in the characteristics of materials purchased, in the constancies of materials, about the nature of the stresses the finished products will bear with. Sometimes, laboratory testing may be by passed for the sake of completion of the project well ahead of time.
Second, the final outcomes of the engineering project like those of experiments are generally uncertain. The outcome of some projects may involve great risks. For example, a reservoir construction (dam) may do damage to the local area and people or to its ecosystem. If the dam leaks or breaks it cannot even serve the purpose.
A nuclear reactor may exhibit unexpected problems that may endanger surrounding population, leading to it shutdown, at greater cost to the owner and consumers. A hair dryer may expose the user to living damage from the asbestos insulation in its barrel.
Third, effective engineering depends upon knowledge gained about products, both before and after they leave the factory. Knowledge is needed for improving current products and creating better ones. Monitoring is thus essential in engineering as it is for experimentation in general. To monitor is, to make periodic observation and test in order to check for successful performance.





2. Engineers are responsible experiments-what are the four general features of such morally
responsible engineers?
Engineers are the main technical persons. They are not the sole experimenters. Their responsibility is shared with the management, public and others.
The four general features of morally responsible engineers are:
1. Conscientiousness. 2. Relevant information. 3. Moral autonomy. 4. Accountability
1. Conscientiousness
Conscientiousness means “conscience”. Here the intention alone is not sufficient. Open eyes, open mind are required to understand a given situation and its implications. The people who are involved or affected are to be taken care of.
About 90% of engineers are salaried employees, most of them work under large management and they are under pressure to function smoothly within the organization.
Engineering as social experimentation, the engineers have to act as guardians of the public interest. Their professional duties are to guard the welfare and safety of the public affected by engineering projects.
Engineers as social guardians should not force their own views for the social good upon the society. Their views are to be implemented with the consent of the people.
2. Relevant information
“Conscientiousness” is blind without relevant factual information. Hence showing moral concern, involves a commitment to obtain and access all available information pertinent to meeting one’s moral obligations.
It is very difficult to anticipate all dangers because engineering projects are generally experimental in nature. Individual engineers cannot privately conduct environmental and social impact studies.
3. Moral autonomy
Engineers are morally autonomous when their moral conduct and principles of action are of their own. Engineering as social experimentation helps to be of autonomous participation in one’s work. As an experimenter, an engineer exercises the sophisticated training that makes his or her identity as a professional.
In government projects, a dead line is fixed which becomes the ruling factor. Also, there are fears of competition. Tight schedule contributes losses in a project as it happened in the case of space shuttle “Challenger” as we shall see later.
Engineers have to look into their professional societies and other outside organizations for rural support. For example, a steam plant worker who refused to dump oil into a river in an unauthorized manner, was threatened with dismissal, but his union saw to it that the threat was never carried out.
Professional societies are meant for exchange of technical information, but they lack power to protect their members. Most engineers have no other group to depend on for such protection at the time of any problem or risk. Their professional societies will have to act and protect the interest of the engineers.
4. Accountability
Responsible people accept moral responsibility for their actions. “Accountability”, sometimes is understood with a sense of being faulty or blame worthy for misdeeds but the term “accountable” generally means that one is willing to submit to one’s actions. One is to be open and responsive for the assessment by others.
Submissions to an employer’s authority or any authority for that matter creates a narrow sense of accountability for the consequences of their actions. A psychologist says that there is strong psychological tendency among people to abandon personal accountability when they are placed under authority.




3. What are the roles played by Codes?
Codes of ethics are rules and regulations or guidelines drawn by a professional society, which makes the professional to act ethically.The following are the professional societies or bodies which are responsible for drawing the code of ethics.
In India
1. Institution of Engineers, India (IEI) – for Engineers
2. Medical Council of India (MCI) – for Doctors
3. Bar Council of India (BCI) – for Lawyers
In USA
1. Accreditation Board for Engineering & Technology (ABET)
2. National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE)
3. Institution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
2. Role of codes
Code of ethics provides the engineers,
1. Inspiration and guidance
2. Support
3. Discipline
4. Education and mutual understanding
5. Contributing to the profession’s public image
6. Protecting the status quo
7. Promoting business with interests
When an engineer acts unethically, an investigation can be done to find out whether his actions are ethical or unethical. If it is proved beyond doubt that his conduct is unethical, he will be expelled from the professional society. This is a powerful action by which, he loses respect among his own colleagues and society. License as practicing engineers will be cancelled. Such an action will make the professional to be more disciplined and act ethically.

4. Briefly describe the limitation of codes
Most codes are limited in many ways. Codes provide only a very general guidance for engineers to exercise their moral responsibilities, as social experimenters. They cannot expect codes to solve their moral problems in all cases. Hence the limitations of codes are as follows:
1. Codes are general guidelines. They may not be directly applicable to all situations. A ‘sense of responsibility’ is required by any professional for the correct application of code guidelines to a given situation.
2. Different entries in codes come into conflict with each other providing no guidance as to which entry has to be given priority. In such cases, moral dilemmas arise. For example,
Code section – 1
Engineers will act in professional manner for each client or an employer as a faithful agent.
Code section – 2
The engineer will have the proper regard for the safety, health and welfare of the public in discharging his professional duties.
Suppose a company, in the interest of the company takes a decision such that the decision is threatening to the public safety, under these circumstances, the engineer is in dilemma, whether he has to be faithful to his employer or he has to take care of the safety of the public?
Code section – 3
The third limitation on codes is that, they cannot serve as the final moral authority for professional conduct. The fourth limitation of codes is, “how there can exist different codes for different professional engineering societies?” This gives the members a feeling that ethical conduct is more relative than it is.The time has come for adoption of uniform codes by all engineering professional society. The current codes are not perfect but they are steps in the right direction.
5. Briefly list down the code of ethic for corporate members as per institution of    engineers, India.

A balanced outlook on laws
In 1969, at Santa Barbara Offshore in California, there spilled about 12 lakhs litres of crude oil. This made the spectacular beach, a black one, for a stretch of about 50km. This also damaged wildlife and the tourist trade was affected. This disaster prompted new laws and strict controls to prevent such occurrences in the future.
In drafting safety regulation for offshore drilling experienced petroleum engineers, geologist and well drillers are to be involved. Some safeguards are also required by law. Following the Santa Barbara incident, then Secretary of Petroleum department ordered an inspection of thousands of offshore oil wells. The inspection showed that hundreds of wells lacked mandatory safety chokes. The Secretary ordered prosecutions.
A regulated society
In order to live, work and play together in harmony as a society we have to balance individual needs and desires, against collective needs and desires. Ethical conduct provides such a balance. Engineers should play an active role in establishing rules of engineering as well as in enforcing them.
Industrial Standards Among many areas, industry is one which welcomes greater accuracy and quality in respect of standards.
Standards decrease production cost. Standards not only help the manufacturers but also benefit the clients and the public. They help the industries to be more competitive but reduces importance on name brands and give the smaller manufacturer a chance to compete. International standards are becoming a necessity in world trade.
The proper roles of law in engineering and sincere attempts on regulations have often failed. It would be wrong to say, rule making and rule following are futile.
Good laws effectively enforced, clearly produce benefits. Good laws establish reasonable minimum standards of professional conduct.
Moreover, standards serve as a powerful support and defense for those who want to act ethically.
Rules that govern the engineering practice should not be viewed as rules of a game but to be viewed as rules of responsible experimentation.
Such a view fixes greater responsibility on the engineer who is connected with his or her experiment. Precise rule and enforceable sanctions are expected to give good result in case of ethical misconduct. Rules must neither attempt to cover all possible outcomes not they must force the engineer to adopt a rigid, specified course of action. Regulations should be broad but it has to make the engineer accountable for his or her actions.
Laws serve as a protector of the ethical engineer, some laws are being slowly modified from the precedence of court verdicts. Sometimes engineer will try to settle cases out of the court, though this helps an engineer. It will not establish a legal precedence.

UNIT-IV SAFETY, RESPONSIBILITIES AND RIGHTS

1. Discuss the concept of Safety.
Engineering products are designed and manufactured with the aim of serving the public safely and without any risk. In spite of careful design and giving allowance for any unforeseen failures, our machines and control systems malfunction because of unexpected circumstances. Sometimes they fail and cause accidents. As a result “safety” is not there and the “risk” becomes inevitable.Nuclear Power Plant accidents at Three Miles Island and Chernobyl tell us about the complexity in engineering systems and the need for safe exits.
Engineers are to work as a team in a company. They are paid salary for their work. They are expected to be loyal and honest to their employers. Engineers have moral responsibilities to discharge their duties in the interest of the company. At the same time, they have rights to freely pursue their work. Also they have the right to refuse illegal and unethical activities. Further, we will study- What is loyalty? What are professional rights? What are employee rights? and so on.
The Concept of Safety
We expect engineering projects not to do any harm to the man and to the man and the environment. What may be safe for one person may not be safe for other person. For example, a power saw in the hands of the child is unsafe, but, it is safe in the hands of an adult. A sick adult is more prone to ill effects from air pollution than a healthy adult.
Absolute safety is neither attainable nor affordable. Yet for our discussion, let us discuss what we mean by “safety”.“Safety” means the various risks a person judges to be acceptable. According to William W. Lawrence, “A thing is safe, if its risks are judged to be acceptable”.
Let us consider first, that we “under estimate” the risks of a thing, say “Toaster” by mistake. We judge that it is very safe and buy it. At home when we make toast using the toaster one receives severe electric shock and burn, so that he is hospitalized. Now we conclude that we were wrong in our earlier judgement. The toaster was not safe at all, that is, its risks should not have been acceptable earlier. By Lawrence definition, we are forced to say that prior to the accident, the toaster was full safe, because at that time we judged the risks to be acceptable.
Second, let us take a case where we, “Over estimate”, the risks of a thing. For example, we think fluoride in drinking water will kill a person. According to Lawrence definition, the fluoride water is unsafe since we judge its risks are unacceptable. It is impossible for someone to prove that the water actually safe.
Again according to Mr. Lawrence, the water becomes unsafe the moment we will judge the risks involved are unacceptable for us. The concept of safety allows to say that the water has been safe all along in spite of such irrational judgement.
Third, there is a situation in which people make no judgement at all, about the risks of things that are acceptable or unacceptable. They simply do not think about it. By Lawrence definition, this means that the thing is neither safe nor unsafe with respect to that group. We normally say that some cars are safe and others are unsafe, many people never even think about the safety of cars they drive.
Safety is frequently valued in terms of degrees and comparisons. Hence we speak of something “fairly safe” or “relatively safe”.
For example, airplane travel is safer than automobile travel because for each kilometer travelled, the plane travel leads to a fewer deaths and injuries.
For engineer the term “safety” will mean the safe operation of systems and the prevention of natural or human caused disasters.

2. Discuss the concept of Risk.
A risk is a thing if it exposes us to unacceptable danger or hazard. A risk is the potential that something unwanted and harmful may occur. We take a risk when we undertake something or use a product that is unsafe.
Risk, like harm covers many different types of unwanted happenings. In technology, it includes dangers of bodily harm, of economic loss, or of environmental degradation. These are caused by delayed job completion, faulty products or systems or environmentally harmful solutions to technological problems. Natural hazards continued to threaten human population. Floods, storms, heavy snowfall, earthquakes affected our population and cause a greater damage to the technological networks for water, energy and food. Here a word should be said about disasters. A disaster takes place when a serious accident happens with a state of unpreparedness. Titanic collision with an iceberg happened to be a disaster because emergency preparedness were inadequate. There were only a few life boats. The warning about iceberg was not heeded. The severity of the risk is judged by its nature and possible consequences.
3. Explain the briefly about assessment of safety and risk
Assessment of Safety and Risk
Absolute safety is not possible. Any improvement in making a product safe involves an increase in the cost of production. A product involves primary cost (Production) and secondary cost, both are taken into consideration in calculating the total cost. The secondary costs are warranty expenses, loss of customer goodwill and loss of even customers and so on. Therefore, it is very important for the manufacturer and the users to have some understanding to know about the risks connected with any product and know how much it will cost to reduce those risks.
P - Primary cost of products, including cost of safety measures involved.
S - Secondary costs including warranty, loss of customer goodwill
T - Total cost+P+S
Minimum total cost occurs at M.
H - Highest acceptable risk may fall below risk at least cost M.
H - H and its higher costs must be selected as design or operating cost.

Figureindicates how high safety and low risks lead to high primary cost and low secondary cost. The other extreme is low safety and high risks. One saves on primary cost but pays more because of high secondary costs. In between where the slopes of the primary and secondary costs, curves are equal in magnitude but opposite in direction, is the point of minimum total cost (M). If all costs can be quantified, that optimum point will be the goal. For an optimal design, we must be clear about how to determine the risk and how to compare losses with benefits.
But generally among the industries the information regarding losses and profits are not freely shared. New engineers and new companies have to start from scratch, although sometimes past experience is used effectively to educate the beginners or freshers.
1. Uncertainties in design
Risk is never intentionally incorporated into a product, Risk arises because of the many uncertainties faced by the design engineers, the manufacturing engineer and even applications engineers.
There are uncertainties regarding the quality of materials by which the products are made. The level of skill in manufacturing a product is also factor for uncertainties.
Even a careful analyst will face difficulties when confronted with data as illustrated in the figure. The Figure gives the thermal conductivity of the copper over a wide range of temperatures as observed by different investigators. The variation in result will influence engineering decision about safety.
Thermal conductivity of copper wire under different temperatures studied by different investigators.
An engineer has to be cautious even with the standard materials specified for normal use. For example, the compressive strength of concrete is routinely carried out,where as the strength of steel is often taken for granted. To account for uncertainties about materials or components, as well as incomplete knowledge about the actual operating conditions of the projects, engineers have introduced a factor called “factor of safety”. Factor of safety is defined as ultimate stress by working stress (Safe or allowable stress). When actual stress on the member exceeds the allowable stress it will fail. That is, the product may be said to be safe when the actual stress less than the allowable stress.
2. Testing for safety
Somehow the engineers have to ensure safety for this, mostly he has to rely on experience. But the experience gained by one engineer is not often passed on to others.
Another way of ensuring safety is gaining experience through test. Under certain conditions, testing can be a valuable source of information, if testing the materials of a product is carried out to destruction. The more useful procedure is prototype testing.
Even prototype test and routine quality assurance test are not carried out frequently and properly. For example, the general motor company at one time was found to have false emission test data.
In short we cannot trust testing procedures uncritically. Time pressure is one factor that will result in cheap testing. Sometimes the testers are bribed to give false results. Sometimes even without testing, the tester on the job certifies that testing have been undertaken.

4. Explain the concept of Risk-Benefit Analysis.
Many large projects, especially public works are undertaken based on risk-benefit analysis.
The following are the questions to be answered:
i) Is the product worth risks connected with its use?
ii) What are the benefits?
iii) Are benefits more than the risks and so on?
iv) Are we willing to take a risk as long as the project gives sufficient benefit or gain?
v) If the risk and benefit can be readily expressed in a common set of units, say lives or rupees, it is relatively easy to carry out risk benefit analysis and we can try to come out on their benefit side. For example, an inoculation programme may result in some deaths, but it is worth the risk if more lives are saved by controlling an epidemic.
Another Example may be given to indicate the risk benefit ratio, which is as follows.
When a dam is constructed across a river, due to impounding of water on the upstream side of dam, large area will be submerged. Sometimes a number of villages have to be evacuated due to submergence by water on the upstream side. This is the risks.
Compared to those risks, benefits are more in the long run. Water stored can be used for irrigation, power production, drinking purpose, fishing and industries. Since here, the benefits are more than risks, it is worth taking up the dam project.
When risk can be expressed and measured in one set of units say deaths on highways and benefits in another set of units, say speed of travel, we can easily calculate the ratio of risk to benefits for different designs, when applied to the field. Risk benefit analysis like cost benefit analysis advises us about an undertaking a project.
While calculating the risks, the rights of the people should not be violated. If so, they should be provided with safer alternatives. Engineer’s decisions have direct impact for people who feel the impact directly.
Personal Risks
When sufficient information is available, an individual will be able to decide whether to participate in a risky activity. Individuals are ready to take voluntary risks than involuntary risks. Involuntary risks are the activities over which they have no control. That is to say, even when the voluntary risks are many times likely to produce a fatality than involuntary risks, people are ready to take voluntary risks.
The difficulty in assessing personal risks arises when we consider involuntary risks. For example, Mr. Raman had a discomfort over living near a refinery. Let us assume that the public was in favour of building a new refinery at that location. Mr. Raman already lived in that area. The following questions arise.
1. Will others prevent the construction of “Refinery” at that location?
2. Are the local people entitled for any compensation if the plant is built even after objections?
3. How much compensation will be adequate?
These questions arise in many instances. Building a nuclear power plant is another example. The problem of quantification raises many problems in assessing personal safety and risk. For example, “how to assess the value of an individual’s life in terms of rupees?
This question is as difficult as deciding whose life is worth saving.
The result of these difficulties in assessing personal risks is that analysis use whatever quantitative measures are readily available on hand. In respect of voluntary risks, one may make judgments on the basis by an individual or it is much easier to use statistical average to calculate the personal risk in terms of rupees.
5. Discuss various method of reducing risks.
The engineer is faced with a difficult task of designing and manufacturing safe products. They have to give a fair accounting of benefits and risks for those products. They have to meet production schedule and help his or her company to maintain profits all the time. Of these objectives, the product safety is to be given top priority. The various steps towards reducing risks are as follows:
1. The operator should not do any error in operation. He should not be negligent towards discharging his duties. Accidents are caused by dangerous conditions that can be corrected. Dangerous design characteristics are to be given due consideration in the design. Safety devices may be provided to reduce accidents.
2. It safety is built into a product in the beginning itself it may not increase the cost. Any changes in the design later, may lead to increase in the cost.
3. We become aware about safety after a product has been manufactured and tested. If safety is not built into the original design, people can be hurt during the time of usage. Hence one should not be reluctant to change the design, safety point of view.
4. Warnings about hazards should be adequate. It is also better to have insurance coverage, but a warning merely indicates that a hazard is known to exist. This provides only minimal protection against harm. Sometimes, insurance rates are sky rocketing.
Engineers should understand that reducing risk is not an impossible task even under financial and time constraints. Hence in the design, safety I sto be given top priority by an engineer.

6. Explain with examples the methods of improved safety.
Examples of improved safety
1. The “magnetic door catch” introduced on refrigerators. This prevents death by suffocation of children trapped in them. The catch provided to the door makes possible, door to be opened from the inside without major effort. This is also cheaper compared to old type of latches.
2. The “Dead man-handle” used by the engineer (engine-driver) to control train’s speed. The train is accelerated only as long as some pressure is applied on the handle. If the engine driver reduces the pressure on the handle, the speed of the train also comes down. When the pressure is zero, the train automatically stops.
3. A car “safety belt” is a simple attachment on the door ensures that the belt automatically goes into the position whenever one enters the car.

7. Explain the different types of employers authority that are to be respected by the
Engineers.
Respect for Authority
Salaried engineers have obligation to respect their employers’ authority. The different types of authority are as follows:
1. Institutional Authority. 2. Expert Authority. 3. Power Authority



Institutional Authority
Institutional authority means the institutional right given to a person to exercise the power based on the resources of the institution. Institutional authority (or) the institutional right is given to the individuals in order to meet their institutional duties.
For example, the tasks of a manager are
1. To allocate money or other resources:
2. To make policy decisions: and
3. To supervise the projects and issue directives to subordinates on particular jobs.
In order to enable the mangers to meet these duties, organizations have assigned to them the required institutional authority.
Institutional authority and duties are the two sides of the same coin. Project engineers, for example, have their institutional duty to see that the projects they supervise are successfully completed. They are given the institutional rights or authority necessary to carry out these duties. No interference from the organization should be faced by the engineers in performing their assigned tasks.
Expert Authority
Expert authoritymeans the authority given to the individuals best qualified to serve their institution’s goals in a given capacity. But in practice, there is not always a perfect match between the authority granted and the qualifications needed to exercise it. Incompetence is also commonly found in individuals in all institutions.
Expert authority also means the possession of special knowledge, skill or competence to perform the tasks and to give sound advice. In this meaning doctors are authorities on health. Civil engineers are authorities on structures and on transportation. Lawyers are authorities on law. In other words expert authority is “authority of leadership”. That is the expertise to effectively guide others.
Power Authority
Institutional authority must be distinguished from power authority. Institutional authority carries with it an allotment of the resources needed to complete their tasks. Ineffective persons may not be able to assume the power corresponding to their position and they will unable to implement anything. Authority and power should go hand-in-hand. Persons who are ineffective may not be able to exercise their power and make employees to be more productive. For example, a manager who lacks leadership qualities may be unable to motivate and encourage employees to produce more.
Conversely, professionals who are effective may acquire more power or influence even beyond their positions they hold. By doing so, they are capable of motivating and encouraging employees under their control. That is, to say, power authority can be exercised only by effective engineers.

3. Discuss the concept of Collective Bargaining.
Employees (workers) form an association, called “union”, in order to protect their rights. Union, as a faithful agent of employees, is to safeguard their interests and rights. When the management refuses to fulfill their legitimate rights, employees resort to strike. At this stage, the representative from both sides (employer and employee), meet to discuss the various issues. They ultimately reach a compromising solution, acceptable to both sides. This is known as “Collective Bargaining”.
Collective bargaining is explained in detail below,
Engineers as professionals, having highest ethical standards and professional conduct, cannot be loyal to their companies, while being members and supporters of a union.
Many observers have argued that the ethical aspects of professionalism in engineering are incompatible with unionism.
Unionism and professionalism are incompatible. Professionalism gives importance to the interest of the society, of the clients and of the employer.
Unionism gives importance for collective bargaining, being the agent of employees. It gives top priority to the interests of the members of the union, by neglecting the interest of their clients or employers. A number of professional societies view that loyalty to employers and to the public is not possible with any form of collective bargaining.
The Institution of Engineers, India [IE (I)], in its codes of ethics have mentioned that,
i) Engineers shall not actively participate in strikes, picket lines or other collective coercive action.
ii) The engineer will act in professional matters for each client for employer as a faithful agent or trustee.
Professional societies oppose unionization or unionism because unionization gives issues of conflicting loyalties and it is considered as unprofessional.
The “professional society” considers active support of a strike or other collective action used against an employer as a violation of professional ethics. The duty of engineers is to serve as their employers’ “faithful agents of trustees”.
The several features of strike that go against employers are
i) It goes against the desires or interests of the employer
ii) It uses coercion or force against the employer;
iii) It involves collective and organized opposition; and
iv) It is unprofessional and disloyal.
Example
There are a few supervising engineers in a company, who are being underpaid. They explained the situation to their employers but to no avail. They threatened in a polite way that they would seek employment elsewhere. In doing so, they acted against the desires and interests of their employer. They used a type of collective coercion. But they have not acted
unethically or violated their duty to their employers. The point is that the duty to an employer has limits. Loyalty and faithfulness do not always mean sacrificing one’s self interest to an employer’s business interest. It is not always true that a strike or other collective coercive action by the employees is unprofessional, unethical or disloyal to employers. One must look at merits and demerits of a union, strikes and situations.
The above example, that is, the question of under payment suggests two things
1. Employee duty to employers does not mean unlimited sacrifice of economic self-interest. Faithful agency primarily means carrying out one’s assigned tasks. It does not mean that one should never negotiate salary and other economic benefits.

2. The code of ethics states that the duty to employers is limited by the duty to protect public health, safety and welfare. Moreover duty to employers also means workers safety and the rights of employees. Here rights mean the rights of an employee to refuse to carry out illegal or unethical directions.
Collective action of a coercive nature may sometimes be the only effective way to resolve matters of overriding importance. The Professional Society like Institution of Engineers (India) recommends that the employees and engineers are to settle the disputes with employers, with reasonable dialogue. Certainly where it is feasible, dialogue is preferable in place of collective coercive force.
How a union has to act in public service point of view
The most important duty of an engineer is to serve the public. Generally unions try to safeguard the interest of their members, not the interest of the public. Strikes which are the ultimate source of power of unions, may play a havoc with the public good. We know what will happen if police officers, fire fighters, transport workers go on a strike. Then we can imagine what will happen to the economy of the country if all engineers and technicians were to go on a strike.
Sometimes engineering unions act irresponsibly. Of course, many unions have acted in that way but not all the unions. Union or an association, led by professional engineers can devote itself to promote the interest of engineers by collective bargaining. It can also devote itself to give positive support to ethical conduct by engineers
5. Explain confidentially.
Keeping confidence or confidentiality is the most important duty of any professional. Lawyers must keep clients’ information confidential. Doctors must keep information about their patients confidential. Teachers must keep personal information about their students confidential. Similarly, employed engineers must keep information about their companies and clients confidential.
Definition
Confidential information is the information which is desirable to keep secret in a government department or a private company. Engineers and the employees are expected to keep information “confidential”. They are expected not to leak out any confidential information to unauthorized people both inside and outside the company.
Any information which is to be kept as “confidential”, if it is known to others, it will cause harm to the corporation or the clients. Any information to keep secret in order to compete effectively against business rivals, is known as confidential information.
Confidentiality related terms
There are two terms that are related to confidentiality, they are
1. “Privileged information”
2. “Proprietary Information”
i) Privileged Information
“Privileged Information” is a similar expression for “confidential information”. Privileged information means the information that will be available only on the basis of special privileged. Special privilege means the privilege accorded to an employee working on a special assignment. It covers information that has not yet become public or widely known within an organization.
ii) Proprietary Information
“Proprietary Information” is an information that a company owns. It is the information owned by the proprietor in a legal sense. This means “property” or “ownership”.
Trade secrets versus patents
An approximate synonym for “proprietary information” is “trade secrets”. A trade secret can be any type of information that has not been made public. That is, an employer wants to keep it secret. It may be data about designs and technical processes and so on. Trade secrets are given limited legal protection against employee or contractors. They are protected by common law. That is, the law generated by previous court rulings. An employer can sue en employee or contractors for divulging trade secrets.
Patents differ from trade secrets. Patent legally protect specific product from manufacturing and selling by competitors without the permission of patent holder. Trade secrets have no such protection.
A corporation may come to know about a competitor’s trade secrets through legal means, that is, by “reverse engineering”. In this, an unknown design can be traced out by analyzing the final product. But patents have a drawback of being made public and permitting competitors an easy way or working about the product any they may find alternative designs. In US, patents can be held only for 17 years. For trade secrets, there is no time limit. Patents are protected by “status laws” passed, in order to provide incentives for creativity.

6. Discuss Intellectual property rights and various forms of IPR.
Intellectual Property
An idea, a design, a manuscript, an invention, or a concept which will give rise to a useful product / application, is known as an “Intellectual Property”.
The inventor of an intellectual property likes to have a reasonable reward for his invention. The problem with an intellectual property is that it can be copied, imitated or reproduced. This reduces the returns to the inventor. The inventor has the right to derive monetary benefits for his invention, that is, intellectual property. This right is known as Intellectual Property Right (IPR). The IPR is also recognized by the Government so long as it is not detrimental to the society.

Protection of Intellectual Property Right:
Intellectual Property Rights may be protected by several forms. Each form of protection has its own advantages and disadvantages. The various forms of IPR protection are as follows
1. Trade Secrets. 2. Patents. 3. Copyright.
Trade Secrets
When an individual or an organization owns an intellectual property, does not disclose the property to any one and keeps it as a “secret” to safeguard his business interests, is called “Trade Secret”.
Advantages
i) Duration is unlimited for trade secrets.
ii) The cost of filing, contesting and enforcing patents are saved.
iii) Someone cannot easily improve upon the product or process. Thus the risk is reduced.
iv) There is no need for protection under, say, patents.
Disadvantages
i) Maintaining a trade secret is a costly affair.
ii) It is not protected from independent innovation or invention.
iii) Trade secret cannot be applied to many inventions like equipment design, books, trade secret of Coco Cola, Pepsi etc.,
Patent
The right granted by government to an inventor to prevent others from imitating, manufacturing, using or selling his invention for commercial use during a specified period, is known as “Patent” or “Patent Right”.
Patent Rights
Patents are granted for
1. An invention (including a product)
2. Innovation or improvement in an invention
3. The process of a product
4. A concept
Limits of a Patent
1. Time limit – A patent is valid for a specified period of time form the date of award, in most countries this period is 15 to 20 years.
  2. Space limit – A patent is valid only in the country where it is awarded. It is not valid
other countries.
Copy – right
Certain intellectual properties are not patentable. They are protected by “Copy right”. The copy right is limited both in time and extent. Copy right provides protection for a specified period from reproduction of materials either in full or in part. It, however, does not prevent another person from using either the idea or the information contained in a copy right laws are at par with International Standards.
Benefits of IPR
i) IPR encourages and protects intellectual creations.
ii) It motivates investment in Research and Development (R&D) activities.
iii) Consumers are directly benefited with the results of inventions.
iv) It spreads new ideas and technology quickly and widely.








7. Explain Conflict of Interest.
Conflicts of interest are the situations where professionals have a self interest. If self interest is given importance, it may keep them away from meeting their obligations to their employers or clients. The following are the examples
1. To serve as a consultant for a competitor’s company
2. Personal interest, such as making private investments in a competitor’s company.
In this context, it is better to have a clear understanding of what the conflicts of interest are and in what way they are objectionable.
Conflicts of interest distort good judgement, especially where professionals are involved. Conflicts of interest threaten good judgement in serving an employer or client. Conflicts of interest arise when two conditions are met.
1. The engineer is in a position to exercise good judgement on behalf of the interest of an employer or the client.
2. The engineer has self interest that will threaten good judgement in meeting the interest of the employer or the client.
Because of the various possible outside interest, conflicts of interests may arise in many ways. A test for identifying conflicts of interest is whether there may be a possibility of outside interest influencing one’s judgements.
Confliction Interest
“Conflicts of interest” is different from “conflicting interest.
A student, for example has got 5 arrears of subjects. He knows that there is time to study adequately only 3 subjects. So he must choose which are the three subjects to be studied for the examination.
Another example is, an investor may desire to invest in two financial companies but has funds for investment in only one financial company. In such cases a person is surrounded by “conflicting interest”. “Conflicting interests” means a personhas two or more desires that all cannot be satisfied simultaneously under the given circumstances. But we cannot say that he is wrong to try pursuing them all at a time.
Gifts and Bribes
A bribe is a substantial amount of money or goods offered apart from business contracts with the aim of gaining from the contract or keeping the contract. Bribes are made in secret Gifts are not bribes as long as they are small amount offered in the normal conduct of business. This amount or money is given for recognition of service. Pre-arranged payments made by contractors to the companies or their representatives in exchange for contracts awarded, are called, “Kickbacks”. This is also a form of bribe.
Often companies give gifts to employees of government agencies or partners in trade. Many such gifts are unobjectionable. Some are similar to bribes. Bribes are illegal or immortal because, they are capable of threatening fairness in competitive situations.
Since bribes can bias judgements, companies have given elaborate guidelines for their employees, illustrating acceptable and unacceptable gifts. But in some companies officials are prohibited by law from accepting anything of value.
Engineers should not accept money directly or indirectly from contractors, or their agents in connection with the work. This is one of the guidelines. If one receives any gifts which will cause an embarrassing consequence for the company when made public, then the gift is considered as a bribe. Entertainment, travel and other social functions give rise to special difficulties. Many companies encourage their employers to form social relationships with the suppliers and the clients, in order to enhance their business interest. This is also another form of bribery. Engineers are the objects of bribery attempts.


8. Occupational Crime and types of Occupational Crime- Explain.
Occupational crimes are illegal activities in one’s company or an organization. It is the violation of laws regulating the work activities. When workers or professionals are committed, occupational crime is called “White-collar crime”. Many occupational crimes fail to meet professional obligations. Occupational crime sometimes promotes the interest of one’s employer rather than oneself. Occupational crime deserves attention because it frequently takes place, in a greater magnitude. Also it invites the attention of the public. A theft by an employee is a type of occupational crime during the time of employee’s assigned tasks. Similarly, leaking out certain trade secrets to other companies is also an occupational crime.
Types of occupational crimes
I. Industrial Espionage.
II. Price Fixing
III. Endangering Lives





Industrial Espionage
Industrial espionage means betraying one’s own company to other companies for his own benefits or gains. For example, the army secrets, of our own country and atomic energy secret were once sold to Pakistan.
Employees who betray the company secrets need not be criminals. An employee even without being a criminal may buy trade secrets from one company and sell them to another company. A typical example of industrial espionage is given below.
Mr. Kumar was a semiconductor expert in Silicon Valley, U.S.A. He established his own company in 1973. He became a familiar figure in the valley and he developed close contacts that enabled him to buy and sell competitors secrets.
Mr. Kumar sold National Semiconductor secrets to Intel Corporation. He also stole from Intel and sold to National Semiconductor, though Intel has the tightest security system in Silicon Valley. Kumar found it easy to buy a number of major trade secrets from former employees and sold the secrets to both American and European companies.
At last, Mr. Kumar was booked for this domestic crime and convicted by the court.
Price Fixing
Law prevents companies from fixing the price of a product that will prevent free competition and trade, but this sort of habit is often violated by many industries.
For examples, let us consider the project namely, the construction of a dam. Tenders are floated in which different construction companies take part in bidding. Before bidding starts, the managing directors of various companies may meet together and may arrive at common understanding in the cost of the project in the name of lowest bidding. This type of bidding is a conspiracy by the construction companies. This is an occupational crime.
Endangering Lives
Employers who expose their employees to safety hazards escape criminal penalties, but the victim will sue the companies for compensation under civil law.
Workers are prone to diseases like heart diseases, lung diseases, eye problems when they happen to work in chemical industries, cement industries, asbestos industries and so on. When the employees are appointed in the company, the employer is expected to brief them about the environmental hazards, they have to face at the time of their works. In case, employees are affected by any of the disease as said above, they are eligible for compensation in the form of monetary benefits. The employers should be prepared for this.
Not briefing about environmental hazards and not paying compensation for victims are considered to be occupational crimes. To protect the employers from safety hazards, they are to be provided with boots, rubber gloves, aprons, helmets, respirators and proper ventilation, including free medical and transport facilities.


9. What are the Professional Rights?
Engineers have several types of moral rights, apart from human, employee and professional rights, as human beings. Engineers have fundamental rights to live and to pursue their work in ethical ways. They should not be discriminated in employment on the basis of sex, race or age. As an employee, one has the right to receive one’s salary and other company benefits in return for performing one’s duties.
Engineers as professionals also have other rights which are as follows:
1. The right to express one’s professional judgement freely,
2. The right to refuse to carry out illegal and unethical activities,
3. The right to talk publicly about one’s work within bounds.
4. The right to be involved in the activities of professional bodies.
5. The right to protect clients and the public from the dangers of one’s work, and
6. The right to professional recognition for one’s services.
These rights may be called as fundamental professions rights.

A few important other professional rights are:
1. The Right of Professional Conscience
Engineers have moral right to perform their professional responsibilities according to their professional conscience without interference from others. This is called “the right of professional conscience”.
2. Institutional Recognition of Rights
Moral rights of engineers is one thing that is required. At the same time the moral right is to be respected by other and given recognition within an organization. This is also required when engineers are entitled to the basic right of professional conscience. They may also expect recognition by the employers.
3. Specific Rights Recognition
Engineers have a general obligation to protect the safety and well being of the public. Correspondingly, the have a general right to protect the safety and well being of the public. The obligation to the public requires “Whistle-blowing”.
“Whistle-blowing” means when an employee or former employee conveys information about a moral problem to the authority to take action on the problem. Alerting the authority or cautioning the authority about a moral problem to take action on the problem, in the interest of the company, is known as “whistle-blowing”.
For example, let us say, an employee A is leaking out certain company trade secrets to a competitor’s company. An employee B who somehow comes to know about this and informs the authority to take action on A. This sort of alerting by an employee is known as “whistle – blowing”.
4. Conscientious Refusal Rights.
Conscientious refusal right is the right to refuse to be engaged in an unethical behavior.
5. Recognition Rights
Engineers have a right to professional recognition for their work and contributions. This recognition involves fair, and monetary remuneration. The right for reasonable remuneration is clear in corporations that make excessive profits while engineers are paid low salary. For creative engineers who make the discoveries leading to their patents, if a patent leads to lakhs of rupees of revenue for a company, it is unfair to give the discoverer a nominal bonus and a “thank you” letter.
Without a fair remuneration, engineers cannot concentrate in the production. While carrying out their duties and maintaining up-to-date skills, their time will be taken up by money worries. We can imagine how it is unhealthy to work hard at one’s job without proper recognition. Unrecognized work also demeaning. Hence engineers are to be given proper recognition by the management for the hard work and extra contributions by them.

10. What are the employee rights?
Employees are also entitled for moral or legal rights. For example, an employee is having the right to disobey unethical directives and to express dissent about company policies. Thus the professional rights are also employee rights, since both come under a category of salaried class.
Employee rights include fundamental human rights related to their employment situations. Employees should not be discriminated against one’s race, sex, age or nationality.
A few important “Employee Rights” are as follows
1. No organization shall discriminate against an employee for criticizing.
2. No organization discriminates against an employee for being engaged in outside activities of his or her choice.
3. No organization shall deprive an employee of the enjoyment of reasonable privacy in his or her place of work. No personal information about employees shall be collected.
4. No employee in an organization, who finds fault that his rights have been violated, shall be discharged or penalized without a fair enquiry in the organization.
5. Rights to free speech and dissent, conscientious refusal right to obey unethical directives are also the rights of employees.

11. What is Discrimination? Explain with any one example.
The word discrimination means preference given to an employees on the grounds of sex, race, nationality etc., whether such preference is justified or not. Discrimination means morally unjustified treatment of people, an arbitrary or irrelevant ground. Discrimination also means “Preferential treatment”.
Employees should not be discriminated because of one’s sex, race, skin colour, age or religious outlook. Such discrimination is dangerous in an organization because, work is fundamental to a perosn’s self-image, self-identify and self-respect. Accordingly, human rights are to be given fair and decent treatment at the work place.
Application of government rules within an organization towards non-discrimination, the extent of the right to non-discrimination are highly controversial issues. These issues have significance for the engineers.
Consider the following example, to show how the discrimination is dangerous (injurious) in a work environment. There exists a vacancy in a thermal plant for the post of thermal plant engineer. Normally such vacancies are filled by promotions within the plant. The best qualified person in terms of training and year of experience is an Indian – American engineer. As per the rules and regulations, this engineer is to be promoted as thermal plant engineer.
But the management believes, however the majority of workers being Americans, would be unhappy if an Indo-American engineer occupies that post. The management feared that there will be non-cooperation and inefficiency by the employees. The management decided to promote and transfer an American engineer from another plant to fill up the vacancy.





























UNIT-5 GLOBAL ISSUES
1. Discuss briefly the role of Multinational Corporations on Global Issues.
On December 3rd 1984 in Union Carbide’s Plant in Bhopal, India, there was a gas leak and overheating in a storage tank. The tank contains Methyl isocyanate- a toxic ingredient used in manufacture of pesticides. Within an hour, the leak exploded in a gush that sent about 40 tones of poisonous gas into the atmosphere. The result was, the worst ever industrial accidents in Indian history. As a result 7,000 people died, 10,000 people severely injured. Compensation for the victims was very small and that too was distributed very late.
The disaster happened probably by lack of safety measures and total judgement errors committed by plant operators.
Multinational Corporation do huge business in more than one country. For example, in 1984 Union Carbide operated in about 40 host countries, in addition to itw own country, the United States.
The benefits to US companies on doing business in underdeveloped countries are very clear, namely, cheap labour, availability of naturals resources, favourable tax arrangements, fresh markets for products, new jobs, higher profits, transfer of low end technologies and so on.
1. International Human Rights
Human rights mean that one has to be treated with dignity and respect by other. Accordingly all people have rights to life, liberty and their pursuit of happiness.
Corporations doing business in other countries should apply these, “Human rights” concept more practically. Thomas Donaldson has given a list of international human rights. Human rights imply liberty and fairness.
Thomas Donaldson suggest that there are ten international human rights which are as follows
1. The right to freedom of physical movements
2. The right to ownership of property
3. The right to freedom from torture
4. The right to a fair trial
5. The right to non discrimination against race or sex
6. The right to physical security
7. The right to freedom of speech and association
8. The right to minimal education
9. The right to political participation
10. The right to subsistence
According to Donaldson, a multinational corporation should do business in a country without violating the human rights. If they violate, they must simply leave that country.
2. When in Rome, do as the Romans do
When a country A sets up industry in another country B, country A (guest country) should follow the culture and the practices dominant in the country B (host country). This is the meaning of the old saying, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do”. Some countries have a view opposite to this, that is, country A practices the same customs in country B, as followed at home country A.
Prior to independence, in South Africa, its political and economic systems were based on the culture of racial separation called “:Apartheid”. The blacks were paid less wages than the wages paid to the whites for same work. Promotions to higher posts were adopted to whites only. It was more difficult for black employees. Segregation was followed in common places like rest rooms, lounge areas, and assembly halls. No black person had the right to vote, to free expression and association.
The above example clearly shows how the whites of U.K. did not respect the local black people and their rights. That is “when in Rome, do as Romans do” principle was totally violated.
3. Promoting morally just measures
It is very clear that multinational corporations should respect the basic rights of the people in the countries where they do business. It also requires that more respect is to be given when wealthy countries do business in under developed countries. Acceding to the principle of utilitarianism, that is, doing the most good for the most people, it is also required that these activities of multinational corporations should benefit the host countries in which they do business.
The business activities of multinational corporations must do god than bad. This means helping the host countries’ overall economy and its workers, instead of benefiting a few. Not only they must pay their fair share of taxes, but also they must make sure that products they manufacture and distribute are not causing any harm to the users. Corporations should respect the laws and culture of the host country. They should not violate the basic moral rights of the local people.
Workers are to be paid a “fair-wage” in very poor countries. “Fair – wage” means the salary that is to be paid to a worker, to live with dignity as a human being. If multinational corporations pay the same salary as that of the host country, this will amount to exploitation of the workers, especially when the salary is below a living wage. If the salary is higher, this will amount to attracting the most skilled workers from other companies, who are important in the local economy.
Another example let us consider the workers’ safety in companies that manufacture hazardous chemicals like an asbestos production industry. In such industries workers have the right to “informed consent”. Corporations are required to inform the workers in a simple language they can prepared to work under any conditions since they want income to feed their families. Corporations must eliminate greater risks to the workers and still they can make a reasonable profit. They must also pay the workers for the extra risks they undergo. This is what exactly is meant as a matter of morally good judgments and negotiations.
4. Technology transfer and appropriate technology
Let us discuss the concepts of “Technology Transfer” and “appropriate technology”. “Technology Transfer” is the process of moving the technology to a novel setting and implementing it there. Her technology includes both hardware and technique.
A “Novel Setting” means atleast one new variable us added which may be helpful to the success or failure of a given technology.
The “appropriate technology” refers to identification, transfer and implementation of the most suitable technology for a new set of conditions. Appropriate technology also implies that a technology should contribute to the sustainable development of the host country without degrading its environment.
5. Bhopal Tragedy or Bhopal Disaster
In the year 1970, Union Carbide has established at Bhopal, a production plant, manufacturing chemicals, used in pesticides. Union Carbide was fully aware of the hazards of their new technology it transferred. It manufactured methyl isocyanate. As a concentrated gas, when it comes in contact with human body, methyl isocyanate burns any moist part of the bodies like throats and nasal passages, blinding eyes and destroying lungs. In designing the Bhopal plant, Union Carbide did not transfer all the safety mechanisms available. During the following 2 years, safety measures were not given due attention. There was high turnover of employees, the company failed to properly train new employees. Workers handling pesticides learned more from personal experience than from safety manuals about the dangers of the pesticides. The workers suffered from chest pains, vomiting and other symptoms. Even after that, they failed to wear safety gloves and masks, because of high temperature in the plant due to lack of air-conditioning.
The following are the major causes of Bhopal tragedy:
1. The tanks storing the methyl isocyanate gas were overloaded. According to Carbide’s manuals, they are never to be filled more than 60% of capacity. The extra space should be used to dilute the gas in emergencies. The tank that caused the problem actually more than 75% full.
2. A standby tank that was supposed to be kept empty for use as an emergency dump tank, already contained a large amount of chemical.
3. The tanks were supposed to be refrigerated to make the chemicals less reactive when trouble arises. The refrigeration unit had been shut down five months before the accident as a cost-reducing measure. This made the temperature of the tank three to four times greater than their normal temperature.
Due to the above said lack of safety measures, the chemical reactions took place for more than three hours, generating enormous pressure and heat in the tank. Within 2 hours, most of the chemicals from the tank escaped forming a deadly cloud covering a vast area in Bhopal. As a result about 7,000 people died, 10,000 people permanently disabled, and about 1,00,000 people injured.
The workers were not given proper training as to how to escape under emergency conditions. There was no proper plan for evacuation. The disaster was so great in the Indian history because of total unpreparedness.

2. Write a brief note on Environmental Ethics.
Increase in the number of automobiles on roads, chemical industries, tanneries, unlimited use of plastics cause a greater damage on environment. Such damages even spread across the continents.
As human beings we share a common environment, a common ecosphere. Protection of the environment globally should become a united commitment across national boundaries. Hence a new branch of applied ethics called “environmental ethics” has been developed which aims at total environmental protection.
We are misusing our scarce resources, fouling our environment. In general, the increase in consumption of limited resources and exploding population will ultimately make our “Spaceship Earth” very small for us.
Engineers must be aware of their role in protecting the environment for the present and future generations.
Case Studies
The disaster at Bhopal and Chernobyl Nuclear Plant explosion, have caused long term environmental effects. It is difficult to assess long-range changes in the climate due to the “green house effect” and “depletion of Ozone layer”.
Example
The following are a few examples that cause environmental pollution and hazards.
1. Acid Rain
2. Air and Water pollution
3. Asbestos Industries
4. Land subsidence due to over de-watering
1. Acid Rain
The atmosphere air is damaged by acid rain and acid deposition. It also pollutes the surface water and hence the ground water.
Normal rain water has a pH value of 5.6., but the typical rain water in the North Eastern Areas of North America has a pH value of 3.9 to 4.3. This is 10 to 100 times more acidic than the normal.
The result is “Acid shock”. This causes mass killings of fish. Acid rain harms fish-eggs and food sources. Aluminium, Zinc and many other metals that contain in acid rain water reach the streams and lakes. Due to this, the ground water is polluted. Also the seawater is polluted. Forests have also been steadily destroyed, animals have suffered decrease in population and farm lands are damaged. Drinking water sources are also being damaged due to acid rain.
The mechanisms involved in the process of acid rains is shown in the figure.
Surface water and Ground water also are being polluted by acid rains.

The use of fossil fuels by industrial nations is causing a buildup of Carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere. This results in a green house effect damaging the entire earth. The protective Ozone layer is also damaged due to the release of “Freon” that is related to technological products. Rivers collect the pollutants, flow and eventually dump their toxic contents into an ocean.
2. Air and Water Pollution
The rapid industrial growth all over the world has affected the environment, air and water to a greater extent. People living in cities are to undergo severe air pollution and water pollution. The Discharge of effluents with toxic contents in streams and rivers without treatment has polluted not only surface water but also the ground water. Increases in the number of chemical industries, the exhaust fumes from such industries pollute the air due to the contents like CO2, CO, SO2 and so on. United States of America, Japan are such countries which suffer from air and water pollution to a greater extent.
In india, metropolitan cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad are few cities which are severely affected by air and water pollution.
The untreated effluents from dying industries at Tirupur, were let out into Noyyal river. The river water has been polluted to such an extent that it cannot be used either for agriculture or for drinking purpose. Ground water along the river banks downstream of Tirupur has also been polluted.
Tanneries at Dindigul, discharged the untreated tannery effluent on open land and due to this, groundwater in this area has been polluted. Water has become unpotable.
Tanneries at Vaniambadi, Ambur in Vellore district let out the untreated tannery effluent on open land along the Palar river course. Due to this, the surface water and groundwater in these areas have been polluted. Water has become unpotable.
In order to save surface water and groundwater in the above said areas, government has formulated stringent laws. According to this law, no industry can let out the effluent untreated. If any industry violates this law, the licence will be cancelled. The implementation of these laws are being monitored by “Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board”.
3. Pollution due to asbestos industries
Asbestos industries pollute the atmospheric aie and cause lung diseases, cancer and breathing problems.
4. Land subsidence
Over pumping of oil and water from the ground will result I land subsidence. As a result, roads will crack, rail roads will buckle. Sewer lines may burst. Such things happened in Tokyo, Osaka in Japan covering about 8000 square kilometers area. To prevent such land subsidence water was injected under high pressure into the ground.
The above examples show how human activities can change our environment in many different ways. To prevent the environmental pollution globally, international laws and regulations are to be framed and implemented strictly to save our mother earth from environmental hazards.

3. Briefly discuss about “Computer Ethics” as applicable to technological society.
Computers have become inseparable combinations of our technological society. Through networks they connect the globe.
It is clear that computers cause a variety of moral problems. To deal with these problems, a new area of ethics called “Computer Ethics” has come up. Computer ethics has special importance for professionals emerging with computer technology.
The various computer professionals are designers of computer, programmers, systems analysts and operators.
Computer ethics is a branch in Engineering Ethics. Many professionals who use and control computers, share the responsibility for computer applications.
Issues in computer ethics are
1. Power Relationships. 2. Property. 3. Invasions of Privacy
All these issues may involve “Computer abuse”, that is, unethical or illegal conduct in which computers play a central role.
1. Power Relationships
During 1960’s, there was some sense of fear that introduction of computers may lead to “concentration” and “centralization” of powers in the governmental and non-governmental agencies. It was earlier thought that only selective people (bureaucrats) can have access to the use of large computers. The subsequent use of “Microcomputers” at cheaper prices, erased the fear of centralization powers and created a decentralization of powers.
Computers as powerful tools cause moral issues in society. Below are a few examples.
1. Loss of more jobs by termination of employees.
2. Strained customer relations, because of “Computer Printed errors”.
3. Biased software programmes.
4. Stock trading manipulation in buying and selling the shares.
5. Unrealistic expectations because of the monopoly of computer sales people.
6. Political power gaining by politicians.
7. Dangerous, computerized defence systems, even if they are working perfectly.
2. Property
The other issues about property and computers are
1. Use of computers in embezzlement
2. Stealing money and financial assets
3. Data and software stealing
1. Embezzlement
(a) Disguising one’s voice by means of computer as he talks into a phone.
(b) Getting access to internet by using the phone number of someone else’s without his knowledge. Sometimes secret computer passwords have been used as a security measure.
2. Stealing Money
When the communication lines linking the computers, cross national boundaries, stealing by employees at work, non – employees, and consumers, take place.
3. Date and Software Stealing
“Date” refers to an information stored in a computer. “Software” refers to the programmes that direct electronic machine (hardware) to perform certain tasks, involving solving problems. Programes have several aspects.
(a) An algorithm – Steps in solving problems
(b) A source code – Express the algorithm in a general computer language such as C,C++ and Java, VB etc.,
(c) An object code – Translates a source code into the specific machine language of ones and zeros.
Property is anything they create through their labour. Also property is one what laws define as the permissible use of things.
In the United States, computer hardware is protected by Patent laws. Softwares can be protected by copyright and trade secret laws. Copying clearly denies the creators and producers of the programmes, the money to which they are entitiled. This is a form of theft.
3. Privacy
Storage, retirival and transmission of information using the computers as data processors pose moral threats to the right called “privacy”. By making more data available to more people with more ease, computers make privacy more difficult to protect.
Hackers
“Hackers” are those who challenge any computer security system. Some in-plant “time bombs” (unwanted codes that copy themselves into larger programmes) will “Choke” networkss with dead-end tasks. Erase files and even destroy equipment. This action is a clear violation of property rights. Privacy in a computerized world can be protected only by making it inconvenient and expensive for others. To collect information about us, from data banks, is also a violation of “Privacy” in computer’s.
Professional Issues
Many issues in engineering ethics arise under the context of computer work. New difficulties are involved due to high degree of job complexity and required technical proficiency introduced by computers. Some examples are as follows.
1. Computer failures – Due to error in hardware of software
2. Computer implementation – Change over to a new computer system should never be attended without having the old system still operational.
3. Health conditions.
Engineers who supervise computer personnel should check that health considerations are taken care of to reduce back problems. Provisions are to be made for wrist support and good keyboard layouts. Good lighting and ventilation should all so be provided.

4. Discuss briefly Weapons Development and engineers involvement in Weapons work,
as a Global Issue.
The world’s technological activity has immense impact on weapons development. The military technology is discussed here. The moral issue because of engineers participation in military technology has no comparison. “Cold war” and the risk of “nuclear war” are the effects of weapons development. High technology weaponry, terrorism, and drugs are confronting issues between super power nations like USA, Russia, France and Chine.
There are several reasons for an engineer to do his or her best on a military job. Patriotism and interest are the two main reasons for one’s best on a military job.
There are several reasons for an engineer to refuse war work. Engineers are under ethical obligations to erect bridges that do not collapse. They have to build nuclear power plants that do not emit radiation. The other view is to see weapons development as a defensive measure against greater destruction by opponents.
1. The Weapons Sea-Saw
The trade in arms and military know-how have a long tradition of military expenditures throughout the world that comes about hundreds of billions of rupees annually. Of this amount, about 25% is allotted for purchase of weapons and related equipment.
20% of the amount spent on international trade on weapons. The most world’s successful arms merchants and manufacturers are Krupp Company-Germany, Vickers-UK, Schneider-France. They supply arms to the China, Japan and Russia and Pakistan.
In the World War I and World War II destructive arms like tanks, air crafts, rockets and nuclear weapons were used. It caused great damage to the human lives and properties, which the world can never forget.
The atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had a huge impact because of larger number of death and many got permanently injures.
2. Engineers involvement in weapons work
The involvements of engineers in the manufacture of weapons are as follows:
1. “Manufacture of “anti personal bombs”.
These bombs can be timed to explode hours after delivery. The fragments are made of steel, which will cause deep injuries.
2. A “Napalm” is manufactured by a chemical engineer. This is the most brutal and destructive weapons that has ever been created. This was used during the Vietnam War.
3. Missile control and guidance are also done by and engineer in the army field. This type of missiles will carry single or multiple warheads with a kind of dreadful fire power which will keep the enemy under check.
4. An engineer qualified in physical electronics and laser beams did research in “Particle beams”. He developed something similar to the “death ray”.
5. An electronics engineer developed “avionics” for fighter planes.
6. An engineering physics qualified engineer developed “Nuclear bomb” through we know and fully aware the serious consequences of a war, the entire world is fighting and competing with other in weapons work. It will not be a wonder if we say that weapons work is humankind’s most crucial.
Finally let us ask ourselves how long a nation can divert tremendous resources, that is funds, materials, talent, affecting nations economy. Every rupee spent on defense products results in reduction of number of jobs. Other important sectors such as education, roads, water supply, sewage disposal and poverty reduction are neglected.


5. Explain the Role of Professionals as Managers.
Engineers as Managers
Engineers undergo intensive technical training compared to any other professionals but many of them move into managerial cadre for which they received little training as under graduate students.
Many companies prefer engineers as managers because the technical understanding of engineers is essential to manage corporations. It is easier to teach engineers the business side of corporations than to teach non-engineering graduates. Corporations recognize engineers’ general strengths in analysis, their strong work ethic, and their confidence in problem solving.
Engineers are given higher salaries, greater authority and wider responsibility. But in practice, engineers are given less recognition within the business culture, for reasons unknown.
Engineers as Professionals
The transition from technical work to management work involves many adjustments. It requires knowledge about finances and scheduling skills in coordinating and motivating other people. They should have the ability to make risk taking decisions. Engineers have ethical responsibilities as per code or ethics but managers cannot be professionals as engineers.
Managers have responsibilities to employees, customers, dealers, suppliers and the general public. However the Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman attacks the managers by saying that “the social responsibility of business community is to increase the profits, and to conduct the business taking only their stock holders’ interest into account.
But engineers by contrast, are professional who have responsibilities to protect the public safety, health, and welfare of the public, in addition to their responsibilities to stock holders. The ultimate goal of managers and engineers should be alike to make valuable products that are also profitable.
Good business ethics and good sound ethics go together in the long run. Hence the moral roles of engineers and managers are to be alike, not opposed. As managers, engineers remain professionals whose primary responsibility is to make safe and useful products that are profitable.
The two responsibilities of engineers-cum-managers are
1. Promoting an ethical climate
2. Resolving conflicts
Sometimes, there are areas of overlap in which the responsibilities of engineers and managers move from technical work into management.
1) Promoting an ethical climate
“An ethical climate” is a working environment which is conducive to moral conduct and behaviour. Engineers make a vital contributions to such a climate, but managers have greater responsibility than engineers.
Tata, Birla, Reliance, TVS. L & T and such group of reputed companies are examples of large corporations that developed a successful ethical climate, for example, Himalayan Company appointed an “Ethics Director” who was also the Vice President of that corporation. The Director reported to an ethics committee and that committee in turn reported directly to the Board of Directors. He first surveyed the employees about their ethical concerns and degree of ethical awareness.
Later he conducted group discussions and workshops on ethics and wrote weekly articles addressing specific cases and concerns. He made himself directly available to all employees through a confidential phone line. In this way, he served as an ethics ombudsperson, in addition to his role as ethics director of corporation. In all his programmes, the importance was to support ethical conduct, rather than punishing wrong doers. But it was made clear that any unprofessional attitude would not be tolerated within the corporation.
Features of an Ethical Corporate Climate are:
1. The ethical values are to be appreciated by managers and employees alike.
2. The use of ethical language is to be recognized as a part of corporate dialogue.
3. The top management must set a “role model” both in words, policies and by personal example.
4. There should be procedures for conflict resolution. This can be achieved by creating ombudspersons for executives with whom employees can have confidential discussions about moral issues.

6. Write briefly about Engineers as Consulting Engineers.
Engineers do private practice. They receive fees for their services they render to the clients. They don’t receive any salaries from employees, because of this; they have greater freedom to make decisions about the projects they undertake. Anyhow, they have to share many things in common with salaried engineers.
Here, there are four areas, in which consulting engineers have to play the role compatible with professional ethics they are,
1. Advertising. 2. Competitive bidding. 3. Contingency fees. 4. Resolution of disputes.
1. Advertising
Some corporate engineers are involved in advertising because they work in product sales division. Consulting engineers as advertisers have greater responsibility for advertising their services.
Competitive advertising causes friction among those in the field. It reduces their mutual respect. It also damages the professions public image making engineering as purely money-centered business. Professional advertising is acceptable, when it is honest. Deceptive advertising normally occurs when products are made to look better than they actually are. This can be done in many ways namely.
1. By outright lies. 2. By Half-truths. 3. By exaggeration. 4. By Making false promises and suggestions.
Advertisers of consumer products generally suppress negative aspects of the items they are promoting. Even they can exaggerate to some extent about the positive aspects. For example, an advertisement for cigarettes which by law must carry health warnings. Strong restrictions on misleading advertisers in all areas are especially important.
2. Competitive Bidding
As per code of ethics, consulting engineers are prevented to take part in competitive bidding. Competitive bidding means quoting for the cost of a project confidentially. The work of a project is allotted based on low bidding, without reduction in quality.
Competitive bidding is permissible for construction companies, because they can prepare cost estimates more accurately based on specifications. Generally consulting engineer has to develop creative designs. To make precise bids, often it is difficult. Under such circumstances competitive bidding will encourage reduction in quality in case of lower bidding or over designing in case of higher bidding.
3. Contingency Fees
Contingency fee is the amount paid to the consulting engineer, based on the performance of satisfactory work. Contingency fee is paid to the consultant only if it he saves client’s money. This is the reason why a client prefers a Consultant. A consultant is expected to save maximum or at least 10% of the project cost. If the consultant fails to do so, no contingency fee is paid. The fee paid may be a lump sum as agreed upon or a fixed percentage of the savings.


4. Revolution of Disputes
Large engineering projects involve the owner, the consulting engineer and the construction company. In such big projects, there may arise an inability to resolve disputes. The time in solving disputes, can be better used to improve the quality of the project.
Resolving disputes become more difficult when time of construction is extended for several years. When personnel changes resolution of disputes may be still more difficult.
In a project, a litigation is time –consuming one and costly. To solve disputes, it is better to avoid going to courts. Consulting engineers should always try to solve disputes by means of a dialogue.

7. Write briefly a) Engineer as Expert Witness.b) Engineer as advisor
At times, engineers have to serve as consultants to provide expert certificate in the court of law. They should be neutral and follow the path of truth. They should not be as “hired guns”, paid to support one side of the case as expert witness in the court.
Let us discuss the court system, wherein, engineers may be involved as expert witnesses either on the side of plaintiff or defendant, in civil and criminal cases. Engineers have to certify a number of cases like defective products, personal injury, damage to property, accidents or airplane crashes. Here, the main thing is, who is to pay “Compensation” for the loss that has happened.
Engineers have to do thorough investigations when they are called by the court to testify. They should keep all information about the case confidential. They should not leak out any information to the opponent, unless court wants to do so, when they are called as witnesses. They should not volunteer themselves to give evidence, favorable to the opponent. They must give evidences truthfully, when opponent lawyers ask related questions.
Engineers are responsible to discover the truth and inform it honestly. The court has to manage the complex system of legal rights and justice. The court should rely on engineers (experts)
Eye witnesses serve as witnesses to certify about the accidents or damages, they have seen by their own eyes. Expert witnesses serve to certify on facts and figures in their areas of expertise.
Expert witnesses have to identify the cause of accidents. They should not be considered as “enemies”. Universally, there is one opinion that engineers must not become “hired guns”, who provides false information, by receiving consulting fees. They are,
1. Hired guns. 2. Financial biases. 3. Ego biases. 4. Sympathy biases
1. Hired Guns
A few engineers violate ethical standards while conducting investigations and act as “hired guns”. These engineers spoil the reputation of entire group of engineers, when they serve as expert witnesses.
A simple example is given below. A mason falls while coming down a ladder and it seriously injured. The mason files a case against the manufacturer of the ladder for compensation towards medical treatment and lost wages. Those who have seen the accidents (witness) gave different statements about whether the accident was caused by a crack in the ladder or because of manufacturing defect or due to the carelessness of the mason. Mason climbed down very fast, which caused the crack and hence he fell down, which was seen by workers.
The manufacturer hired a structural engineer. He gave report in favor of the manufacturer, stating that, it is not due to structural defect; but due to carelessness of the mason.
The engineer has to be impartial but he acted partially, since he was tempted to favor one side in order to earn money as a “hired gun”.
2. Financial biases
Engineers receiving money from one side will give rise to a form of bias, though it is a small amount. Financial or money bias will influence or twist one’s investigations and certification.
3. Ego biases
Engineers generally give importance to the dispute of their own side. They always see the opponent side as guilty and his own side is always right. In order to get affection from their clients, the always are inclined to serve the interest of their own clients.
4. Sympathy biases
Sometimes court is like a drama stage in which the suffering of people is exposed. The victim’s plight can be easily understood, though they are opponent clients. It is human nature to sympathise with such victims. This sort of biases will influence the investigation of happenings. In order to overcome these biases, engineers should maintain their integrity while serving as expert witnesses.

8. Explain the concept of moral leadership by engineers and discuss the role played by
professional societies.
Moral Leadership
Engineers as academicians, managers and government servants are to shoulder various forms of leadership. Engineers have to behave as “moral leaders” in their professional fields. The activities and challenges that will improve the quality of engineers as moral leaders and leadership among them will be discussed here.
1. Morally Creative Leaders
It is not so easy to define “Leadership”. Leadership means success in making a group to move towards a goal. Moral leaders are persons who take the groups towards goals. Engineers as moral leaders are to contribute to the communities, professional societies and profession in general. Engineers as more leaders are morally creative. Moral creativity means achieving valuable innovation. The innovation consists of possibilities and values, for putting into practice.
2. Professional Societies
Professional Societies are bodies or organizations recognized by Government in which engineers are members. These societies have been promoted to make the engineers behave and discharge their duties ethically. Professional societies solve the conflicts between engineers and employers amicably and also guide the engineers in the proper direction of discharging their duties. Any violation of “code of ethics” will be viewed seriously by the society and the member engineer will be unrecognized by the society. They cannot practice their profession, until then, recognition is withdrawn. Professional societies also protect the rights of engineers by being members of professional societies, engineers get social status and recognition in the public. Thus, professional societies are “Care taker” and Controlling Authority” for member engineers.
With these ideas in mind, professional societies for different group of engineers have been formed. They are
Societies in India
1. Institution of Engineers, India - IE(I)
2. Indian Institute of Materials Management – (IIMM)
3. Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers – (IETE)
Societies in USA
1. American Society of Civil Engineers – (ASCE)
2. American Society of Mechanical Engineers – (ASME)
3. Institution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers – (IEEE) and so on
The above said professional societies have drafted rules and regulations known as “code of ethics” and “code of conduct” for engineers. Engineers are made to follow the “code of ethics”, so as to enable them to discharge their duties ethically.
Participation in Professional Societies
Professional societies serve for their members and provide continuing education for updating their knowledge. Professional societies are forums for exchanging knowledge, ideas and concepts in latest developments. Professional societies are neither pro-employer nor pro-management. The members of society are engineers in management, production and supervision. Such professional societies can play a vital role in solving moral issues of engineers.
Professional societies conduct workshops and continuing education programmes on ethics. Such programmes create awareness among engineers about ethical standards and ethical behavior.Engineers haply a dominating role because they create awareness in society about industrial pollution, air pollution, noise pollution, automobile safety and safe disposal of nuclear waste. But nevertheless, the representation by engineers in Government and advisory bodies is a limited one for small reasons that problems may arise in offering such services.

9. Describe how the Sample Code of Ethics serves as a model guide for Professional
    Conduct.

Code of Ethics by the Institution of Engineers, India – IE(I)
While the engineers practice their profession for the welfare of the community, they have to bear in their mind the following
1. Ethical Standard. 2. Social justice, social order and human rights.
3. Protection of the environment. 4. Public safety and peace
The Principles of code of ethics are
1. A corporate member (engineer) shall utilize his/her knowledge and expertise for the welfare, health and safety of the community without any discrimination for private interest.
2. A corporate member shall maintain the honor, integrity and dignity in all his professional actions.
3. An engineer shall act only in the domains of his competence and with diligence, care, sincerity and honesty.
4. An engineer shall apply his/her knowledge and expertise in the interest of his employer or the clients for whom he shall work without compromising with other obligations.
5. A corporate member shall not misrepresent his/her own or his / her associates qualifications, experience.
6. An engineer shall take all responsible steps to inform his/her employer or clients about the environmental, economic, social consequences which may arise out of his / her actions.
7. He / She shall maintain at most honesty and fairness in making statement or giving witness.
8. He/she shall not directly or indirectly injure the professional reputation of another engineer.
9. He/she shall reject any kind of offer that may be considered as unfair practice.
10. A corporate member shall be concerned about and shall act in the best of his abilities for maintenance of substantiality of the development. He shall not act in any manner which may injure the reputation of the company.
“Code of ethics” includes the professionals and society. It tells a professional about discharging his / her duties and responsibilities in the way of practicing the profession of engineering in society.
“Code of conduct” involves the professional himself/herself. It guides the professional how to conduct himself  / herself in the way discharging his / her duties and responsibilities.

Share This